פסח, מצה ומרור
Raban Gamliel says that there are three fundamental concepts to be mentioned in the Seder to meet the minimum requirement to transmit to our children the story of Pesah: “Pesah”, “Matsa” and “Maror”.
Before explaining these ideas one by one, let us see how they relate to each other. “Pesah” is what HaShem did for us. “Matsa”, is what we, ‘am Israel, did to deserve our freedom. And “Maror” is what the Egyptians did to us. Thus, these three concepts point to the role of the three main protagonists of the Exodus story.
Today and BH tomorrow we will explain these three concepts. Let us start from MAROR
MAROR
As we already explained, Maror reminds us how the Egyptians vilified us, demonized us and made us suffer. Rabban Gamliel says that we should not deprive our children of this painful information. First, because they should know that part of being the chosen people means that we will be exposed to demonization and persecution by other people. Second, because we must preserve the memory of our suffering to positively channel this memory of pain and oppression that our ancestors suffered in Egypt. How? By doing everything possible to avoid others from suffering. Caring about those who have less, and remembering that we should never oppress the weak, or those who work for us. The Tora says: “You shall love [= assist, help and care for] the stranger [= the unprotected, the person who can be abused] precisely because YOU were strangers in the land of Egypt.” And since we experienced firsthand how much the abused suffers, we are better trained to prevent from others humiliation, poverty and hunger. While many of those who were oppressed develop feelings of “revenge”, we teach our children to preserve the memory of our grief so they will make every effort to prevent others from suffering what we have suffered.
MATSA
The Matsa represents what we, the Jewish people, did to deserve our freedom. Sociocultural changes are processes that often take many years, decades and even centuries. But in the case of the Jewish people, all happened in a matter of hours…. בחיפזון HaShem commanded the Jews to take a sheep and keep it with them until the 14th day of Nisan (Pesah eve). Remember that the Egyptians worshiped many animals, because in their minds the animals embodied the powers of the gods. The crocodile or hippo, for example, were worshiped as sacred beings because they embody “strength” and “ferocity”. Sheep, especially the “ram”, symbolized virility and the power of procreation. The Yehudim faced a major challenge: they had to take a sheep, and wait for HaShem’s order to sacrifice it. Remember that we Jews lived immersed in this society for many, many generations, exposed to all kinds of superstitions and fetishism, typical of the ‘aboda zara (idolatry) culture. The 14th of Nisan, God commanded the Yehudim to sacrifice the animal, roast it and eat it. Imagine the psychological difficulty of sacrificing and eating an animal that “your masters” considered “a god”. Remember that slaves, naturally, fear their masters, and how much more should have feared the “masters of their masters”, the animals their masters considered their gods! HaShem wanted the Yehudim to “deserve” their freedom, by showing that they were no longer slaves of idolatrous thoughts. That they have already understood that these animals were “fake gods”, a product of imagination, superstition and manipulation by the cult leaders.
The Yehudim did not hesitate, and in one night, they unmasked the falsehood of idolatry, got it out of their system, and delivered themselves in the hands of Bore Olam.
We could have delayed our departure, after all we were going to leave a land that although it was not ideal, it was very familiar to us. And we were about to travel to the completely unknown. We did not delay our departure. On the contrary: we left fast. With such enthusiasm that we did not care sacrificing eating bread…
The Matsa thus, reminds us that everything was done behipazon, rapidly: in one day we were liberated from Egypt and from their gods, and ready to follow Bore Olam’s guidance. The prophet Yirmiyhau 2:2 reminded us this great merit when he said (on behalf of HaShem): “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me to the wilderness, [without water, and with no more food than Matsa]”
