08 Apr THE FREEDOM OF SIMPLICITY

Tariffs and free trade.
AI and the proliferation
of technology. There
are many issues of our
day that remain
complicated. But for
each issue that is truly
complex, there are
issues, policies and perspectives that are
presented as complicated when in truth they
should be simple and straightforward.
Matzah, the most important food at our
seder, seems straightforward, but if you
think about it, it is actually complicated and
confusing. On the one hand, it symbolizes
and celebrates freedom, it is the bread over
which we recline like aristocrats and tell the
story of our liberation. Yet, on the other
hand, it is called “lechem oni,” the bread of
affliction. Moreover, for the bread meant to
be a sign of royalty, it is rather bland. The
recipe is flour and water, period. Not only
does it not call for other ingredients, any
additional item would invalidate it. When
you hear someone talk about their
sourdough starter, they might use more
affectionate and protective words than they
talk about their spouse and children. With

matzah, however, if the dough ferments or
processes in any way, if you add ingredients,
sweetener, spices, you disqualify it and that
cannot be used to fulfill the mitzvah. In
food competitions, the taste is only part of
the story, the presentation, texture, even
appearance are all also important. Matzah
is asymmetrical, imperfect, basically a
bland cracker, dull and simple even in its
presentation and appearance. This is the
food of royalty and wealth?
The Maharal is bothered by this question
and in several places in his writings, he uses
it to explain the fundamental theme of
Matzah and how in fact it symbolizes
freedom, wealth, and royalty. In Gevuros
Hashem (36) he explains that we tend to
think the more things we have, the more
complex and complicated our portfolio, the
more intricate and sophisticated our
possessions, the more elaborate and
extravagant, the more it reflects wealth,
freedom, and affluence. But says the
Maharal, in fact it is the opposite. The more
we are dependent on fancy things, fancy
experiences, and even fancy ideas, the more
we are enslaved to them, beholden to them,
and reliant on them. To truly be free, to

actually be wealthy, is to embrace
simplicity, pashtus. The less we
are dependent on externals, on
what an object or experience can
provide, the freer we are from
them.
Explains the Maharal, lechem oni
doesn’t mean bread of affliction,
that those who eat it are suffering.
He translates it as bread of oni, of
living without, which doesn’t
lead to affliction and suffering, it
leads to freedom and liberation. When you
are dependent on something, dependent on
worldly, material things, dependent on
superficial experiences, dependent on
exciting stimulation you are not at all free.
Freedom is a return to pashtus, to simplicity,
to uncomplicated, to plain. Only the one
who can live with oni, can live without, is
free and wealthy because they have no
dependency.
Now to be clear, we don’t eat Matzah the
whole year. There is nothing wrong with
enjoying some yeast, some leaven, from
feeding that sourdough. But, for one week
we demonstrate our freedom from those
things so that even when we return to them,
we do so by seeing them as luxuries, as
external to who we are, not necessities,
part of us, something we can’t live
without.
Warren Buffet is an incredibly wealthy
man. Most would assume I say that
because he is worth $139 billion, but that
isn’t why. The 93-year-old has lived in
the same modest house in Omaha,
Nebraska for 66 years. When asked why
he never upgraded, he said, “I’m happy
there. I’d move if I thought I’d be happier
someplace else. This house does just fine.
I’m warm in the winter, I’m cool in the
summer, it’s convenient for me. I couldn’t
imagine having a better house.” The
founder of Berkshire Hathaway, one of
the richest men in the entire world, only
swapped his flip phone for a smartphone
in 2020. Buffett is free not because of his
tremendous material wealth but because
he doesn’t depend on it for happiness.
Others, too, are craving this wealth.
There is a big movement towards getting
rid of smartphones and turning them in
for dumbphones. The movement isn’t in
Monsey, Lakewood or Yerushalayim, it is
all over America. Sales of flip phones and
dumbphones are up with people craving
simplicity, plain, simple, bland, back to
basics. People are bloated on chametz
and looking for more matzah in their
lives.

Matzah is freedom because it is a return to
simplicity, a break from that which we have
grown dependent on and it is the discovery
that we can be happier with less than with
more. Isn’t that exactly what we feel for the
week of Pesach? We have fewer ingredients
to cook with but eat more than ever. We put
most of the toys away and the children and
grandchildren are even happier playing
with the simple toys that are left out,
sometimes finding more joy in the box they
came in than the toy itself.
The Brisker Rav would keep his matzos for
the seder under lock and key. When asked if
he was concerned with someone stealing
them, he would reply, “u’shemartem es
hamatzos, safeguard the matzah – do you
not put your valuable jewels in a safe?” The
poshut, simple matzos are our most valuable
treasure.
All year long we make things more
complicated than they need to be by
pursuing complex things and experiences.
Pesach and the Matzah remind us that the
things that are most pashut, most simple
and straightforward are most true and most
valuable, they set us free and make us
wealthy. Like Warren Buffett, we shouldn’t
be attached and dependent on complex
things, even if we can afford them. Being
happy with the simple and plain will set us
free. And lastly, let’s let the Matzah inspire
us to simplify our relationships.
I once attended a funeral of a woman who
was clearly complicated. There was a
palpable tension among her children and
grandchildren and during their eulogies
they subtly (and sometimes not so subtly),
while offering praise, still communicated
that she introduced lots of conflict into the
family. The last speaker was her son. He
got up, paused, and said, “Mom was
complicated, let’s keep things simple. Let’s
simply love one another, simply be loyal to
one another and simply get along with one
another,” and with that he sat down.
If we want geulah, we need to introduce
more Matzah into our relationships, instead
of making them complicated, keep them
simple. Let’s simply love one another, be
loyal to one another and get along with one
another.