21 Mar VAYIKRA: BREAKING OUR HABITS

What is the real
difference between
hametz and matzah?

When we bake
hallah, the dough is
left on the counter for a while to rise.
In the meantime, the baker can do
whatever he or she wants to do –
relax, go run errands, or anything
else.
By contrast – anyone who visits a
matzah bakery is immediately struck
by the intense flurry of activity. There
is no rest. There is constant action.
From the moment the water is poured
into the flour, until the matzah is in
the oven, there is not a split second of
rest.
What does this have to do with
Yetziat Mitzrayim – our ancestors’
leaving Egypt, the event we celebrate
on Pesach?
In the Book of Devarim, Moshe
describes the miracle of Yetziat

Mitzrayim with the expression, לקחת
גוי מקרב גוי לו – G-d “took for Himself
a nation from within a nation.” Beneh
Yisrael lived in Egypt for 210 years.
With time, they became all but
indistinguishable from the Egyptians.
The Rabbis talk about our ancestors
falling to the “49th level of impurity”
in Egypt. This means that they were
practically Egyptian. They acted just
like the other people around them.
If events had progressed naturally,
this process would have continued
until Beneh Yisrael had fully
assimilated and became like regular
Egyptians. But Hashem stepped in
Am make to – לקחת לו גוי מקרב גוי
Yisrael into a separate, unique nation.
This is the real miracle of Yetziat
Mitzrayim. It’s almost like childbirth
– the baby had been part of the
mother’s body, and then it
miraculously leaves the mother and
becomes a separate entity. Beneh
Yisrael were part of Egypt, and

Hashem came along and miraculously
pulled them out, turning them into a
separate nation.
The matzah, which is produced
with tireless, constant work and
action, represents the breaking of
natural processes. It is the effort we
need to make in order to break our
habits, to go against our natural
tendency.
If we just sit passively, we will
naturally continue our bad habits.
Like our ancestors in Egypt, we will
continue to be influenced by the
society in which we live. The eight
days of Pesach are meant to be a
special time when we put in the effort
to break our natural course, to change
directions, to make our unique selves
instead of just being like everyone
around us. Just as Hashem took גוי
גוי מקרב, creating a new nation, so are
we to create our true selves. But this
requires hard work and effort to swim
against the tide, to go against our

natural tendencies, as represented by
the matzah.
As we prepare for this great
holiday, let us bear in mind not only
the details and technicalities of the
cleaning and shopping – but also the
ultimate goal of Pesach, the goal of
achieving freedom from our habits
and our natural course of life, of
working hard to create the special
life that we want to live, instead of
allowing our natural tendencies to
control us.