Chametz U’Matza #4

Okay once set up again in Matzah and then maybe we'll shift a little bit to Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim. Take a look in the beginning of Hilchos Chometz u'Matzah where the Rambam under the koteret where the Rambam is listing the mitzvos whose halachos are explained in Hilchos Chometz u'Matzah, so the seventh mitzvah is לאכול מצה בלילי הפסח. Rambam says it in the plural. And obviously in fact that we have two sedarim and it's din d'rabonon of two sedarim. It's not din d'oraissa of leilei Pesach. You say leilei ha-Pesach in just the plural of Pesach, which is true. It is. I think in modern Hebrew the rule is, but that's not true in rabbinic Hebrew. In modern Hebrew the rule would be if you have a word like Beis Knesset, so the plural is botay, botay knesset. And it's a reasonable rule in the sense that, I don't know, the same way in English you would say, I guess houses of worship, you wouldn't say houses of worships, right? You would say so houses of gathering is the plural of house of gathering, so botay knesset. But in rabbinic lashon hakodesh we say botay knesiyos, we say botay midrashos. So the way you make the plural is by putting both words into the plural, not just the first word. Okay. So leilei ha-Pesach, again here again the Rambam has, again you don't even have that double bit you'll see what I'm mentioning that in a minute. Again it's a nogea for the next step. So it means, you know, this year the fifteenth, and last year, and next year, but it would have meant that also if the Rambam would have said לאכול מצה בליל הפסח. You know, when he says להשבית שאור מארבעה עשר so we don't think he's talking about the fourteenth only, you know, when the stars and the moon align in a certain configuration. No. So the perek Arvei Psachim, if that's what it's called. So Tosafos has different girsaos whether the opening phrase of the perek is Arvei Psachim or whether it's Erev Psachim. So Tosafos says עיקר שנינו ערבי ניחא. What's nicha? Again that was the hakdama that Arvei Psachim is the plural of Erev Pesach. It's the plural of, right, on Erev Pesachs. Good English, on Erev Pesachs, right, so that's what Arvei Psachim. But nicha in terms of what the teitch is as opposed to if it's Erev Psachim which is just what's the teitch of the phrase. But it's nicha, but even though it's nicha in terms of what the word, what the phrase means, but it's still a question why does the Mishnah say it as Arvei Psachim as opposed to Erev Pesach. So later when the Gemara asks whether, so the Mishnah goes on, right, as you remember the Mishnah goes on to say the din,

ולא יאכל אדם סמוך למנחה ולא יאכל אדם עד שתחשך

and the Gemara on kuf zayin amud aleph or amud beis says nima. So it's an ibaya whether סמוך למנחה גדולה תנן or סמוך למנחה קטנה תנן. סמוך למנחה גדולה תנן and the reason for the lo yochal is it's coordinated with asias hapesach, דלמא אתי לממשך מלימעבד פסח, or no, maybe it's סמוך למנחה קטנה תנן, in which case it's got nothing to do with asias hapesach, rather it's because of achilas matzah, right? Which is how we pasken.

איבעיא דסמוך למנחה גדולה תנן או דלמא סמוך למנחה קטנה תנן. סמוך למנחה גדולה תנן משום פסח,

dilma ati limshach if you start eating ואתי לימנע מלימעבד פסחא and it may interfere with the hakravas hapesach,

או דלמא סמוך למנחה קטנה תנן משום מצה, דלמא אתי למיכל מצה אכילה גסה.

So the Rashbam comments on why did the Gemara have to switch from Pesach to matzah, why didn't the Gemara just shift from asias hapesach to achilas hapesach? So the second answer the Rashbam gives, the second of the two answers that the Rashbam gives to that question is, because by telling us matzah, so the Gemara is clarifying that according to that tzad, the din of samuch lamincha applies even bezman hazeh when you still have matzah deoraisa but you don't have achilas hapesach. That's the second answer that the Rashbam gives. So itachen that that's pshat also in arvei pesachim. Again, arvei pesachim means erev pesach in the plural. In the context when there's a hava amina that maybe this din is toloy on zman habayis, by saying it in the plural it has the sense of all arvei pesachim. The difference between saying erev pesach in the singular or saying arvei pesachim in the plural, again even when you say it in the singular you obviously are not talking about one erev pesach. So what's the difference in terms of the mashmaus, what's being intimated by saying it in the plural as opposed to the singular? When you say it in the plural you mean all arvei pesachim. So in context, so lechora that that's the teitch of arvei pesachim is that's how the Mishnah compresses this idea that the Rashbam explains. So lechora it's the same, the Rambam just is reflecting the same thing, by the Rambam also going for leilei hapesach. Again, in a context where you might have thought that it's not every year, again meheicha tesei, maybe as one machlokes amora'im in the Gemara that maybe matzah is also tluya bepesach. So comes the Rambam and says no, we pasken like Rava that מצה בזמן הזה דאורייתא, and that's what he's already hinting at here in the koteress, and that's why he says it bilshon rabim of leilei. In פרק ז הלכה א the Rambam writes

מצות עשה של תורה לספר בנסים ונפלאות שנעשו לאבותינו במצרים בליל חמישה עשר שנאמר זכור את היום הזה שצאתם ממצרים כמו שנאמר זכור את יום השבת. ומינין שבליל חמישה עשר?

Meaning the posuk of zachor doesn't tell you when you're engaging in this zechira. It tells you what the focus of the zechira is, but it doesn't tell you, it doesn't tell you when you're engaging in this zechira.

תלמוד לומר והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בעבור זה בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך.

Okay, so we know this drasha from the Haggadah. Again, what we're going to discuss is really a question, it's not a question in the Rambam, it's a question on the drashas Chazal that the Meshech Chochma already raises. Why do Chazal say בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך, why not Pesach, matzah, and maror? Again, the point of the drasha is how do we establish what the zman for מצות סיפור יציאת מצרים is, what the timeframe is? So it's correlated, it's coordinated with the mitzvos achila. So the mitzvos achila we know what it is,

ואכלו את הבשר בלילה הזה צלי אש ומצות על מרורים

ba'erev tochlu matzos barishon be'arba asar. ba'erev tochelu matzos, ba'erev tochelu matzos. So so we know in terms of the mitzvos achilah that that it's chamishah asar, so the Torah links the mitzvah sippur to the mitzvos achilah. Ba'avur zeh, בשעה שיש זה means something that you're moreh b'etzba, that you that you that you that you point to. Okay, the Meshech Chochmah asks why not, it should have said pesach matzah maror. So he gives a beautiful answer, he gives a mashal as follows. He gives a mashal that a couple marries off their daughter and in a few months after the wedding, so then the parents are talking and the wife says to her husband, oh, you know we're so blessed, such a wonderful son-in-law, he treats our daughter so royally and his middos are impeccable. And the husband answers, hopefully, but it's premature to judge. Right now, right now we're supporting him. Life is good, so he's nice. What's going to be, what's going to be when he's no longer of kest? What's going to be when we're no longer supporting him? What's going to be when he has to deal with all the pressures of life? Let's see whether then he'll still treat her as well and as royally as he does now. So says Rav Meir Simcha,

בעבור זה לא אמרתי אלא בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך,

that בעבור זה עשה ה' לי בצאתי ממצרים, Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out of Mitzrayim that we should be loyal to Him, that we should be steadfast in our קבלת עול מלכות שמים and kabbalas ol mitzvos, not only when things are good and we're in Eretz Yisrael איש תחת גפנו ותחת תאנתו, when you have mitzvas korban pesach, but even when we're in galus and and we only have matzah umaror, we don't have the korban pesach anymore. No, ba'avur zeh, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that that enduring, deep, unyielding kabbalah of ol malchus shamayim, ol mitzvos. That's that's what the Meshech Chochmah says. In halacha daled, Rambam quotes from the Mishnah, again, this is not a Rambam, it's a Mishnah in Arvei Pesachim that מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח, that the format and the context and format of sippur yetzias mitzrayim is מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח. So if you look in the Frenkel Rambam, so Rabbeinu Manoach already asks, what's the makor for this din? The Mishnah doesn't tell us, the Mishnah tells us that there is such a din, which again is sort of par for the course in terms of Mishnayos. They don't tell us the makoros, that belongs to the... The Rambam explains that the three chelkei haTorah are of mikra, Mishnah, and Talmud. So knowing how the dinim emerge from the pesukim, so that belongs to the Talmud chelek haTorah of of Talmud, it's not part of Mishnah. So it's not unusual that the Mishnah doesn't tell us the makor, and and the Gemara doesn't necessarily fill in all the makoros. So here the she'eilah is what's the makor for this din מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח. What does Rabbeinu Manoach say? af al zeh, אף על פי שלא התבאר מן התלמוד, meaning the makor לא התבאר מן התלמוד, the din is a Mishnah, he means לא התבאר זה מן התלמוד, what the makor is, min haTorah lemdahu, says Rabbeinu Manoach.

ומה שאמרו בהתחלת הגנות, מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה, יכול להילמד מן הפסוק ויצונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה ליראה. יצא מכלל הדבר שמתחילה לא היה ירא, כי היו עובדי עבודה זרה. ויציאת מצרים חזקה אמונת ה' והשאירה אותה לדורות וכולו.

The Rambam not talking about this question per se but the Rambam writes that let me see it's a strong lashon I forget what it is maybe maybe even something along the lines of it's from the yesodos hatorah one of the basic principles in Torah that bimei hatovah a person should remember the yemei haraa whether collectively nationally or personally individually. There are ups and downs in life. There are tkufas when it's a beautiful day and the sun is shining brilliantly and there are tkufas when it's stormy weather. The times when again whether personally individually whether collectively nationally when we experience adversity and then there's time when we feel that everything is as it should be and everything is falling into place. So says the Rambam it's a basic principle in Torah that bimei hatovah a person shouldn't try to forget the yemei haraa which is maybe what I don't know what our pop psychology what we would have come up with with our pop psychology but a person should bedafka remember the yemei haraa. He says where do you see it among other places you see it by mitzvas mikra bikkurim. Mitzvas bikkurim is mikra bikkurim is a peleh. Right? You bring the bikkurim to the Beis Hamikdash. Okay, so there's a mitzvas mikra bikkurim. So say thank you. Tell the kohen you know I hereby say thank you to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for this wonderful crop. So what does he begin? He begins reminiscing arami oveid avi. I'm bringing bikkurim. Arami oveid avi. He reminds himself of but a couple of thousand years ago you know we were suffering לבן ביקש לעקור את הכל. So says the Rambam no that's the yesod. A person's bringing bikkurim it's bimei hatovah. Bimei hatovah a person has to remember yemei haraa. Why is he have to remember yemei haraa? For two reasons the Rambam says number one that it will increase his appreciation he won't take the tovah for granted because remembering when the absence of tovah highlights and heightens a person's appreciation for the current tovah. And number two when a person is blessed so then there's a danger of success breeding gaiva and forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And the Rambam says the psukim in parshas eikev point to that very clearly. You'll come to veachalta vesavata and then you'll come you'll see

בתים מלאים כל טוב אשר לא מלאת ובורות חצובים אשר לא חצבת

and then you'll forget Hakadosh Baruch Hu you'll think it's kochi veotzem yadi. So the Rambam says no bimei hatovah a person always has to remember yemei haraa. That's pshat mikra bikkurim. Then the Rambam and that's why he says the Torah is always telling us to remember that we were avadim bemitzrayim. That's why the Torah is repeatedly underscoring that mitzvah. Then the Rambam says that's also pshat in the yamim tovim or part of the pshat in the yamim tovim of Pesach and Sukkos. That Pesach and Sukkos among this is not all it is but but one essential half of what Pesach and Sukkos is about is this instilling the middah of remembering yemei haraa bimei hatovah. How's it true on Sukkos? So the Rambam says extraordinary extraordinary pshat. למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל. So machlokes Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva whether it means ananei kavod or sukkos mamash. So the Rambam goes with the pshat of sukkos mamash sukkos mamash. So the Ramban thinks the pshuto shel mikra is ananei kavod because why's the Torah telling you about sukkos mamash? But for something miraculous so that's why the Torah's telling it to you. And the Rambam says no he thinks the simple pshat is like the view that it means sukkos mamash. So why's the Torah telling it to you? The Rambam says no, Succos mammosh doesn't mean that we stayed in the Hilton, in the Sheraton. Succos mammosh means we were in a youth hostel in the midbar. You should know

למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל בהוציאי אותם מארץ מצרים,

when we left Mitzrayim, we didn't have five-star accommodations. No, we were roughing it, we were in the Midbar Sinai youth hostel with everything that designation implies. We were roughing it. And now when you're in Eretz Yisrael again, איש תחת גפנו ותחת תאנתו, you have to remember למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי. Where do you see it on how does the Torah reinforce this message on Pesach? So the Rambam says through the mitzvos of achilas matzah and maror. Matzah is lechem oni as the Ramban explains in Parshas Re'eh, it was a staple of our diet in Mitzrayim as avadim. Ramban explains that matzah is harder to digest than chametz. And because of that, so if you give very meager rations, so the harder the food is to digest and the sort of the longer it stays in the system, so that's why the Mitzriyim dictated that our diet should be matzah rather than chametz. That's why matzah is lechem oni. And maror is again it's clear Vayamareru es chayeihem. So the mitzvos of achilas matzah and maror also serve to remind us of yimei hara b'yimei hatova. When we're celebrating Pesach b'yimei hatova in many many times. And it's always yimei hatova in the sense of being bnei chorin regardless of what else is happening geopolitically. So we have to remember the yimei hara of avdus. But we're always a bechina of bnei chorin that we didn't have in Mitzrayim. In that sense, by definition Pesach and Succos is always yimei hatova. So matzah and maror, the Rambam says, the mitzvos achilas matzah and maror reinforce that message of remembering yimei hara b'yimei hatova. And that's where again the Rambam doesn't say that, but lichora that's where the din of מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח comes from, from this remembering yimei hara. And you're supposed to contextualize the tova by remembering the yimei hara. And so lichora according to the Rambam, the pshat is gevaldig, the answer to Rav Mi'Simcha's kashya.

בעבור זה לא אמרתי אלא בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך,

the drashas Chazal is telling us more than just the zman, ein hachi nami, so its purposes of telling us what the zman of sippur yetzias mitzrayim is, so you could have mentioned Pesach, matzah, and maror. It's all the same zman. No, but by mentioning davka matzah and maror, so then ba'avur zeh that it's referring to this yesod which mitzvas matzah and maror represent that mitzvas pesach doesn't. That sippur yetzias mitzrayim is בשעה שיש מצה ומרור מונחים לפניך, you tell sippur yetzias mitzrayim through the מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח. Okay, so.