Passover - and Matzah ! - are just over two weeks away.
So let’s explore the Passover experience, and the Matzah, our famous brittle bread.
Most of us know the narrative's basics:
The Jews were enslaved in Egypt, until G-d told Moses that it was time to liberate them, and started to afflict the Egyptians with plagues.
Then, two weeks in advance, G-d gave Moses the process of liberation:
A. On the night of the Exodus, the Jews were to have a special meal, consisting of a Passover offering, Matzah and bitter herbs.
B. Later, at midnight, G-d would inflict a final plague on the Egyptians.
C. The Jews would leave in the early morning hours.
Ultimately, they needed to rush when they left and their bread didn’t have time to rise. So the dough was made into Matzah instead.
Those are the basics.
Note that the Jews actually had two Matzah experiences. There was Matzah on the planned-in-advance, Passover evening menu. And then they had a second Matzah experience, which seemed to be happenstance.
Now to the subtext:
In Chassidic thought, simple Matzah represents humility (as distinct from the puffed-up ego represented by bread).
Self-absorption desensitizes us to our need for spiritual growth, creating a daunting "personal Egypt". By contrast, Matzah represents humility and openness to self-improvement. It also represents faith, which is receptivity to something greater than us.
So, G-d told the Jews to find a Matzah mentality, and thereby leave their "personal Egypt." They met their objective, and opened the way for a second level of Matzah, a deeper dimension of surrender.
The first Matzah represents the Jews' self-generated submission to G-d. The second experience was Divinely-granted, generated by G-d’s revelation of Himself to the Jews at that time. With that experience, could any vestige of shallow self-interest possibly remain?
So Passover had two stages: Once the Jews had worked with themselves to find humility and faith, G-d granted the Divine coup de grace to their ego struggle.
That second Matzah wasn't planned, and it wasn't in our hands to create. It was a Divine gift. A gift that keeps on giving.
This year, at the Seder, we can experience both Matzah levels, because G-d grants the gift, again and again; if we’re ready for it.
The preparation begins now.