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MATZAH AND MIDNIGHT
In the story of the Exodus, we find two separate references
to matzah.
First, there was the matzah which had to be eaten together with the Passover
offering on Passover night [Ex. 12:8], before midnight. After, there
was the matzah that was made of the dough the Jews carried with them out
of Egypt, after the slaying of the first born at midnight, when there
was an intense revelation of G-d. They left hurriedly, and had to carry
their dough away before it had a chance to leaven. Subsequently,
they baked of it unleavened bread [ibid. 12:39].
Spiritually, these two matzahs were of different essence. The first
matzah was still "bread of affliction," as it is referred to in the beginning
of the Haggadah. The eating of it before midnight together with
the Passover offering constituted what is called in Kaballistic terminology
an "arousal from below"–a movement from the Jewish people towards G-d.
This in turn elicited an "arousal from above,"–G-d's response: the after-midnight
divine revelation when "the King, king of kings, the Holy One, blessed
be He, was revealed onto them and redeemed them" [Haggadah].
The second matzah, baked only after the Jews left Egypt, after the effect
of the great revelation, is "bread of freedom." The Hagaddah phrase,
"Matzah zu: al shum mah?" refers to this latter matzah.
Leavened bread, which rises and is puffed up, symbolizes haughtiness
and arrogance. Matzah, in contrast represents egolessness.
The pre-revelation matzah and the post-revelation matzah stand for two
levels of egolessness of the Jew in relation to his Creator.
The before-midnight matzah, from the period when the Jews were still
sunk in the 49 gates of impurity of the Egyptian exile, represents the
level of self-nullification that is achieved through self denial.
In order to achieve this state it is necessary to tightly discipline oneself.
This matzah is eaten with bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness one
feels at one's distance from G-d. This bitterness in turn leads
to a certain level of nullification; it is the "arousal from below" which
evokes an "arousal from above": the divine mercies which help him to attain
his goal. Of this matzah it is said "And you shall guard the matzot"
[ibid. 12:17], for at this level watchfulness is still required to protect
against "leavening," the intrusion of ego.
The matzah that the Jews ate after midnight hints at a higher, total
state of egolessness. There is no need of struggle, because each
individual's complete existence became nullified to G-d as a result of
experiencing divine revelation. This matzah required no guarding
to prevent leavening; it was permanently flattened by the divine revelation!
This matzah is not eaten with bitter herbs, because no bitterness is felt;
at this stage the person already experiences a closeness to G-d.
In our time, both the matzah that we eat at the beginning of the Passover
night meal (for the mitzvah) and that which we use for afikomen at the
end (corresponding to the matzah eaten together with the Passover sacrifice)
are eaten before midnight. In the generations after Sinai, when the power
of mitzvah observance permeates physical objects with holiness, this matzah
merits for us also the revelation of G-dliness which our ancestors at
the Exodus had only after midnight.
Based on Likutei Torah and other chassidic sources, as cited
in V'hagadatah L'bincha by Rabbi Yekutiel Green, pp 120-121.
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