Yachatz
Why do we break the Matzah?
• It’s the way of the poor man to store something for later – who knows where his next meal will come from? • Pieces of broken crackers – can it get any more “Poor man’s Bread?” • Rabbi Shlomo Riskin mentions one of the reasons the matza is broken is because we are celebrating only partial salvation- until our full
redemption to Jerusalem we will never have complete Matzah • Rabbi Meir Goldvicht mentions that the break here symbolizes the break historic between Yosef and his brothers! Ultimate lesson – a small
fracture in family can ruin generations - but let’s not forget we bring the piece back as our Afikomen (ideally, like the story of Joseph, a sweet ending – note: please add chocolate to your afikomen) so take a look at your family and see what can be repaired
Break it? WHY!!!!!!?
I don’t get it – most of my matzot come broken, so why do I need to break the ones that actually made it in one piece? The defining characteristic of matzah is that it didn’t have an opportunity to rise – it was ripped away from the stove before it could fully develop. Heck, without any yeast – it didn’t have much of a chance of becoming something big to begin with! Now bread, bread is all blown up and bloated – a fully developed specimen – it’s gone all the way. This distinction is no different than that of a child and an adult. Children are in the process of becomingsomething(matzah)whileadultsaresomewhatbloated,alreadyreachingtheendoftheirpotential(chametz). Pesachcelebratesthe beginning of our history, of our life, of our opportunity as a nation. It is a night that we ask question upon question – they way a newly speaking child asks Why this and What’s that – with renewed intrigue and enthusiasm. But we’ve all done it before. It’s rote. It’s the same. It’s boring. No! says Yachatz. Break that! Become a child again! Don’t start this night until you break some matzah, break some preconceived notions, get back to basics! (Geoff Dworkin, NYC)
Breaking Up is Hard to do
Yachatz means “Break apart”, Yachad means “Come together”, the only letter difference are the ending letters Daled and Tzadik, which makes sense, since that spells “Dates.” (Bangachuver Rav discourses)
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