Hi,
We face a basic challenge in setting up our matzah for the seder. On one hand, we need lechem mishneh,
two matzot, just as we use two loaves of bread at our Shabbat meals. On
the other hand, we want to fulfill the biblical description of matzah
as lechem oni, which one view on Pesachim 115b explains as
"bread of a pauper". Normally, our two loaves are whole, but a pauper's
bread is broken; he doesn't eat from whole loaves at each meal.
The
Rambam (Hilchot Chametz uMatzah 8:6) and Vilna Gaon (Orach Chaim
473:4:שלשה) say to use two loaves, and to break the second one; although
we have whole loaves on Shabbat, we won't at the Seder.
Most
families, though, follow Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 473:4 and use three
loaves, breaking the middle one at Yachatz. We hold all three together
when we recite the usual berachah of HaMotzi, so that we have two whole
loaves as well as the broken one.
We then put down the bottom
[whole] one, and retain only the top [whole] matzah and the broken one,
and recite the berachah of Al Achilat Matzah, "on eating matzah". In
this way, the second berachah, which is the more specialized berachah
for Pesach, is recited with clear-cut "paupers' bread".
Have a great day,
Mordechai
Showing posts with label Pesach: Seder: Motzi Matzah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pesach: Seder: Motzi Matzah. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Haggadah: The Message of Motzi
Hi,
Some Haggadot count Motzi as a section of the Haggadah unto itself, separate from the section called Matzah, because two unique blessings are recited upon the matzah, the blessing of hamotzi and the blessing of al achilat matzah.
Rav Kook suggests that Motzi deserves its own section, because the berachah itself - hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz - conveys a unique message about our national redemption.
Normally, blessings recited before eating food speak of Gd as a creator, borei. Here, though, we bless G-d who is motzi, who "brings bread out of the ground." Rav Kook explains that other foods are accessible in raw form, but bread, by definition, is a processed product, not a raw material. In order to eat bread, one must take the raw grain, grind it, add water and then bake it. This is the process of "bringing bread out of the ground," and this bears the title of Motzi.
The Motzi phenomenon affects the Jew as well. In Egypt we were a raw material, which needed the processing of redemption. Today, too, we exist within humanity, but our exposure to Torah processes us, aiding us in emerging in a new form, with which to provide benefit to the world.
Have a great day,
Mordechai
Some Haggadot count Motzi as a section of the Haggadah unto itself, separate from the section called Matzah, because two unique blessings are recited upon the matzah, the blessing of hamotzi and the blessing of al achilat matzah.
Rav Kook suggests that Motzi deserves its own section, because the berachah itself - hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz - conveys a unique message about our national redemption.
Normally, blessings recited before eating food speak of Gd as a creator, borei. Here, though, we bless G-d who is motzi, who "brings bread out of the ground." Rav Kook explains that other foods are accessible in raw form, but bread, by definition, is a processed product, not a raw material. In order to eat bread, one must take the raw grain, grind it, add water and then bake it. This is the process of "bringing bread out of the ground," and this bears the title of Motzi.
The Motzi phenomenon affects the Jew as well. In Egypt we were a raw material, which needed the processing of redemption. Today, too, we exist within humanity, but our exposure to Torah processes us, aiding us in emerging in a new form, with which to provide benefit to the world.
Have a great day,
Mordechai
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