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Pesach 5775
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 

Connecting to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"שבעת ימים תאכל מצות"

"Blessed are You HaShem our God Master of the Universe who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to eat matza."

Pesach has such a strong emphasis on eating that its most dominant name in the Torah is the 'Festival of Matzot'. Ideally, when we can bring the Pashal sacrifice, the eating of the Paschal lamb and the bitter herbs are all Biblical commandments. Yet still, when we don't have the Paschal lamb the eating of matzot is still Biblically ordained while Marror is Rabbinically ordained. The obligation on eating on Pesach is so strong that we are even bidden not to leave any remnants of the Paschal lamb uneaten till midnight (Rabbinically, Biblically-till morning), and if such remnants are found, they must be burnt. We can tie the levels of this eating obligation to levels of sanctity. In regard to seder night the day is holy but the matza within itself is not a holy food. In contrast, the Paschal lamb is a holy food, and therefore must be eaten entirely, as is the case with other holy sacrifices.

Interestingly, we find that in the Holy Land too there are foods that must be eaten (drink/used as ointment) and not discarded or used for other purposes, albeit not in such rigid constraints of time, place, and people, such as is with sacrifices. One example of such a food is truma, which is mandated by the Torah to be eaten, and our Sages learn that drink is considered under the category of 'eating' along with ointment which is considered similar to drink, as it says, 'and it entered his innards like water and like oil upon his bones'. Another example of this special conduct with food is in the case of the fruits of Shmita year, which, although not called 'holy' in the same sense that truma is called 'holy', are considered to retain a certain type of 'holiness'. In this matter too our Sages interpreted the Torah's command on Shmita's produce 'to be eaten' to mean that this produce must not be ruined. Practically speaking this means that the fruits of shmita may not be discarded in a way that ruins their edibility. This holiness has other ramifications as well, such as 'sanctifying' the money used to buy such produce to be used in the same manner as were the fruits.

Hebron, our roots to the Holy Land, conveys both the message of the sanctity of the Land of Israel and the roots of our people as conveyed in the matza, our People's first food. Actually, the first place that the Torah teaches us that matza was eaten is no other than Elonei Mamreh, Hebron, site of Avraham's encounter with the three angels. This reminds us that just as matza conveys the first vital food of our People as 'nursing milk for the infant' that must be re-lived every year at Pesach- the holiday of re-birth, so too Hebron conveys the first vital location rooted to our People, its message evermore powerful throughout the generations.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #114:

"One night, I organized a group of people to learn at Maarat HaMachpela, but I was detained from coming to learn there myself that night. Nevertheless, I decided to 'join' them virtually by learning at home. At 2:15 I became tired and fell asleep. The next day I checked with my friends till when did they study at Maarat HaMachpela. To this they answered: 2:15."

Sources: Trumot 11, 1

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