לכל יהודי צריכה להיות מצה

00:01 Okay, we have two letters that we're looking at today from Igress fifty years ago, and they're both about Miv-Mivtza Matzah. That's what we're gonna talk about today is Mivtza Matzah. The Rebbe's investment in making sure that every single Yid has some matzah for Pesach. I wanna begin and end this year by mentioning that we do have such an opportunity right here where we live. Adam, uh, Adam Goodfriend is, um, is handing out/selling beautiful Mivtza Matzahs with Haggadahs and all of the cheder that you might need. He's down the street, and if you need information on how to take part in this mitzvah, Mivtza, it's both, then, uh, then you should reach out to me or to, uh, Levi Tachtel or to Adam Goodfriend. Uh, there's a whole group invested in making sure that all of the Anash are able to fulfill this Mivtza of the Rebbe. What is the Mivtza of the Rebbe exactly? Well, we have a couple of letters today. I wanna read those letters, then I wanna do kind of a historical perspective. So I found a-- I don't think there's a single volume of Igress that doesn't, at significant length, talk about the Rebbe's interest in making sure everybody has matzah. I found at least two letters in ours. They're short. This one appears on page kuf nun beis. It's letter number yud, the tav shin chaf hei, and it was sent after, um, or after Pesach, le'achrei chag haPesach. Okay. But anyway, uh, they write to the Rebbe saying that

01:10 they did a very good job with the shalach manos, with the Mivtza for shalach manos. They'd handed out shalach manos and done other Mivtzaim for Purim. The Rebbe writes back to them, "Thank you very much for the besuras tovos." I'm in this top line here. Certainly, you'll also do this when it comes to Mivtza shmura. The Rebbe calls it that a lot 'cause it's a Mivtza for shmura matzah specifically to hand out shmura matzahs, not just any old matzah, specifically round ones, specifically handmade ones. The Rebbe wants us to hand them out, and he says, G-d should grant you success in this. We have another letter from our year where again, the Rebbe says this and adds a little more detail. This was sent in Adar Sheni, tav shin lamed gimel, letter number yud tav shin lamed bev. The Rebbe says to this person, that you should send everybody, uh, all the people that we mentioned, a beracha for the chag haPesach, and the main thing you should send them, ktzas. I don't know what that means, ktzas. I think the ktzas is going on the next word. the main thing you should send them is ktzas shmura, a little bit of shmura matzah, I think. And you should send, send them also a Haggadah Shel Pesach with an English translation along with the shmura matzah. And you should ask them, they should eat that matzah. They should read the Haggadah on the two nights of Pesach. The Rebbe wants, in this particular letter, not

02:24 just to send matzah out, but to send instructions along with the Haggadah, sort of cheder that goes along with the mitzvah. And there's a bit of a history to, uh, the Rebbe's interest in Mivtza Matzah. I wanna start it where I haven't found anybody else to start it. I, I think if you, um, if you look at the supplement that I sent around in the WhatsApp group, I sent you a Der Her article which talks about the-- some of the history of the Mivtza Matzah. I wanna go back even earlier, um, long before the Rebbe started talking about it in, uh, in Yud Dalet was the first time I think the Rebbe talked about Mivtza Matzah. The Rebbe's father was deeply invested in the Mivtza Matzah. He didn't call it Mivtza Matzah, but the Rebbe's father probably more or less got arrested for it. Um, it's sort of a family business. The Rebbe Leivick was mesing nefesh to ensure that there were kosher matzahs under the communists. It was nineteen thirty-nine when the government decided-- the Russian government decided that they were going to make all of their matzahs in-house, and they weren't kosher. They were, they were completely-- They were matzah. They were flat pieces of bread, but they were chametz. And at the time, there were also ration cards for, for flour and, uh, there was a food shortage. It was basically impossible to get matzahs, and whatever matzahs you could get were put out by the government and they were treif. So

03:24 the Rebbe Leivick wrote to them. He visited a bunch of government offices. He bribed a bunch of people. He insisted on being the rav in charge of making sure that Russia's matzahs were kosher, and he succeeded. He actually got them to agree to keep what he wanted them to keep and to send his rabbonim around to each of the factories, and for him to get the right to throw out flour if he thought they'd made a mistake. It says in Rebbetzin Chana's diaries that at one point, uh, somebody called him about a significant amount of flour, pounds and pounds of it, that had sat for five minutes longer than the eighteen minutes, and he told them to throw the whole thing away, which under Czarist Russ-- which under, sorry, under communist Russia was, uh, was unthinkable, and he had the authority to do that. So they gave him real authority over these matzahs. Um, he traveled a lot. It, it did, it did a number on his health, and, uh, ultimately, he didn't get to enjoy it at all, as a matter of fact. I'm sure he spiritually enjoyed it, but in nineteen thirty-nine, just before, just before Pesach, like eight days before Pesach, he was arrested, and that was the arrest that I believe he never came out from. He was ultimately sent away. So that was his, that was his big arrest and interrogation. That was leading up to this, and a lot of their questions at their interrogation centered around his investment

04:21 in matzah. The Rebbetzin Chana writes in her diary that, uh, I'm quoting here in the English translation, "Even under the old Czarist regime when religious observance was strong, no other Jewish community managed to accomplish what my husband, that's Rebbe Leivick, achieved under the communist regime." Um, during the interrogations-- she writes in her diary that during the interrogations of Rebbe Leivick, one of the questions that they asked him was how he was able to carry out an enormous matzah-baking operation for a religious purpose under the communist regime during a time when there was a food shortage and a flour shortage specifically. And Rebbe Leivick told them that he bribed all of the government officials who were supposedly coming after him now, and they just-- they had no answer to that question. So the, the Rebbe's family, this is, uh-- I mean, you know, we, we don't really talk this way the Rebbe in Gashmius. But the Rebbe's father is the, is, is a progenitor of matzahs in-- under terrible conditions, and the Rebbe certainly takes this idea of matzah seriously himself. I think the story really starts back there with the Rebbe observing how Rebbe Leivick's mesing nefesh for matzahs. In any case, the story as far as we really know, it starts in the year tav shin yud dalet. It's printed in Likutei Sichos in the first volume, fairly famous sicha. I think we should read it together, though, 'cause this section of it's not really very long. It's where the Rebbe introduces the idea

05:29 that he wants a Mivtza Matzah, that he wants us to hand out matzahs. I have it on the screen in front of us. I have, uh, it's in Yud over here, right? 'Cause that's where the previous one ends. So the Rebbe writes that in Chodesh Nisan, we find a bunch of different things going on. There are some things that are deoraisa, some things derabanan, there are some minhagim, some Torah, some rabbinic, and some customs. The main thing happening in Nisan is Chag HaPesach. So the whole point of Nisan is really Pesach. That's the main event. So even in Pesach, you have things that are Torah-mandated, t- things that are rabbinically mandated, and things that are minhagim In the past, The Rebbe says there used to be a minute that Rabbonim in every town would send matzahs to their congregants, to their, uh, to their Baalabatim. They would send them, uh, six matzahs for the two sedarim, or at the very least two matzahs, which would go in the center middle matzah to be their kazais for the middle matzah. And the Rebbe said the reason for this custom in the old country that Rabbonim would send their congregations matzahs is because right? That was creating a source of parnassah for the Rab. But they were worried about a main thing. There are also a lot of dinim in, uh, in making matzahs, and not everybody knows how to do them properly. A lot of people used to make their matzahs on their own. So there's

06:56 sort of a twofold purpose. It was a moneymaker, and it also was a way of the Rabbonim ensuring that their communities got a matzah. The Rebbe says for various reasons, this is no longer the custom in a lot of places, and everybody's supposed to fend for themselves and pick up their own matzahs. The Rebbe says it's not important to get into right now why this minik isn't prevalent anymore for Rabbonim to send their congregations matzahs. What I really wanna say, The Rebbe says, "What I wanna ask, and if it was in my power, I would command the following." And of course, it is in the Rebbe's power to command 'cause we'll listen. So this is a-- The Rebbe says, "If I could command, I would command." I, I hear a command. The Rebbe wants to reinstate the custom that Rabbonim send matzahs to their Baalabatim, to their congregants. But not just Rabbonim. Anybody who has a in any regard, a Rav, a sheikh, or a shamesh. Or or anybody who knows that if they send somebody matzahs, that person will use the matzahs. So he's expanding this significantly to say that this isn't just something he wants Rabbonim to do, to send-- Rabbonim should send to their Baalabatim. He would like to command, if he could, that every person who has any influence over anybody should send them matzahs, just like in the old days. Specifically round ones. Specifically handmade ones. Specifically shmura matzahs. And that will cause hundreds and maybe even thousands of the

08:24 Jewish people to eat matzah as is-- as they're supposed to and behidder, and in the highest way possible. I think that, uh, I think that'll do it for us here, unless I wanna do... Ah, let's do this last paragraph. We only have a paragraph left of the Sifra. The Rebbe says there's an incredible segulah to these first two matzahs being done properly, the matzahs used for the mitzvos of Seder. Like Uzairah says, That one night cures and one night gives faith. I don't know why the Rebbe does it backwards, because it's is the first night and is the second night. Faith is the root of all mitzahs and of all life in general. When you fulfill a mitzvah the way that it needs to be done properly, this gives life and energy to all of your for the entire year. That should be a healthy year in rachnius and also a healthy year in gashmius. This is where the Rebbe introduces the idea that he wants there to be a Mivtza Matzah. Uh, many years later, this is taf shin lamed daled that I have on the screen in front of you. The Rebbe comments on the way people have picked up his Mivtza, and he's partially pleased and also partially not. Uh, there's, there's strangely-- I, I, I haven't really seen this language on Mivtza before, and I like it. So we're gonna read this one together, too. This is from taf shin lamed daled. The Rebbe says, "Many years have already gone by

09:37 where there's been a Mivtza Matzah and a Mivtza Shemura." And the Rebbe says, "I'd like now that a few years..." Well, it's been exactly twenty years at this point. This is lamed daled. So twenty years after the Rebbe introduced it, he'd like to be-- he'd like to point something out. Maybe people aren't completely clear, The Rebbe says, "In case things have been unclear, in case I haven't been clear about this, I expect you to spend all of your final days and hours before Pesach doing this, making sure that your friends and neighbors and colleagues and everybody you know has Shmura Matzah." They keep on doing it. The Rebbe says the opposite. Somebody who has a hundred wants two hundred. So if you've handed out a hundred Mivtza Matzahs, he wants you to do more. You've been doing it up until now. Great. That means you have a hundred. Wonderful. You have to want to give out even more. So the Rebbe does not feel that we can spend a day giving out Shmura Matzahs and then say, "Okay, now it's time to clean for Pesach." We're supposed to be doing this right up until the edge of the holiday. Then it says Use those extra hours and days leading up to Pesach to hand out more matzahs. And if you did a great job and you really have been on overdrive handing out matzahs, you already have two hundred, it's not enough to add another It says a person who has two hundred should demand

10:49 four hundred. So the Rebbe wants us to be really working on this right up until the final minute, making sure that every Yid has Shmura Matzah Pesach. And, uh, this here is a little harsh. It says, The point of Mivtzaim, the Rebbe says, is not that we should fulfill our obligation to love our fellow Jew. I did my job. It's not about what I do. It's about the fact that I need to help somebody else, and it's not about me needing to help them. It's about them needing to be helped. You gotta uncenter yourself from the equation, so you keep on doing it. Jumping down to the third to last paragraph or the fourth to last, where he says, regarding this, it's well understood. Anytime there is any Jew anywhere, man or woman, child or adult, that is still found in your area, and then the Rebbe defines your area. What's your area? Your immediate area is defined as the entire world. And he explains why, because everybody has to say that the whole world is our world. So if there's anybody in our area, and by that the Rebbe means anybody in the world who does not have Shmura Matzah, a child, an adult, a man, a woman, he doesn't have Matzah Shmura. He doesn't know how important it is. There's no doubt There's no doubt whether we need to do something as long as there's anybody in the world who doesn't have Matzah Shmura or doesn't know about its value, we need to

12:15 be working up until the final minutes of Pesach to make sure that they get some of that. I have an interesting letter down here that I don't know how much a individual is in the room, but, uh, if it is for anybody, maybe-- I, I don't know who needs to hear this, right? Maybe somebody does. This is a letter where somebody wrote to the rebbe saying that they had anonymously arranged that everybody at their workplace or in their immediate area could get matzahs, and the rebbe was not happy with this. The rebbe was not happy that he did it anonymously. So the rebbe writes, this is the letter, this is letter if you wanna look it up from . The rebbe writes, responding to what you wrote to me on I'm very happy to hear that you participated in handing out shmurah matzahs. It seems that no-- you write later on that it's-- that basically nobody knows that it was your initiative that caused these matzahs to be handed out. this is humility that has no place. excuse me. if people knew that you were the one who caused this to happen, that, that you were the person who arranged these matzahs, then they would start listening to you in general when it comes to basically, in your workplace, if you do happen to arrange that a lot of people get matzahs and they don't really realize it's from you, this takes away the opportunity for you to become the local authority on Torah and

13:37 mitzvahs in your workplace or in your, or in your, or in your social circle, and that means that they don't have somebody reliable to turn to who they would have otherwise. The last thing that I wanna talk about here is a letter from it's letter labeled which talks about the fact that shmurah matzah, although the rebbe did in this prior sit we talked about, say, it's really not about you, it's not about me fulfilling my mitzvah after the it's about what that person needs. There is an advantage that individuals get who participate in this mitzvah, a powerful advantage. The rebbe writes, and he's received their letters, et cetera. I wanna go down here. you talk about matzah shmurah. the rebbe says, "I wrote to you about this in a prior letter." We don't know what it says, but now we're gonna continue. it's understood from what say the way that expression goes is however much a rich person does when he gives a poor person money, by the poor person receiving the money, he's doing an even bigger favor for the baal habayis. So what's understood here is that when it comes to matzah shmurah, however much you think the person's benefiting from receiving matzah from you, you're receiving a lot more from giving it to them. the rebbe says the supply is certainly giving tzedakah, which is the example in the Gemara, and to other times you help another Yid, but it applies more to matzah than it does to anything else. That of

14:55 all the mitzvot, the one that you stand to gain the most from is matzah shmurah, more than, more than mitzvah tefillin, more than handing out prutah to an oni. There's a specific way in which matzah shmurah, when you hand it out, benefits you more than-- I guess you get more dividends from this mitzvah than other mitzvot. And the rebbe says, like the rebbe says, that we saw from many students in there was a complete change in them, when it came to baking matzah shmurah. So I went and looked this up. I had a vague memory of it. It is in the very beginning of Likutey Dibburim. The story that he's referencing is that the rebbe used to be involved in interviewing students that would join shortly after he became, or maybe right before he became the of the, of the, of the new in Lubavitch. One of the guy-- one of the, uh, one of the talmidim who came to one time, I brought the here, so I wouldn't forget the, the of what he looked like. One of these talmidim, I'm down here in this paragraph that's on the screen, um, he says that, uh, the paused and looked at the student's file more carefully than the other ones, and he says that although this seemed to have good talents, at the same time, it looked like, uh, based on the interviews that he'd been through, he had some midas chasis, he had some, he had some rough midas, and he had some, uh,

16:11 probably some midas, and also his face wasn't particular-- wasn't particularly sweet looking. There was something about his face that was off. So the guy had a, uh, the guy had a rough-looking face and a rough-looking personality, and it wasn't clear he was gonna fit in a but the admitted him and told the that he was going to have to do something special to bring this guy up to par to be like the other Hasidim. He was, uh, he was welcomed in, but he wasn't Hasidish enough. So the put him through a routine, and the main routine he put him through was before Pesach, he put him in charge of all the matzah baking. And he said he worked him harder than any of the other students. That all the students were involved in matzah baking, but he really made this guy do all the hardest work. He made him clean the most for Pesach. He had him very much involved in getting Pesach ready. And after that whole experience, after that whole experience, the returned and at a Pesach, he said the following to his son. He said his son's name. He said, if you ever wanna see the value of sweat over a mitzvah, look at this boy. When, uh, when he's looked at this-- He then points to this boy from before and says, his face has changed. the of this child is gone completely. and he looks like a person now. So in this story, the says that there was a student

17:21 who came, who was and a, and a face that I don't know what it means exactly. He had a rotten face. And, uh, and through the work of Mitzvat Matzah, Matzah Shmurah, specifically baking matzahs, but as the rebbe says in our letter, this applies to anybody involved in the mitzvah of, of and sending out matzah shmurah. It turns somebody who wasn't-- didn't naturally have the, the qualities of a Hasid into somebody who can be a Hasid. So it seems even more than most mitzvot, certainly we all benefit from mitzvot. This Mitzvat Matzah specifically benefits us in such a way that if we happen to have some qualities that we're not particularly proud of, that make us perhaps not fit to be tumim on the surface, the thing that brings it out, brings out our true qualities and makes us tumim and makes us Hasidim, makes us fit to sit at the table as it so to speak, uh, is, is Mitzvat Matzah more than any of the other mitzvot. So there's also an advantage that comes from us being involved in it. Uh, once again, we have to start-- we have to end the way that we started, which is this is not theoretical. There is, uh, there is, there are a ton of, uh, mitzvot matzahs available, like pounds and pou-- hundreds of pounds available for us to pick up down the street, and we can all go to our neighbors, to our friends, to our colleagues, and make sure that they all have

18:25 matzah shmurah and take part in this mitzvah that I think starts all the way back from Rabbi Levi and goes all the way up to, uh, all the way up to the present era. Okay, that's it. Comments, questions?