Thursday, Feb 13, 2025

Yevamos 48: Pesach, Matzah and Maror

On this daf, we find some halachos regarding slavery.

The Avnei Neizer explains the connection between Pesach, matzah and maror, the most essential aspects of the Seder: “It emerges from the deeper works that Pesach enhances the level of nefesh, maror rectifies ruach, and matzah completes neshomah.

Nefesh alludes to yearning. Consuming the Korban Pesach–or yearning while reciting the pertinent parts of the Haggadah—sanctifies one’s inner longing: he begins to desire only holiness and purity. Holy longing is also very important, just like the spiritual closeness to Hashem through fulfilling mitzvos. This is explicit in the Zohar.

Maror commemorates the bitterness of our lives as slaves in Egypt, as we find in the verse. Through eating maror, the many difficulties of life cannot break his spirit which resides in the heart. This is why maror is the same numerical value of movess—death—as the Arizal explains.

“The Zohar calls matzahemunah food.’ Matzah strengthens the intellect so that one’s emunah is based on a deep foundation of understanding. He sees Hashem in the world and remains unflappable despite difficulties.

“The common denominator is that through these three mitzvos, one strengthens nefesh, his desires, ruach, his words, and neshomah, his thoughts, enabling him to attain completion during Sefiras Ha’omer. In this manner, he becomes worthy and receives the Torah on Shavuos” (Na’os Hadesheh II, 171-172).

Twitter
WhatsApp
Facebook
Pinterest
LinkedIn

LATEST NEWS

The Beauty of Shabbos

  Finally, after generations of enslavement in Mitzrayim and a dramatic redemption, Klal Yisroel reaches the apex of creation, standing at Har Sinai and receiving

Read More »

My Take on the News

  Released Hostages Endure Degrading Ceremony in Gaza A chief topic of concern for the Jews of Eretz Yisroel—and the rest of the world as

Read More »

The Last Straw

  Every day, powerful, sometimes earth- or even continent-shattering executive orders come out of the Oval Office, signed and expounded by our 47th president, Donald

Read More »

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to stay updated