Matzah and The Exodus
“And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.”
- Exodus 12:39
The Israelites were driven out of Egypt and they had no time to prepare. It's interesting, because in some regards that's a victory—that's something to celebrate. God saved them. God rescued the Israelites from slavery. But they had no time to prepare for this, which speaks to how we cannot always prepare for when we will be saved from what enslaves us. Sometimes it just happens like this, and God says:
“Now's the time for you to enter through this door of freedom. And this door is not one that will remain open for you to walk through when you're ready. It is a door that I'm asking for you to walk through now. Can you trust Me? That I'll lead you in safety through the desert to the Promised Land? Can you trust Me that I will give you what you need? That I will care for your needs? Can you trust leaving everything you have and taking only what will sustain you? Not what will give you pleasure—the leavened bread—but only what will sustain you? For I'm asking you to rely on Me for your nourishment now. Can you trust in the nourishment I'll give you? Come with Me into this desert.”
And the Israelites did, whether it was through trust and faith or through fear of the Egyptians and the urgency with which they were asking the Israelites to flee. And so, matzah for me is trusting that I can be okay without the things of the world that give me comfort, like leavened bread.
There's also a spiritual teaching that yeast, just a little bit of yeast is enough, if mixed into the dough, for it to rise. Just a little bit of willingness is sufficient to grow the spirit—to walk the spiritual path. Just a little bit of willingness is enough to let God in and guide us. And yet here with matzah there is no yeast, just the basic elements of water and flour. So where is the inspiration or the willingness to allow God to guide me, if it is not the yeast? This yeast must come from walking through the door without knowing what will come. When I walk through this door in faith and trust in God, the yeast is given. The yeast is there; it’s what guides my steps through the door. And as I pass through, it is given even more.
Tanakh: A New Translation of The Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text: Torah, Nevi’im, Kethuvim. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985.
