א וַיִּקְרָ֖א אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר ה' אֵלָ֔יו מֵאֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד לֵאמֹֽר׃
VaYikra 5724
Alef.
1. The view expressed in the Mechilta and in RaShI insists that despite what the verses appear to say, the only time there is an obligation to eat Matza is on the first day specifically upon the night of the Seder. Ibn Ezra in all three of the citations states that there is an obligation according to the Peshat (he leaves open the possibility that using hermeneutical principles, a different conclusion could be arrived at), there is an obligation to eat Matza each of the days of Pesach.
2. Shemot 12:15 “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. “
Ibid. 18 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.”
Ibid. 20 “Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.”
Ibid. 35:2 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death. “
Devarim 16:3 “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for in haste didst thou come forth out of the land of Egypt; that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.”
Ibid. 8 “Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God; thou shalt do no work therein. “ but the obligation to eat Matza on the seventh day is not mentioned.
R. Eliyahu Mizrachi states that RaShI’s derivation stems from an inference drawn from the end of Devarim 16:8, rather than from the comparison between the beginnings of Shemot 12:15 and Devarim 16:8, because perhaps one could claim that Shemot 12 is speaking about specifically the Pesach in Egypt, whereas Devarim 16 is speaking about Pesach LeDorot (all the times going forward, following the Exodus.) Consequently, nothing of substance could be established by contrasting these two verses. However if I can make the point internally, within Devarim 16:3, then I have a proper principle that will apply to future generations.
3. There is a literary parallelism between Shemot 35:2, where the weekdays are being contrasted to Shabbat, and Devarim 16:3, where the first days of Pesach are being compared to the last one with respect to eating Matza. One might have thought that just as during the week, one can perform Melacha if he wishes, but is not obligated to do so, so too re Matza, one can choose eat it during Pesach but it is not necessary, comes Ibn Ezra to say that this might be true about the last day of Pesach, but not the first days when eating Matza is an obligation.
4. It seems to me that Ibn Ezra mentions that the Jews followed the Anan until Pharoah and his legions drowned at the Sea of Reeds, in order to demonstrate that since they had to subsist on something, i.e., Matza, before they were given Manna to gather, it would make sense to assume that in order to replicate the Exodus, they should be required to eat Matza during this period.
5. When compared with the sequence in Shemot 12:15, first the obligation to eat Matza is stated, only then followed by the prohibition to eat Chametz. In 12:20, the opposite sequence appears, i.e., first the prohibition against Chametz and then the obligation to eat Matza. Having both elements in the same verse, and even interchangeably with respect to sequence might buttress Ibn Ezra’s contention about the obligatory nature of eating Matza throughout Pesach, i.e., just as the prohibition regarding Chametz remains the same throughout Pesach, similarly the obligation with respect to Matza also remains the same over the course of the holiday, an obligatory rather than an optional directive.
Beit.
1. a. אין הכריח לדמיונים.. Just because the Jews may have eaten Matza during the first seven days of their fleeing from Egypt does not mean that we have to do an identical thing when we commemorate the Exodus during Pesach. “There is nothing compelling about comparisons, that they should be absolutely identical with that to which they are being compared.”
b. והראי' על זה The proof to the fact that we would be commanded to observe seven days of eating Matza, even if the Jews had only eaten one day, is the Mitzva of Sukka. Although the Jews lived in Sukkot for @ the entire forty years of their desert wanderings, the Mitzva to commemorate such a lifestyle is for Jews today to annually live only seven days in the Sukka. So a seven day festival will be Commanded regardless of the actual length of time that was originally experienced during the historical period that is being commemorated.
c. לאמרה בדברים הנהוגים בטבע Lit. “to say/Command things that are naturally done”. Since bread is the staff of life, and people eat bread regularly for their sustenance, why should a Commandment be given to eat bread (in this case Matza) throughout Pesach; wouldn’t everyone do this anyway whether or not they were Commanded in the Tora?
d. כי אנו זריזים בזה מאד The term to be “זרוז”, i.e., diligent, carry out with alacrity, is a term that is used with respect to ideal Mitzva observance. Here Ibn Kaspi is employing the term ironically with respect to ordinary, everyday practice, specifically in terms of bread consumption. While an individual might have to will himself to be זריז with respect to a Commandment that does not come naturally, such is not the case with respect to daily bread consumption.
2. In verse 16, Ibn Kaspi is directing his comments at what Ibn Ezra said in יסוד מורה שער ה' regarding the fact that the reason why there is an obligation to eat Matza for seven days during Pesach is because the Jews ate Matza for the first seven days following the Egyptian Exodus.
In verse 20, Ibn Kaspi is challenging Ibn Ezra’s comments in 12:16 and יסוד מורה שער ה' where he states that there is an obligation to eat Matza for seven days on Pesach. Ibn Kaspi says it would be a nice thing to do as a commemoration of the Exodus, but it is not obligatory.
3. By quoting Shemot 20:8 “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; ” Ibn Kaspi is illustrating that not everything that the Tora mentions is inherently a Mitzva, but rather could be a description of what is normally done, in this case that aside from resting for a day, people do Melacha for six.
4. By saying “מן היותר נאות הוא לאיש ואיש שיאכל לפחות כזית מצה יום יום”, he is escalating the practice from optional, mentioned by the Midrash Halacha and RaShI, to either Hiddur Mitzva or Lifnim MiShuat HaDin.
Gimel.
א וַיִּקְרָ֖א אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר ה' אֵלָ֔יו מֵאֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד לֵאמֹֽר׃RaShBaM: Both the “calling” (ויקרא) and the “speaking” (וידבר) emanated from the Tent of Meeting.
HaRechasim LaBika: The Etnachta under the word “משה” instead of “אליו” suggests that a distinction must be made between the act of calling and the act of speaking, with the former not necessarily being connected to the Tent of Meeting, only the latter.
From a logical point of view, as long as the communication took place inside the Tent of Meeting, there is no reason that the calling should have emanated from there as well. Moshe after all would be outside the Tent of Meeting when a Divine Call would come to him. It is possible that the Call would start from within the Tent and then reach Moshe wherever he might be (RaShBaM) but it is equally conceivable that since even if His Presence was Concentrated in the Tent of Meeting, HaShem’s actual Presence is everywhere, Moshe would receive prophetic instruction anywhere he might have happened to be, to go to the Tent of Meeting in order to receive specific instructions.
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