digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Approach Pesach and the matzah as an object of a mitzvah, seeing each matzah as a vessel of blessing and each person as a kli (vessel) for holiness, and teach children to view the matzos this way. The transcript centers on a story from Rabbi Paysach Krohn about Reb Shia Hunger, a Skverer Chassid who judged the matzos at the Skverer matzah baking for years out of a sense of tikkun (spiritual repair) after his wartime role at Auschwitz.
Key Points
- The matzos are presented as a mitzvah object: their purpose is to fulfill a commandment, so they arrive at the seder table special.
- Reb Shia Hunger, known as the "shiber," insisted on personally judging each matzah even when he could no longer take them out of the fire, seeing each matzah as a face.
- Rabbi Krohn links the matzos to people: unlike challah, matzah is given an identity at the seder ("Ha lachma anya"), and we are told to see ourselves as matzah.
- Each Jew, whether Kohen, Levi, or Yisrael, is described as a kli (vessel) capable of holding blessing.
- Rabbi Krohn applies the same lesson to his own family: after marrying off his youngest child, he bought his wife a silver vessel engraved with all the children's names, calling it a kli mashkeh bracha (vessel that holds blessing).
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Take children to see the matzah baking process at least once or twice, so they understand how the matzos are made and why each one matters. Teach them to view each matzah as a mitzvah object and as a person-like entity, and to see themselves as vessels for blessing at the seder table.
- The Skverer matzah baking involved dough being parceled out, rolled, perforated with a tool, placed on a long board into a large fire, removed with a long pole with a flat wooden end, and inspected for height, bending, and bubbles.
- Reb Shia had served as gabbai to the current Skverer Rebbe and the previous Rebbe, and, according to the story, he had been forced to walk alongside flatbed trucks of 60-70 bodies at Auschwitz to make sure none fell off, and then place them into the crematorium.
- Rabbi Jonathan (Johnny) Schiff of a Manhattan shul reported the story, and the baking has been done together with the Skverer Rebbe and over 100 Chassidim for about 10 years.
- The Yiddish term "shiber" is given for the matzah-removing role, and Rabbi Krohn asks for the word's origin.
Bottom Line
The matzah's identity and purpose as a mitzvah object is meant to shape how we see ourselves and our children at the seder: as vessels for blessing.
