Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on the commentary "Meaning in Mitzvot" on the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, which is serialized on Yeshivat Har Etzion's "Virtual Beit Midrash", www.vbm-torah.org. Subscribers are currently learning about Shabbat.

MAYIM SHELANU

(Water that passed the night indoors)

We make matzot only from mayim shelanu, water which has settled in a cool place overnight. (SA OC 455.) Some people find this a rather puzzling custom. If we are concerned about the temperature of the water, it would be much simpler to stipulate that lukewarm water is forbidden for kneading matzot. Actually, this practice illustrates a profound theme of the Pesach season.

Pesach toil as an end in itself

We are accustomed to saying that the exertion and vigilance required to prepare for Pesach are necessary in order to properly rid our houses of chametz. But the opposite is also true: the prohibition of chametz is a means to stir us to exertion and vigilance.

Exertion: By prohibiting something as ubiquitous as leavened matter, the Torah guarantees that we will be kept busy with HaShem's commandment as Pesach approaches, clearly demonstrating that we are His servants.

Vigilance: Thomas Jefferson said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"; this insight could be described as the unifying theme of the Pesach observances. Pesach is the holiday of liberty, of our passage from slavery to freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility, and the scrupulous attention to detail required to rid the house of chametz and to prepare Pesach foods both displays and inculcates vigilance and a sense of responsibility.

HONOR GUARD

One way of showing honor for something is to guard it. The elaborate spectacle of the palace guard at Buckingham palace is not required because the Queen is in any special danger. On the contrary. Any citizen requires protection when in danger, but we demonstrate our esteem of honored places and individuals by providing a special honor guard even when none is needed. This gives us an important insight into the shemira of Pesach.

The idea of watching is a central theme of the Exodus story. The root "shemira" or watching appears at least eight times in parashat "Bo", the Torah portion describing the mobilization for the exodus from Egypt. We were bidden to watch the sheep for the Pesach sacrifice several days before the holiday (Shemot 12:6); to watch the matzot (Shemot 12:17); to watch and observe the day itself as a festival forever (Shemot 12:17); to watch and keep the particular observances of the festival (Shemot 12:24); to watch and keep the observance as a whole (Shemot 12:25). Pesach night is referred to as a "Night of Watching" (Shemot 12:42), and we are bidden to watch and keep the laws of Pesach as a commemoration of the Exodus (Shemot 13:10).

This emphasis suggests that the watching or guarding, like the effort and vigilance of Pesach, is not merely a means to an end but rather an end in itself. One halakha which illustrates this is the requirement for "matza shemura". All Pesach foods require diligent shemira to ensure that they are free of chametz, but the obligatory matzot mitzva require an extra degree of watching - watching which is a mitzva in itself. (SA OC 453:4, see MB.)

We can discern the same idea in mayim shelanu. Very warm water encourages rapid fermentation of the dough, and should not be used for baking matzot. However, we do not settle for measuring the temperature with a thermometer, and we do not use water which just happens to be cool. Instead, we use mayim shemurim, water which is not merely cool but which has undergone a special process of diligent protection from warmth. There is an extra measure of exertion, vigilance, and guarding.

EARNING OUR FREEDOM

The unusual toil required for Pesach preparations is an essential preparation for the holiday of freedom. The labor of cleaning enables us to demonstrate that we are now slaves of HaShem, not slaves of Pharaoh or of worldly responsibilities. The scrupulous vigilance required to avoid chametz inculcates in us the sense of responsibility which is the hallmark of free people. And the extra, symbolic shemira of the flour and the water are a way of showing our honor and affection for HaShem's commandments.

Rabbi Asher Meir is in the process of writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. Rabbi Meir - who had given a series on Business Halacha at the Center, and has taught a series on the Meaning in Mitzvot. We hope to have him back at the Center some time in the future.

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