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Countdown to Pesach 12-Zbaratzer



At the Seder meal, the Zbaratzer ate only a special Matzah which is baked from special flour on the afternoon of the same day. A Chassid brought with him some ordinary matzah and began to eat it. The others rebuked him, and the Rabbi said, “Do you believe that the millions of our fellow Jews who eat plain matzah at their Sedarim are not for fulfilling their obligation, and that we are exceptionally good?” He took the ordinary matzah and ate of it, contrary to his lifelong habit (Seder haDorot haChadash, Chapter 4).

 

My father zt”l once overheard a group of us, as very young children on Yeshiva Lane, comparing whose Seder was the longest. One of us claimed, “Our Seder is still not finished!” This was at 11AM, after Morning Prayers. He called me to the side and asked, “Do you want to stay up for the Seder for the Seder or to be up later than your friends? The Seder is for you to feel the way the people did the night before they left Egypt, not to stay up later than anyone else. They were finished by midnight!”

It is common for people to compare their strict adherence to stringencies on Pesach to that of others. As they are so careful in the laws of Pesach, they end up imitating the Jews during the First Temple, who said to God and His prophets, “Keep to yourself; do not come near me, for I am holier than you (Isaiah 65:4)!” God instructed us to eat the Pesach in groups, stressing the connection we share, not using His laws to distance ourselves from each other because, “I am holier than you!” The Zbaratzer did not lower his standards for his Pesach Matzah; he elevated his adherence to the laws of the Chaburah; living in unified groups of people serving God!

One of the most important steps in preparing for Pesach is being more careful in relationships than we are with the Matzah!

iPray-Prayer Skills– All our prayers are in plural form; we pray as a unified people.

Haggadah: “All who are hungry come and eat. All who need; come and celebrate Pesach with us!”

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