PESACH - Matza of Faith

Matzah, the unleavened bread, (the Bread of Faith) is the most prominent item at the Pesach Seder.
It is the "bread of poverty" that symbolizes our hardship under Egyptian slavery. It is also the "hasty bread" that did not have time to rise, reminiscent of the nature of our redemption -- the sudden, overwhelming change that the Almighty performed in our lives. At the stroke of midnight on Passover night, G-d instantaneously transformed a materially and morally impoverished clan of slaves into a free people -- into the nation chosen to be His "light unto the nations" and to play the central role in His purpose of creation.

We did not have the time to divest ourselves of our slave mentality and to comprehend the significance of the role for which we were being chosen. All we had was our faith in G-d -- a faith that had persevered throughout our long and harrowing exile.

It was this faith, that took us out of Egypt and set us on the road to Sinai.

Faith got us out of Egypt, but it could not get Egypt out of us. To become truly and inherently free we had to change from within, by means of a gradual process of internal growth and development.

So following the instant exodus of Passover, G-d embarked us on a regimen of self-refinement and transformation. Only at the end of a forty-nine-step process (which we re-experience each year with the 49-day Omer Count) did He enter into His covenant with us at Mount Sinai.

At Sinai, when we received the Torah, we had internalized the faith of the Exodus. We had attained an understanding and appreciation of our mission as G-d's holy nation.

Does Matza have a taste? Yes! It's the taste of faith, the taste of commitment, the taste of self-sacrifice.