Parsha in-depth study for advanced students. Text: Likutey Halakhos, Orach Chaim 2, Betziyas HaPas 3, Para. 1-7.
Speaker: Rabbi Nasan Maimon.
00:00 – Introduction.
02:59 – PARAGRAPH 1. Breaking bread, which part do we break off?
06:10 – PARAGRAPH 2. Matzah – mochin (consciousness).
10:22 – The ten types of work that contribute to the creation of bread.
11:54 – The final refinement of bread is by making the bracha.
14:55 – The importance of eating in a state of kedusha (holiness).
16:40 – Why we emphasize saying the “hey” in hamotzei when making the blessing.
17:49 – Why Matza is broken into portions.
21:30 – A poor person (a person without consciousness of Hashem) is not considered truly alive.
22:16 – Tzedakah (charity) is called “prusa” (portion).
23:09 – PARAGRAPH 3. Why matzah is called lechem oni – “Bread of Poverty”. Just as a poor person eats from a portion, we eat from a broken piece.
*26:17 – Hilchos aveylus (laws of mourning): A mourner is not permitted to prepare his first meal.
28:11 – Changing the “ches” of chumetz to the “hey” of matzah.
28:30 – Another definition of lechem oni – bread that is spoken about.
31:02 – PARAGRAPH 4. Based on Likutey Moharan Torah 5, the kabbalistic meaning of thunder. The main yirah (awe/fear of Hashem) that a person experiences is at the time of eating. See also 2 Likutey Moharan 7.
34:30 – PARAGRAPH 5. The first portion of bread that a person’s supposed to eat is the first part that received the heat of the fire in baking. Some say this is the top of the loaf, some say the bottom. [Practical note on how to cut and portion out a loaf of bread: after washing netilas yadayim, hold the loaf on its side, with its top facing you, make a nick in the bread that pierces from the top to the bottom of the bread in one stroke, then put down the knife and make the bracha, holding the bread in ten fingers. Then pick up the knife and cut the slices but not all the way through. Leave the pieces attached at the bottom. Then put down the knife and tear off each piece. This mesorah was observed at the Shabbos tish of R’ Michel Dorfman ז”ל.]
*37:02 – PARAGRAPH 6. Purchase of Ma’aras HaMachpeleh was the beginning of acquiring Eretz Yisrael. The main flow of blessing comes through Eretz Yisrael, so the main elevation of bread takes places here. The letter hey in Avraham’s name was added in connection with his entering Eretz Yisrael.
40:11 – PARAGRAPH 7. The connection between Avraham Avinu‘s purchase of Ma’aras HaMachpeleh and the holiness in matzah/bread.
41:12 – It’s important to eat meals in a state of simcha – joy.
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