Mission: Impossible?

What a long, hard week this has been. After eighteen difficult, uncertain days waiting for news about our three kidnapped brothers, our hope sprinkled with anguish, we heard the final, tragic news of their brutal deaths.
 But, despite all the heartache and tears from those events, the thing that pained me most is what happened afterwards.
Ninety nine percent of my corner of the internet was filled with articles, stories, and all sorts of propaganda laden with commentary about violence and retaliation on our end. About more bloodshed through revenge and anger. And then, counter articles degrading the fellow Jews suggesting those actions along with endless negative reports about Israel.
Why was this so bothersome? I'll explain it based on a possuk from this week's parsha, Balak.

Balak, the King of Moav, is afraid of the Israelites who will soon be passing through his homeland on their way to Israel. So, in the hopes of destroying them, he hires a non-Jewish prophet, Bil'am, to cast terrible curses upon them. As the story goes on, we see that God did not allow Bil'am to do this and, miraculously, He turned the curses in his mouth into a series of beautiful and poetic blessings for the people of Israel.

The very first of the curses that became blessings, goes like this:
"Hen Am Levadad Yishkon Uvagoyim Lo Yischashuv" -"Behold it is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations."

Apropos much?

Yes, we have felt lonelier than ever as a nation during the last 20ish days. How much attention has our story of abduction received in the press? How much support have we received from world leaders?  Not much. 
But, I can't really blame them, what with way bigger things going on in the world. 
They're not my problem.
This isn't the loneliness that dispirited me.

Our aloneness is not about isolation, distrust or discomfort from the other nations; but rather about unconditional unity and solidarity among the Jewish nation. That no matter what, I got your back and you've got mine.
The unity that formed during the infamous 18 days of hope, was stronger than I've ever seen among us. Jews from every corner of the world, of every color and form, united together in prayer, action and thought. United with one common goal: to #BringBackOurBoys. 
That was all that mattered. 
Because, when a family member is suffering, we are all in pain. And with the tragic ending to the story, each one of us lost a piece of our hearts along with them. 
The connection we formed all across the globe, was inspiring, enriching, and empowering. 

And that's why what happened afterwards was such a deep stab in the heart.

Revenge? Counter attacks? Bombings? More violence? More bloodshed?

Yes, we need to recognize evil and reject it. We need to be passionate about right and wrong.
 But, as Jews, we always take the high road. We don't stoop to the level of our attackers. 
We can never stop terror. Making peace when only one party wants it is a mission impossible. Our job is not to stop terror, we will never succeed at it.
Our job is to continue living! To unite as one, with a common goal, hold each others' hands, and plow through! To never let them break our spirit! To never let them break our unity!

Because, yes, we are alone. We are alone in our uniquness, in our connection with God, and in our common bond; the Torah. 

And just like we were able to unite so strongly during times of darkness, we need to spread that unity and carry it into the light. More tolerance, more empathy, more warmth, more smiles, more love.
The more unity we have, the less jealousy there is in the world. The more compassion we have, the less judgement there is.
Are we really, truly, sincerely happy for our friends' successes? Do we honestly wish for their uninterrupted joy and blessing?

There's a quote Ive seen that's gotten quite a bit of attention:

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."

I disagree.

Most of the time, we run to help people when the bus breaks down, but turn our noses up when they're riding in their limo's. Real unity, real uniquness, real love, means feeling the happiness and success of our friends' and not just their sorrows. 

We are a nation in solitude. We are one with each other because we are one with Hashem.

Have a beautiful shabbos!

Yaffa

Some People Are Wise; Some Are Otherwise

I found this story in Rav Dessler's michtav me'eliyahu, and he writes there that he saw it written by Rav Hai Gaon.
Obviously Im paraphrasing.

 

The setting is a forest with a lion and a fox conversing calmly. The fox remains cool when the lion casually asks if he can eat him for dinner. 

Now, the fox knows that the lion is an Atkin's kinda guy.

"Your majesty," explains the fox, "I'm a skinny and bony piece of meat. I will be a fat free, carbs free, taste free dinner. I know just what will satisfy you. I will introduce you to a very fat human being who will serve as the most tasty, luscious meal for his majesty".

They walk a few feet and stand beside an invisible pit, covered with only branches and leaves. Behind it sits a Jewish man wrapped in his tallis and tefillin.

"Hmmm" drooled the lion, "he looks real tempting. But, I'm afraid he might start praying and then something bad will happen to me...".

"Oh, don't be silly," replied Mr. Fox, "nothing will happen to you, or to your son. Maybe your grandson will have to suffer for it, but that's really far ahead. By the time your grandson comes around you would have enjoyed this (any many more) tantalizing meals. Don't worry, Your Highness, indulge!"

 

The lion's persuaded and runs towards the man. While running over the covered pit, he falls inside and is trapped.

Smirking, the fox peers over the edge of the pit and looks down.

"Didn't you tell me that the punishment would only come upon my grandson," growled the angry lion? 

"Hmmm...," the fox scratches his head, "...maybe your grandfather did something wrong, and now you're suffering!"

 

This humorous little fable is actually a lot deeper than it appears on the surface.

In this week's parsha, Korach, who was an intelligent man and an honorable person, made a grave mistake. He, along with 250 heads of the Sanhedrin, openly accused Moshe and Aharon of making the fate of the Jewish people worse by taking them out of Egypt. 

Between you and me, this is the stupidest thing Ive ever heard. It was obvious that life outside of slavery was ideal and more enjoyable, and yet, Korach and his teammates (including the renowned delinquents Dasan and Aveeram) insisted with such certainty about the misdeeds of Moshe and Aharon, that it actually sounded true and convincing.

Sometimes we come across the most intelligent, educated people who vigorously argue their opinions and convictions, when there's no doubt that what they're saying is in complete contrast with the Torah. 

We have to be careful not to let their intelligence blind us from realizing that we cannot trust them when their personal desires block them from seeing the truth. Since they're so smart, they can use their intelligence to mislead others into accepting their argument as truth and logic. When we have our own agenda, we can easily fail to focus on the truth, but rather everything seems to surround our personal desires. This, needless to say is very dangerous.  
This, is how Obama became president.

 

The most obvious contemporary example portraying this idea would be $$$$ . How many marriages suffer because of misuse of money? How many times does one spouse mindlessly spend more than they earn causing the breadwinner to either go into heart attack induced debt, or, worse, leading them to work dishonestly to fulfill the spouses' desires? We can easily be carried away by our wants, (aka needs) allowing ourselves to further crooked our priorities. The same thing is with honor. On whatever level, a person running after fame or recognition can be blinded from the truth while trying to reach his goal. 

 

Getting back to the forest scene from earlier, maybe the lion fell into the trap simply because he was attracted to some fatty meat? His desire prevented him from seeing what he realized afterward was the truth.

 

We have to be on guard constantly. Either we're bound to meet people who seem smart, but are doing things we know are anti Torah, and  we need to not be misled by their charm and intelligence. Or, we, ourselves might arrive at a moment where our personal desires may start taking over our knowledge of right and wrong, and therefore we have to have clarity of mind and be focused on the truth in order to assure that our personal agenda will not interfere.

 

 I don't know about you, but I can never have a piece of chocolate cake or full fat ice cream all by myself. I always need to know that someone else is gonna gain the weight too, so before I indulge I run around looking for people to share in the delight with me.

Nobody likes to sin alone. We tend to drag people down with us. If we have a convincing argument, they're certain to join us.

Korach  and his people were intelligent, high class, educated men who had a convincing argument which contradicted the truth. These are the kind of people we have to keep our distance from... and also, to be cautious not to become one of them.

  

Have a great shabbos!

Yaffa

Pizza Or Donuts?

Some people seem to have perfect lives. I know families who have multiple BMW's and go on yearly cruises, and have beautiful, smart, healthy children, they have respectable careers, they give of themselves to the community, they're popular, have harmony in the home...I mean, can anything get better? 

And yet, most of these people, rich, full lives and all, seem to feel as if their lives are chocolate glazed donuts. Yes, life is full and rich and shiny and enjoyable.... but there's a hole in the middle. Something's missing. There's a level of real happiness and contentment that's just not there.

The parsha this week speaks about reward and punishment in regard to the mitzvos. Im bechukosai teleichu...if you go in the way of my chukim...then the Torah goes on to list a whole bunch of brachot that'll come your way. But, im bechukosai tima'asu...if you despise my chukim...then the Torah presents a whole group of klalot- curses to send upon the person.

I have 2 questions on this:

1. Why does the possuk use the word teleichu, which means to 'walk' with the mitzvos instead of the word tishmoru, to 'keep' the mitzvos?

2. What exactly are the chukim?

So, Rashi answers the second question. He says, shet'hiyu ameilim baTorah... put effort into learning Torah.

So, instead of solving this problem, I think another one was just created. Rashi seems to be explaining that the learning of the Torah is a chok.

What's a chok? It's a law in which the human mind can't see the reason behind it.

Is Rashi telling us that learning Torah is a chok? It would seem to be a mishpat, since we do know why we learn it!

 We learn Torah, so that we can keep it!

Like, when that long awaited moment of receiving a drivers' license arrives... in order to be able to do the driving, you must first learn how to drive.

How are we supposed to keep the mitzvos without first learning what they are and how to keep them?

Here's the amazing chidush. The learning, itself, is not a chok. Of course we understand why that's a must.

 It's the ameilut, the toiling in Torah that we don't understand. The constant delving into deeper depths, the round the clock shuckeling, the never ending thumb swaying... that's what we don't understand. How can it be that people spend 50 or 70 years of their lives sitting on a bench, that might as well have been a swing, and read, learn, and shake, and actually feel fulfilled?

It's because they understand the beauty of Torah, they appreciate its worth. If someone came into your office five minutes before closing time and offers you a million dollars to stay five hours overtime, who will think twice about staying? Of course you'll work longer, since you understand and appreciate the value of the dollar.

So, the learning of the Torah, we understand is a mishpat, but all the extra toil is a chok since we, as outsiders, can't humanly understand why someone will stay up til two AM learning, only to wake up again at four and resume, but he does it because he appreciates it and loves it. And that brings him to an increasingly high level of happiness. True happiness.

Now, remember  the other issue we had? The 'walking' thing?

This is the act, other than breathing, that comes most naturally to a person. You don't have to think 'right, left, right, left...' as you walk, unless you're at your graduation. You just walk.

To walk, is literally a way of life, since it's one's most natural action.

 The Torah is supposed to be not something we just 'keep' or 'do' or 'study'. It should become a way of life. Like we walk without thinking, since it's a part of us, we need to do the mitzvos like they're a part of us. They need to become a part of us.

Remember the people we spoke about whose donut lives have holes in them? So here's an idea. Let's fill up the holes!

Listen to the recipe:

 There are some donuts that come filled. Let’s take one that’s filled with jelly, as our example.

There are 2 types of Jews in the world:

A Jelly Donut Jew and a Pizza Pie Jew.

Which group are you a member of?

When you have a pie of pizza, and you have 8 people waiting to eat, you slice up the pie into 8, pull out each sizzling slice, and each person receives their own piece. Now, say we have a jelly donut with 4 people waiting to indulge. So the donut gets cut into 4, with each person receiving a quarter, but together with each piece, comes along a little bit of the jelly in each corner.

Because the Jelly is the central point of the donut.

There are different ways of using our unique Jewish lives. We can act and dress and speak and think just like our  coworkers or neighbors, although of course remembering to throw in some prayers and maybe even bentch... where each slice of pizza is individual and disconnected.

Or, we can act, speak, dress, feel, think, and walk like a Jew no matter where we work, or what we do. Each action will have a little bit of the jelly at the tip. Every step we take will be guided by the Torah.

Because Judaism is not a religion. It's a way of life.

We walk with it.

 This is what brings us fulfillment and happiness. This is what people need to fill into their holes in order to be truly happy. A life of understanding and appreciating the value of Torah , and bringing it into your life making it part and parcel of who you are.

BRING ON THE JELLY!

And since I’m in a poetic mood….

As you go through life,

No matter what your goal

Keep your eyes upon the donut,

And not upon the hole.

Have a great shabbos

Yaffa

The Crime Of Mediocrity

There are many cross breeds out there on the farm, but the most common one is that of a donkey stallion and a horse mare. What evolves is a Mule. The mule is known to be exceptionally strong. The reason being, that although the offspring is fully developed as a male or female, it is almost always born sterile, and therefore, unable to naturally further mule production. 

Sometimes, when an animal has a certain blemish or imperfection, that lack is compensated by an increase in strength or value of the animal. Unlike the mule who's sterile by birth, some animals are purposely castrated in order to increase their strength.

But, as taught to us in Parshas Emor, although these animals with blemishes might have a greater value because of it, they are still unfit for a korban.

 

Throughout the Torah, we find that completion and wholeness takes precedence over quantity. Say you have two types of bread on the table in front of you. One is a large loaf, conveniently pre-sliced. The other is a round, bite-size roll, strangely resembling a meatball. Which of these would have the honor of receiving your Hamotzee? Obviously the meatball one. Why? Because although the other is bigger and fluffier, and you even bought it at the French bakery, it has a blemish. It's not whole anymore. So the bracha goes on the one that's whole and pure, since that perfection makes it more choshuv.

 

Our avodas Hashem is not measured by quantity, but rather, by how close it is to perfection. The object of the game isn't about how many chumrahs we take upon ourselves, but rather, how carefully we do each mitzvah.

 

There's a gemorah that says: Haosek b'mitzvah patur min hamitzvah, when you're busy with one mitzvah, you're exempt from doing another one. Why is that? Shouldn't we spend the whole day grabbing 'em off the shelves and filling up our shopping carts with as many mitzvos as we can fit in? 

Sort of, but not quite.

 

When we're involved with a mitzvah, we have to make sure that it will be done properly and with completion. The gemorah warns a person very sternly, listing terrible punishments  which will be brought onto one who doesn't finish a mitzvah that he started. The idea is that if you're gonna do something, do it right. Otherwise we're settling for mediocrity. 

Mediocrity is problematic because it means that one does not allow himself to do or become something of ultimate value and therefore he sells himself short. Like, if someone would steal my Porsche and sell it on Ebay for the best bid. Ouch. That's painful, because it's worth so much more than that.

And this is the meaning of the gemorah- that we should be so focused on and active about the mitzvah at hand, and on trying to fulfill it to completion and perfection, that we don't have to get involved with another one until the original is successfully done.

This gemorah is especially popular among my crowd of procrastinators. I wanted to copy it and hang it up in my office (I'm president of the popular club, Procratinators' Unite...Tomorrow), but never got around to it yet.

 

But, to my chagrin, this focus on the 'one mitzvah at a time' thing is not to excuse nor encourage laziness or stagnation. On the contrary. Of course we're trying to fill up our shopping carts, but if the new item is going to ruin one of the old ones in there, it's better that we first move the old one out of the way before adding a new one. If taking a new mitzvah upon yourself is going to interfere with doing the present one properly, we are not obligated to accept the new one. But, a person who wants to have the most items at checkout is going to finish up the original mitzvah quickly, and complete it as fast as he can, in order to be prepared to start the new one. So it's constant movement, focus, involvement, thinking, and determination. 

 Let's talk about mediocrity.

 Listen to this great story about a great person, with a great moral. 

Rav Simcha Wasserman once gave an ultimatum to the principals of a few yeshivos in the United States, telling them that they have to make a choice. Either they teach secular studies properly and thoroughly in their yeshivos, or they shouldn't teach them at all. Because otherwise, he explained to them, they're teaching their b'nei Torah to be mediocre. And that's a crime.

We have to try our hardest to reach perfection in our actions. We have to give everything our best shot.

Success isn't measured by quantity, but by quality. 

 

It's not measured by how many kids we have, but rather by what kind of parent we are to them. Not by how many people we were mekarev, but by how much of a kiddush Hashem we make in their presence. Not by how many items we sold in our store today, but by how much of our heart was in it, and by how beautiful our business ethics were.

 

So, an animal can have many extra qualities because of a certain negative physical condition, but since it's lacking in its ability to reach perfection, it will be rejected as a korban. 

Before I sign off, there's one small thing bothering me.

We're supposed to be perfect. Yet, as human beings, we never can be. 

So why don't I just stop before I even start, so I don't hafta look like a drop-out?

 

Because no one is actually saying that we have to be perfect.  

Nobody is perfect; that's why pencils have erasers. Human beings are not capable of creating perfection, only God can make something perfect, and I really don't want His job. 

What can we do, though? Great timing for this question. We're in the process right now of counting the days of sefiras haomer. We count up to 50, which is the numeral representing perfection. But we don't actually count the 50th day. We stop at 49. Because we're not capable of reaching perfection. 

But, we are capable of counting 49, and by counting 49, it's as if we counted 50. Why? Because 50 is the automatic result of putting in effort and achieving the first 49.

 

Now in English.

 

We cannot be perfect, but we can desire perfection and strive toward it.  

There are no perfect people in this world, only perfect intentions. 

We have to aim for the top and try our best in all our actions. If we spend 49 days striving for completion and perfection in our avodas Hashem, the results will be viewed by Hashem as perfection, as they're carried up to 50.

 

I just wanna share with you something awesome that I heard from a former student Leba (you know who you are) who heard it from Yocheved (you also know who you are), with special thanx to her anonymous chavrusa (do you know who you are?) and here it is. It's a mishnah in yuma:

 

Lifnei mi atem metaharim umi metaher eschem- Avichem shebashamayim- before whom are you purified, and who purifies you? Our Father in Heaven.

 

Take the word mi that's written twice. The numerical value of that word is 50. So now, let's understand this quote differently.

"Before 50, we hafta purify ourselves,  (umi) and from 50, Hashem purifies us." 

How awesome is that?!

Have a beautiful shabbos,

Yaffa

Does My Holiness Have Holes In It?

 Parshas Kedoshim begins with the commandment for us to be holy, just like Hashem is holy.

What is holiness? What does it mean to be a person of sanctity?

Does holiness mean kissing every mezuzah within arm's distance throughout your day?

 

Maybe the Holiness Award goes to he who can shuckle the most wildly, both frontward and backward and still maintain his balance.

 

Perhaps a person of sanctity is one who carries a magnifying glass around his neck so he can be confident that each glass of water he drinks is 100% bug free?

Maybe it means prohibiting the internet till it just obliterates from the world! 

Or, banning exercise classes that don't limit their music to Yeshiva Boys Choir!

 

Oh, I know- holiness means making a bonfire and burning your avoda zara sheitel. Or better yet, if you wanna be one of even greater holiness, go pick a sheitel store of  your choice, and burn it down to the ground! C'mon- DO THE WORK OF THE LORD!

 

I'm afraid not, my friends. Perhaps we should take a close look at the words in the p'sukim to help us understand what it means to be a truly holy person.

 

The very first sentence written, after telling us to be holy, is not, surprisingly,  'shmoneh esrai should take a minimum of 25 minutes.'  
It says  'HONOR YOUR PARENTS.'

Then, the verses continue with a large variety of mitzvos- bein adam l'chaveiro, between man and his friend. Yes, there are some commandments that are bein adam laMakom, between man and God, but the overwhelming majority seem to be focused on the proper behavior patterns among human beings.

 

In order to bring Kedusha, holiness, into the world, we need to exercise the use of our souls. 

You can understand this by taking a good look at your neighborhood cat. Or, maybe at your neighborhood dog. I'm lucky- on my street, I have more dogs than people, so visualizing the scenario is easy. Could those animals ever be holy? I don't think so. An animal behaves on impulse. He acts based on his instincts. There are absolutely no thoughts activating his actions. He just does what his nature leads him to do. When a cougar attacks someone and kills them, he's behaving according to his nature. Free choice does not exist.

 

True holiness and sanctity are brought about by an action as a result of a thought process. Not by simply following impulses, but by fighting for the truth, and by making a clear decision to do something right. Because every time we decide in the affirmative and therefore do a positive action, we become holier and we bring holiness into the world.

Now, of course there's kedusha in mitzvos that are bein adam laMakom. Plenty of it. Those are also human acts that depend on the spiritual side of a person. But the ultimate in sanctity is dependent on our behavior in the earthly, worldly activities. On channeling our impulses and choosing correctly.

You can take every chumra you've ever heard of upon yourself, and fast every other day, and buy only Glatt kosher and cholov yisrael... but while waiting on line for it you're blabbing loshon horah on your cell phone with one hand, and with the other, you're elbowing the guy who took your parking spot, and you're giving the death stare to the lady in front of you because she took the last fat-free carb-free taste-free potato knish...well that's a bit oxymoronic, dontcha think?

 

We need to ask ourselves, "Am I holy, or am I holier than thou?"
Big difference.

So, the chidush over here is that who we really are, and how we rank on our level of spirituality, is based on our behaviors bein adam l'chaveiro. How we speak to others, and how we respect them. Dealing fairly with others, feeling and showing care and concern, judging favorably, giving tzedakah, giving our parents the proper honor and respect that they deserve, going the extra mile for someone,  etc... That's how we measure true holiness. That's how we become sanctified people.

 

But we must remember an important factor. All of my actions between man and man, must still be done on God's terms, and not on my own. Because once the mitzvos become dependent on my own emotions, needs, or satisfaction, Im entering the dangerous zone of following the Torah out of convenience and not out of obligation. This leads to Selective Judasim.

So, for all of you out there who are trying to change the world, here's an idea. Let's try forgiving someone who wronged us and not bearing a grudge or not taking revenge, and watch the world transform into one of true holiness. 

 

Have a beautiful Shabbos,

Yaffa

The Message Of Pesach

With sincere apologies to Parshas Acharei Mos, this week we'll be discussing the upcoming yom tov of Pesach.

This is not gonna be one of those ¨Pesach is about cleaning the chametz, not cleaning the chandelier¨ posts. 

But, it is true that when simply hearing the word Pesach, many of us transform into some kind of unrecognizable form of ourselves. Even if the P word is mentioned in July.

Panic, anxiety, and hyperventilation creep up on us, and though we try to bury the negative feelings, sometimes a tad of loathing comes to join the emotional party.

 

Is this really what Pesach is supposed to be like? Somehow I don't think God had intended that this holy and delightful holiday become a turn-off to all family members living with a harried pre Pesach woman.  

Our families were not meant to be the karban pesach.

We are commanded to get rid of the chametz. Period. No need to remove the curtains, paint the house, or go through picture albums from the 80´s. You´re not missing much anyway in those albums, it´s just a bunch of hairspray and leg warmers.

And when was the last time you ate your peanut butter sandwich while hanging from the chandelier?

Exactly.

So, I´m going to take just a few minutes to focus on what Pesach is and to stay away from what it's not.

Pesach, in a nutshell.
Hehe.

The Jews were set free from two hundred and ten years of bitter slavery. The possuk writes that they left Egypt bechipazon, in a rush, and if they would not have left at the exact moment that they did, they would not have been worthy of leaving at all!
At this point, the Jews as a nation, were on the forty ninth level of impurity. Had they stayed in that morally depraved country for another minute they would´ve fallen down to the fiftieth level, the lowest possible one, disabling their redemption permanently.

Ok. I have a problem with this. After taking two hundred and ten years for them to fall down to the forty ninth level, remaining in the curruption for three and a half seconds longer would cause them to fall down a whole nother level?

Rabbi Akiva Tatz says, it wasn´t the Egyptian influence that would have caused their descent. The offense would have been an internal one. It would have been the waiting, itself.

Laziness. Procrastination. 

Had they decided to first finish the game they were playing, or finish a conversation with someone, take a nap before the trip, or even finish the bread they were baking, they would have been guilty of procrastination. They couldn't even stop to take a salvation selfie!
Because that moment of procrastination would have been a transgression so great that it would have rendered them...and us...slaves, forever and ever.
That´s a frightening thought.  
My name would probably be Yafhadenijad.  I wouldn´t even know how to spell that.

Bechipazon. THAT was the second to act, and not a moment later.

I once missed out on an opportunity to suggest a shidduch between two people, because I moved too slowly. I was very young and felt intimidated to call. I had this excuse, and that one. On the day that I finally decided to do it, I heard the news: They had gotten engaged! To each other! 

I had lost that irreplaceable mitzvah. And the shadchanus money.
 

I have another question. 

We all understand the reason we have to eat matzoh on Pesach, but why do we have to get rid of all the chametz? On sukkos we move into the  sukkah, but we don't have to destroy our homes while eating in it!

So why isn't it enough to just eat matzoh- why are we commanded to get rid of all the chametz as well? 

I have another question.  
Why do we start counting the omer on the second night of Pesach and not on the first?

Ok, I´m gonna be very Jewish for a minute, and answer my questions with another question.

What's the difference between chametz and matzah?

Look at their spelling. They both have a mem,and tzadi. But their third letters are different. One has a ches, and the other, a hei. The difference between a ches and a hei, is just a teeny tiny line. But that minuscule line is the entire difference between the two.

Now, check out their ingredients. Flour, and water. They're both made out of the same exact things.

Being that both of these items are so similar, it arouses my curiosity that eating one of them on Pesach is such a great mitzvah, and eating the other is such a great aveirah.

So, what exactly is the halachik difference between the two? 

1- Time factor. For the matzah to be kosher, it has to be completely finished within eighteen minutes. Otherwise, it's  chametz.  
It needs to be made immediately. 
No procrastinating. No being lazy.

2- Constant work. As long as the dough is being kneaded consistently, it's good to go. When you stop kneading it and leave it to sit around, it starts to rise a bit, causing it to become chametz. 
No procrastinating. No being lazy.

Everything in the physical world is mirrored in the spiritual world. Cleaning for physical crumbs in all the cracks and crevices of the home is meant to reflect cleaning the hidden corners within ourselves to get rid of spiritual crumbs.
  
 Matzah is simple and humble. The only way for it to lose that status is through lack of movement and work. 

We, too are born simple and humble. But if we let ourselves sit around, we stop working on ourselves, and we become chametz. Because when we sit, when we´re spiritually lazy, we start rising. Our ego's naturally get pumped with helium. We become arrogant.

Throughout the year we are obligated to remember our stay in egypt and our negative experience there, but we can be surrounded by chametz while doing so.

On Pesach, we have to concentrate so intensely on what happened in Egypt, that we can't be distracted by the chamtez. Nothing can get in the way of our focus on The message of Pesach. 

The message of Pesach is so important that we cannot even focus on the highlight of history, the essence of who we are, the day of matan Torah!  

That´s why we count the omer starting on the second day of Pesach instead of the first, so that our focus on the seder night can be purely on the message of the chag.

The message of Pesach is TIME MANAGEMENT. 
Physically, as well as spiritually, we gotta move immediately and consistently.

Remember the famous story of Rabbi Akiva? He eventually became the greatest Torah teacher of all time. But in order to achieve that status, his selfless and devoted wife, Rochelle, encouraged him to travel to a top yeshiva where he can study away from home and uninterrupted for twelve years. 
As arranged, he returned home after being away that long, and as he approached his house, he heard his wife having a conversation inside with a neighbor. The neighbor, clearly impressed with her sacrifice and determination, asked her how she would react if her husband walked through the door and announced that he wants to return the yeshiva for another twelve years.
Her response? GO!

Rabbi Akiva heard her answer, and without missing a beat, turned 180 degrees, and his destination became one with his original departure.  He stayed at the yeshiva for another twelve years, becoming the preeminent Torah teacher that he was, and molding 24,000 students into true talmidei chachamim and future Torah teachers.

There´s one little detail that always bothered me about that very inspiring story. He didn´t see his wife for twelve flippin years! Couldn´t he just go in and say hello? Couldn´t he drink a cup of coffee with her before departing again? 

After learning about bechipazon, I have my answer. 
No. He couldn´t. 
Had he gone in to see his wife, he may never have left again.
Rabbi Akiva knew that he needed to make a split second decision. It´s now or never.  

THAT was the second to act, and not a moment later. 

One more question, just to fill up your seder with lots of ´em. What does chametz have to do with the avoda of pesach? Why doesn't chametz interfere with Rosh Hashana, or Shabbos?

  
 The only time we have an obligation from the Torah to educate our children, is at the Pesach seder. As a matter of fact, that is the entire point of Pesach. V'heegadita l´bincha... Transmission to children.  

At the seder, we do everything just for the kids to ask and learn. But, a person cannot transmit when he has gaava, arrogance. 

 Because an arrogant person doesn't listen to anyone, and therefore doesn´t learn from anyone. And he can't connect with those that he's teaching.

A person can only teach something to others when he has humility.

And, this is why, right after we learn the message of Pesach from Rabbi Akiva, each of his 24,000 students fell sick and left this world. 

Why did they die? They lacked respect for each other. They didn’t hold each other and each others’ knowledge with the proper esteem and regard.
Because of that lack of humility and respect, they were unable to properly transmit the Torah and therefore had to be disqualified.

Time management. 
The time is now.

It seems like a message so simple and insignificant for a holiday as grand as Pesach. 

Simple? Indeed it is. It´s that little miniscule line causing the hei to become a ches.  
It´s that little mitzvah that I lost forever.
It´s that little split second decision of doing something now...or perhaps never.

Chametz or matzah. Arrogance or humility. Life or death.

Insignificant? Indeed it is...if you´d rather still be living in Egypt and wearing a vintage burka.
 

Btw, I used blue ink this week because I'm in middle of cleaning out my black ink cartridge for Pesach.

Have a great shabbos and a chag kasher v'sameach.