Pshuto Shel Mikra Teaches Halachah L’Dorot Alongside Midrash Halachah

שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ:

For a seven-day period you shall eat matzot. (Shemot 12:15)

As we will see on numerous occasions throughout this sefer, it is often the case that the halachah as derived through midrash halachah is not in accordance with pshuto shel mikra. In those situations, we no longer look upon the pshat as teaching us halachah, but rather as teaching some broader Torah message that pertains to that particular mitzvah. However, there are times when the pshat and the midrash halachah differ, and yet the pshat is still teaching us halachah regarding that mitzvah — alongside midrash halachah! A classic example of this idea can be found in one of the mitzvot of our parshah — the mitzvah of eating matzah.

Regarding eating matzah on Pesach, the Torah writes (Shemot 12:15), “שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ — for a seven-day period you shall eat matzot.” Nonetheless, the midrash halachah tells us that there is a chiyuv to eat matzah only on the first night of Pesach.[1] For the rest of the seven days, eating matzah is classified as “reshut,” which literally means “optional.” The basis of this halachah is one of R’ Yishmael’s Thirteen Principles for deriving halachah, which teaches that when something is initially part of a klal (general rule), and then is mentioned by itself apart from the klal in order to teach a new halachah, this serves not only to teach that halachah regarding the specifically mentioned item alone, but rather to teach it regarding the entire klal. Thus, although the pasuk in Shemot says to eat matzah for seven days, a different pasuk (Devarim 16:8) says to eat matzah for six days, which renders the seventh day as being excluded from the mitzvah. This then teaches us that in fact all seven days are excluded from the obligation of eating matzah! The special mitzvah of eating matzah on the first night of Pesach is derived from a separate pasuk (Shemot 12:18) that says “בָּעֶרֶב תֹּאכְלוּ מַצֹּת — on the evening [of the first night of Pesach] you shall eat matzot.”

This entire situation leaves us with a basic question — namely, if indeed there is no mitzvah to eat matzah apart from the first night of Pesach, why, then, did the Torah write that we should eat matzah for seven days, which then required it to “unwrite” it so that there is no mitzvah at all? Or, to put it differently, the halachic arithmetic regarding this mitzvah seems to state that 7 + 6 = 0![2]

From the words of the Vilna Gaon we may deduce an answer to this question on the level of pshat (Maaseh Rav siman 185):

During the entire seven days of Pesach, eating matzah is a mitzvah; the Gemara only calls it “reshut” in contrast to the first night, which is a chovah (obligation). A “mitzvah” relative to a “chovah” is called “reshut.” Nevertheless, it is a mitzvah d’Oraita.

Here we see that midrash halachah and pshuto shel mikra are telling us different things about the very same mitzvah, and both of them are halachah d’Oraita! The midrash halachah determines that there is no chiyuv to eat matzah after the first night of Pesach. At the same time, the fact remains that the pasuk stated explicitly that we are to eat matzah for all seven days, which on the level of pshat clearly sounds like a mitzvah! The Vilna Gaon explains that the midrash halachah relates to the chiyuv of matzah, whereas pshuto shel mikra teaches us that even if there is no chiyuv during the seven days, there is nonetheless a mitzvah, and it is a mitzvah d’Oraita.

In the Rishonim

It is possible to identify a precedent for the Vilna Gaon’s approach to the mitzvah of eating matzah in the words of one of the Rishonim, the Chizkuni. Commenting on our pasuk, where the Torah seemingly commands us to eat matzah for seven days, the Chizkuni writes (Shemot 12:18):

There are certain matters where one who fulfills them receives reward, and one who does not fulfill them incurs punishment, for example, eating matzah on the first night (of Pesach); and there are other matters where one who fulfills them receives rewards, while one who does not fulfill them does not incur punishment, for example, eating matzah from the first night onward…the pasuk says “You shall eat matzah for a seven-day period,” as if to say, if one eats matzah during these seven days he has fulfilled this pasuk.

The Chizkuni has thus also identified eating matzah during the rest of the seven days of Pesach as something which, while not obligatory, nonetheless represents the fulfillment of a mitzvah. This type of mitzvah is known as “mitzvah kiyumit,” as distinct from most mitzvot in the Torah which are in the category of “mitzvah chiyuvit” — obligatory mitzvot.[3]

This week’s divrei Torah are dedicated le’ilui nishmas

Victor Haim Levy

חיים בן פרחה ודוד

ת. נ. צ. ב. ה.

[1] See Rashi Shemot ibid., quoting the Mechilta.

[2] See Pesachim 38b and Menachot 66a where the Gemara raises this question and explains how further halachot are derived from the Torah having written the mitzvah in this way. Both those explanations are themselves based on midrash halachah, so that the question yet remains on the level of pshuto shel mikra, as to why the Torah seemingly commands us to eat matzah for seven days.

[3] We should note that the idea of mitzvah kiyumit exists not only with regard to aspects of a mitzvah, but can also define an entire mitzvah within the Taryag Mitzvot. Thus we find, for example, the Sefer HaChinuch (mitzvah 43) writes that the mitzvah of yi’ud, which is a master marrying a girl who has been sold to him as an amah ivriyah (Jewish handmaiden), is not obligatory, rather, if he does so he has performed a mitzvah. See also Rashi to Shemot 20:1, s.v. vayedaber, “…for there are parshiyot in the Torah where if one fulfills them he receives reward, and if not, he does not receive retribution.”