R’ Shlomo Carlebach a’h
Everyone wants to be free, but how do I start believing that I could become free? How do I get my mind out of Egypt?
The Zohar Hakadosh says that a baby does not know whom their father or mother are until it eats bread. That means that bread gives strength to my mind to be connected to those who love me. Only after I eat bread do I know what life is all about, do I know whom my father and mother are. Now listen to something even deeper. Matza gives my mind strength too, but it’s working from another side. Eating matza gives me strength to be connected to myself and to all who are important to me – but this connection is done without thinking about it. How so?
Reb Nachman says there are two kinds of minds. There is a slave mind and a free mind. A slave mind always has ten thousand excuses to not get out of something. Everybody is drowning in something, Egypt is all about getting out of what you drowned in. Everyone is tied to something, chained to something. We need to have serious compassion on our souls to just get out of it.
We all go through plagues, witnessing tremendous miracles, but so many of us are still in Egypt. To really leave the things you are tied to, to leave all the things you had excuses for is the greatest test in the world. Everyone talks about how beautiful it would be if they could set themselves free from whatever is holding them back, but unfortunately most people can’t let go.
How do you get out of Egypt? “Bechipazon” (Shmos 12:11). You have to get out fast. How do you run out of Egypt? Reb Nachman says something unbelievably deep. How fast can I walk while I am thinking? Very slow. When you are talking to someone and are engrossed in conversation, you walk very slowly. But if you want to run, you have to stop thinking.
I must remember that I am not my mind, I am stronger than that. I have to stop my mind. So therefore Reb Nachman says that matza is called the bread of poverty. We are not necessarily talking about poor people can’t afford bread, we are talking about poverty of the mind.This means that in a good way - I have no mind . The Gemara says Ein Ani Ela Beda’as (Tractate Nedarim 21:1). A poor man is someone who doesn't think. But on Pesach I flip this concept over. On Pesach I am so strong, I say to myself 'I want to be poor. I got to get out of Egypt, fast’. If I stop thinking – I become poor, I have no mind. I might be poor, but this is the sign of utmost strength. What’s the sign of having a strong mind? When my mind says to me 'stop thinking, right now there is no time for thinking, just do it’. What does Matza do to my mind? My mind tells me 'let go, let go... it's okay, I know what to do'.
