By helping Jews obtain shmurah matzah, we merit protection for the entire year.
We are all stunned and grateful to G-d for the great miracle that occurred in Detroit, in West Bloomfield. A terrorist who came to carry out an attack inside a synagogue, a place where small children are present, was apprehended before he could carry out his plan. Baruch Hashem, no one was harmed, and the attacker himself was neutralized before he could injure others. On one hand, our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude for the great miracle. On the other hand, there is also a feeling of concern: what will happen next?
Precisely in moments like these, it is worthwhile to reflect on what we are experiencing this week.
This Shabbat we took out a second Torah scroll to read Parshat HaChodesh. This special reading is always read before Rosh Chodesh Nissan, preparing us for the month in which Pesach occurs, the festival of redemption when the Jewish people left Egypt.
In this portion, G-d tells Moses to prepare the Jewish people for the night of Pesach: to bring the Pesach offering, to eat matzah, and to prepare for the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah later refers to that night with a special name: “Leil Shimurim,” a night of guarding (Shemot 12:42).
Rashi explains that it is “a night guarded from harmful forces,” as the verse says, “He will not allow the destroyer…” It is a night when G-d watches over the Jewish people and protects them from harm. The first time we saw this was during the Exodus from Egypt. On the night when the plague of the firstborn struck Egypt, nothing happened to the Jewish people. And when they left Egypt, the Torah says: “For all the children of Israel, not a dog barked.” They left proudly, in full view of the world, in broad daylight.
The Midrash Rabbah adds (Shemot chapter 18-12): “Why is it called Leil Shimurim? Because on this night G-d performed great salvations for the righteous, just as He did for Israel in Egypt. On this night He saved Hezekiah, on this night He saved Chananiah and his companions, and on this night He saved Daniel from the lions’ den.”
The Midrash reveals that Leil Shimurim was not only a one-time protection in Egypt. As the verse states, “a night of guarding for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.” Many times in history we have seen miracles and salvation specifically on this night.
For example, in the story of King Hezekiah. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, besieged Jerusalem and intended to destroy it, G-d saved Jerusalem on the night of Pesach.
The Midrash also recounts the story of Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three righteous men who were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow to an idol. They emerged alive and unharmed. This too occurred on the night of Pesach.
There is another well-known story I would like to share.
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
After the Jewish people were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, talented young men from Jerusalem were also taken to be educated in the royal palace and trained to become advisors in the kingdom. One of them was Daniel. When he arrived in Babylon his name was changed to Belteshazzar, and they attempted to train him and his friends to become fully Babylonian.
Daniel understood that the only way to preserve his Jewish identity was to establish clear boundaries. He therefore decided not to eat the king’s food and not to drink the wine from the royal banquets.
“Daniel resolved in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank” (Daniel 1:8).
In doing so he established the concept of “pat Yisrael,” bread baked by a Jew. Daniel was the first to practice this, and later it developed into a halachic practice established by the sages to help distance Jews from assimilation.
Because of his wisdom, Daniel rose to greatness and became an important advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar. Over the years, as kingdoms changed, he experienced both ups and downs. Eventually he was appointed a high minister under Darius the Mede in the Persian Empire.
The other ministers were jealous of his high position and searched for a way to bring him down. They convinced the king to issue a decree that for thirty days no one was allowed to pray to any being except the king himself. Anyone who violated the law would be thrown into the lions’ den.
They knew that Daniel prayed three times a day facing Jerusalem. When they saw that he continued to pray as usual, they reported him to the king. According to the law, Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den. But G-d performed a great miracle and the lions did not harm him at all.
Daniel was saved, proving that it is possible to rise to great prominence even in exile, to remain loyal to the government of the country in which one lives, and at the same time remain loyal to G-d. And this miracle occurred on the night of Pesach, Leil Shimurim.
Opening the Door
Every Jewish child knows that during the Seder there is a special moment when we open the door. The well-known reason is that we open the door to welcome Elijah the Prophet. In doing so we express our faith and anticipation that he will arrive to announce that redemption has come and that Moshiach is about to appear.
But there is another meaning as well.
Since this night is called Leil Shimurim, opening the door on the night of the Seder expresses our deep trust that G-d protects the Jewish people. We open the door to show our confidence in that Divine protection.
The message is that this protection is not only for great righteous individuals. Every Jew merits it. The night of Pesach is a night when G-d watches over each and every member of the Jewish people.
This is why we open the door. Not only out of anticipation for Elijah the Prophet and the announcement of redemption, but also to demonstrate that on this night we are under the special protection of G-d.
As it is brought in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch:
“We open the door in order to remember that this is Leil Shimurim, and we are not afraid of anything.” He continues: “In some places there is a custom not to lock the rooms where people sleep on the night of Pesach… so that if Elijah comes he will find the door open and we will go out to greet him immediately” (Hilchot Pesach 480:5–6).
Shmurah Matzah
There is another important concept connected to Pesach: shmurah matzah.
What is “shmurah matzah”? It is matzah made from wheat that has been carefully guarded from contact with water from the time of harvest, and sometimes even earlier. The wheat is protected from rain or moisture to ensure that no process of fermentation begins.
The wheat is then ground into flour, and during the baking of the matzah everything is done very quickly. From the moment water is added to the flour until the matzah enters the oven, less than eighteen minutes may pass so that the dough does not become chametz.
The Rebbe often encouraged that every Jew should be able to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah on the night of the Seder with shmurah matzah. Therefore he strongly encouraged the campaign of distributing shmurah matzah to Jews before Pesach.
At a farbrengen on Shabbat Mevarchim Nissan, Parshat HaChodesh, in 1962, the Rebbe especially emphasized the custom of distributing shmurah matzah. He said it should be “specifically shmurah, specifically hand-made, and specifically round, wherever it is possible to reach.” He then added: “May it be G-d’s will that through this we draw down the idea of “Leil Shimurim,” as the sages explain on the verse “A song for the day of Shabbat,” referring to the cessation of harmful forces, “until even a young child will lead them.”
In other words, when we make sure that every Jew has shmurah matzah for the Seder night, we draw the special quality of Leil Shimurim not only for that single night of Pesach, but so that G-d’s protection extends throughout the entire year, until the time when harmful forces will completely cease, as it will be in the era of the complete redemption in the days of Moshiach.
The month of Nissan is the month of redemption, and already from Shabbat Mevarchim Nissan we are standing with one foot inside the month. Our sages say: “In Nissan they were redeemed, and in Nissan they will be redeemed in the future.”
Therefore we can be confident that when we begin already from Shabbat Mevarchim Nissan to help Jews obtain shmurah matzah, we draw the protection of Leil Shimurim over the entire month.
May it be G-d’s will that this year the month of Nissan will be filled with miracles, leading to the greatest miracle of all, the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.
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