Most mitzvos and rituals have a commemorative or symbolic aspect: two challahs on the Shabbos table symbolize the double portion of manna on Shabbos, and sitting in a sukkah commemorates how our ancestors sat in sukkahs.
But there’s something unusual about Pesach that is uncommon, if not unique.
We don’t eat Matza because our ancestors ate Matza on the way out of Egypt; we eat Matza because of the way they left Egypt – in a hurry – בחפזון. They rushed out and didn’t have time to bake their bread, so we also eat quickly prepared bread.
“Quickly” is not a tangible event or thing. It’s an adverb; it modifies the concept of leaving Egypt. More significant than the fact of leaving Egypt is that it happened quickly.
Why is leaving Egypt quickly more significant than leaving Egypt at all?
In the context of mitzvos, Judaism highly values urgency – זריזין מקדימין למצות. R’ Yitzchok Hutner suggests that the source of this principle is derived from the Matza our ancestors ate because they left in a hurry.
The Torah urges us to observe the mitzvos, which the Midrash alternatively reads as Matzos – ושמרתם את המצות. Taking the analogy at face value, rushing to do a mitzvah is not an extra credit; it’s the only way to do it because if it’s like Matza, waiting spoils it – מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה.
The Vilna Gaon notes that in our daily prayers, we thank God for creating space and time – ברוך עושה בראשית. At the moment God took the Jews out of Egypt, they became bonded and connected to the transcendent Creator. That connection distorts time because when the temporal interacts with the eternal, the result is haste – נצחי / זמן / חפזון. The decisive moment God executed the Final Plague and won the day was a moment that transcended time; it happened in a non-moment – כחצות. God does not act in time and so does not take His time.
It might seem abstract and complex, but it’s simple and intuitive; when something matters, it demands urgency. R’ Shlomo Farhi teaches that lack of urgency spoils mitzvos because it turns sacred into profane, and something that ought to matter is relegated to another item on the to-do list.
Speed and urgency are not just descriptions of how our ancestors left Egypt; they are the only way they could ever have left Egypt. The essential point of the story isn’t simply that the Jewish People left Egypt; it’s that they left quickly. Leaving quickly is everything – it’s the magic of God honoring His promise to Avraham to bind and bond with the Jewish People forever. It was an emergency, and it had to be urgent and quick.
When the time came for God to act for us, God was decisive. When it’s time for us to act for God, we ought to reciprocate.