Summary: How shall we spell מצות here in Behaaloscha? The Zohar
seems to indicate that it is
chaser, which goes against all known
sefarim as well as the
masores. But I rescue the Zohar's statement.
Post: In the laws of Pesach Sheni, in Behaaloscha, we read {
Bemidbar 9:11}:
| יא בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם, בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם--יַעֲשׂוּ אֹתוֹ: עַל-מַצּוֹת וּמְרֹרִים, יֹאכְלֻהוּ. | 11 in the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; |
Meanwhile,
the Zohar, on
parashat Bo, appears to cite this
pasuk, but declares that
matzos is spelled
chaser:
194. "In one house shall it be eaten, you shall not take any of the meat outside, out of the house" (Shemot 12:46). This (29th) commandment is to eat the Passover with Matzot and bitter herbs. Matzot is spelled without a Vav. HE ASKS: What is MATZOT with regard to BITTER HERBS, THAT THE VERSE OBLIGATED TO EAT THEM TOGETHER? HE ANSWERS: It is only to show the exile of the Shechinah with Yisrael in their bitterness, as written: "And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage..." (Shemot 1:14). When the Pascal sacrifice is eaten, it shows everything that was done to them in Egypt in that exile and that bondage. THEREFORE, IT IS EATEN WITH MATZOT AND BITTER HERBS.
That is, looking at the second line in the Hebrew / Aramaic, it cites the words
al matzos umerorin, which is a phrase which
only occurs here in parashas Behaaloscha.
Minchas Shai addresses this as follows:
ש(יא) על מצות ומררים • זוהר פ׳ בא דף
מ״א פקודא דא למיכל האי פסח על מצות ומרורים מצת כתיב
ע״כ • ואולם בכל הספרים מלא וא"ו וכן דינו מכח המסורת
כי אין זה מן ד׳ חסרים שבאו במסורת פרשת בא ועיין עוד
מ״ש שם:
That is, he cites this Zohar on parashas Bo, and then notes that in all
our sefarim, the word
matzos is spelled
malei rather than
chaser vav. And furthermore, there is a
masoretic note about the four
chasers in this word, and this instance is not one of them.
In parashat Bo, he does not address this Zohar and this pasuk, but rather, a different Zohar as a commentary to
Shemot 12:15:
| טו שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ--אַךְ בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן, תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ שְּׂאֹר מִבָּתֵּיכֶם: כִּי כָּל-אֹכֵל חָמֵץ, וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל--מִיּוֹם הָרִאשֹׁן, עַד-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִעִי. | 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. |
Minchas Shai
writes:
שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ -- בספר הזוהר אמר רבי שמעון
מצת כתיב כד״א מראת אלהים וגו׳ ומסורתא וספרי דילן
פליגי בתרוייהו
That both our
masorah as well as our
sefarim is at odds with that Zohar. Which Zohar is that? A different one in
parashat Bo:
169. Rabbi Shimon said: Matzat (unleavened bread) is spelled WITHOUT VAV, as, "visions (Heb. mar'ot) of Elohim" (Yechezkel 1:1) IS WITHOUT VAV; THEREFORE, IT ALLUDES TO JUDGMENT. Why were they called Matzat-for their being of Judgment, Holy Judgment, Judgment that is attached to the Holy Name, Judgment that was not strong throughout that time among Yisrael, because the moon was flawed. And since the moon was flawed, it is written: "The bread of affliction" (Devarim 16:3).
Despite no explicit
pasuk being cited in this section, in the section and statement
immediately preceding it, we have
" Therefore, it is written: "Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread."" As such, it is a natural, likely, minimal, and convincing leap to make.
Yet I am not convinced that the Zohar, in either instance, is
really at odds with the
masorah. Or if it not, not necessarily in the way it seemed at first.
Let us first examine the Zohar on Bo, which references the
pasuk in Behaaloscha, again:
Note how it cites the
pasuk. Sure, it says
al matzos umerorin. But that is with a
nun at the end of
umerorin! The pasuk itself spells it with a final
mem. Further, this is discussing the
korban Pesach using
pesukim in Parashat Bo. Yet suddenly it cites a
pasuk from a completely different
sefer of
chumash? And furthermore, it is a different topic. If this is the
pasuk being cited, from Behaaloscha, then that
pasuk is discussing Pesach Sheni, not Pesach Rishon or Pesach Mitzrayim. (This citation from the wrong area actually has precedent in the
derashot of Chazal on this and related
pesukim.)
Rather, I would say, against the parsing provided in the image, which puts a period before
al matzos umerorin, that instead it is a single statement, discussing the
parameters of the
mitzvah of eating this Pesach. As the English translation provided above, the commandment is not to eat the Pesach period, and then a citation of the pasuk, but instead the commandment is to eat the Pesach upon matzos and bitter herbs. And that is why it says
umerorin in Aramaic, with the Aramaic
nun ending. Yes, the phrase is
al matzos umerorin, which is a famous
melitza, but I would guess that it is just being used because it
is the common phrase.
And that if so, it is more likely that the Zohar is referring to a
pasuk local to parshas Bo, in
Shemos 12:
| ח וְאָכְלוּ אֶת-הַבָּשָׂר, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה: צְלִי-אֵשׁ וּמַצּוֹת, עַל-מְרֹרִים יֹאכְלֻהוּ. | 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. |
Now here, it does not say
matzos, but rather
umatzos. And even in that instance, it is written for us
malei rather than
chaser.
I would answer that the Zohar used the famous expression, which rolls off the tongue. And further, would note that while it says
matzat ketiv, this does not appear to be the basis for the
derasha; but just as an aside. The
derasha is about the eating together with the bitter herbs.
If so, perhaps the
matzat ketiv in
this instance is a scribal error, transferred from the other statement, by Rabbi Shimon, in Zohar on Bo. Or else, indeed, it meant
umatzat ketiv, and/or it was not precise, and was noting that many/all instances of the word in Bo is spelled
chaser. Indeed, there are two instances of it spelled
chaser in Bo, even in our
sefarim.
I would also note that in
Vetus Testamentum, on this pasuk in Bo, he finds two variants in the Hebrew (as opposed to Samaritan, which in this instance is identical to the Masoretic) text. One makes it
al matzos umerorim, but this is almost obviously an accidental shift towards that "famous" version from Behaaloscha. The other variant (found in one sefer) preserves the phrasing, but indeed has the
umatzos as
chaser, as ומצת. See inside.
I can see arguments, based on
lectio difficilior, made in both directions towards the original text being either one or the other. Yes,
malei is the "easier" spelling, so we should suspect it. But on the other hand, there are two instances of
matzot spelled
chaser in context in Bo, so it is easier as a harmonization / regularization of the spelling within this
parasha. (Despite several other ones spelled
malei.) And so I don't find an indication, based on this, on which way to lean.
It is possible that the Zohar knew that it was at odds with the
masoretic note, which is why it stated this here, even though it does not form the basis of a
derasha. And so it would be a testimony as to how it
should be spelled, and as it perhaps existed in a few
sefarim, even though it is at odds with others and with the
masoretic note. Then, this would be testimony either from Tannaitic times or, since the Zohar is a late forgery by Rabbi Moshe de Leon, a testimony as to the proper spelling from the late 13th century.
Another possibility is that, even though it does not seem it, the
matzat ketiv is the basis for some aspect of this
derasha, but it refers to one of the other
matzot in the parsha, where it is
indeed written
chaser. Thus, in Bo,
Shemot 12:18:
| יח בָּרִאשֹׁן בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ, בָּעֶרֶב, תֹּאכְלוּ, מַצֹּת: עַד יוֹם הָאֶחָד וְעֶשְׂרִים, לַחֹדֶשׁ--בָּעָרֶב. | 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. |
or
13:6:
| ו שִׁבְעַת יָמִים, תֹּאכַל מַצֹּת; וּבַיּוֹם, הַשְּׁבִיעִי, חַג, לַה'. | 6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. |
To turn to the other instance in
parshat Bo, mentioned in Zohar, that is the statement by Rabbi Shimon, I could suggest that this is the start of a new section. And then, despite the juxtaposition, it is really making the derasha based on one of these
other pesukim, where it is indeed spelled
chaser.
If so, in neither place does the Zohar contradict our
masorah or our
sefarim.
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