Today after davening, at the daily "Tehillim Shiur" in the hall of our yeshiva "Mesivta HaKedosha," the Satmar Rebbe shlit"a expressed the emotions of his heart, the holy feelings, upon standing after the "mehudar wheat harvest in Arizona" for the matzos for Yom Tov Pesach 5782. The Rebbe stopped at chapter 4, verse 8, "Nasatah simcha b'libi me'es diganam v'seerosham rabu" ("You have placed joy in my heart, more than when their grain and wine increased"), and said that it is a timely matter now after the harvest, which is "..guarded from the time of harvesting, in the faraway place in Arizona, exceptionally mehudar wheat, a safeguarding from even the slightest chametz..."

The Rebbe expressed the holy feelings, the physical toil, the terrible heat, "but harvesting wheat for the sake of Yom Tov Pesach!! Such holy feelings!! They are awesome feelings!!"

"..Nasatah simcha b'libi - me'es diganam v'seerosham rabu, when the harvest is beautiful in quantity and quality. When one has an understanding, and studies a little the topic of wheat for Pesach, one must understand its seriousness in order to understand the joy of it! It is not just a dry se'if in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim siman 453! The Mechaber rules, and there is no dispute! The source is a Rashba in the responsa of the Rashba, "that grain - produce, once it became wet while still attached to the ground, and then dried out when it had already grown and was already ripe, it is chametz!!"

One must understand the way wheat grows. Wheat grows, you look at it like grass, and it grows tall on stalks - stems, and at the top the wheat grows out on two sides, and the wheat is surrounded by a thin husk, which is called in the Gemara 'mutz,' and this must be squeezed out, which is called threshing - the melacha of dishah. When the wheat grows, each kernel of wheat grows separately, and it is like milk, 'chalav chitah' (wheat milk), and from the sun it dries out, it becomes harder. It becomes from milk, a soft thing like clay, like dough, and so it becomes drier and drier, harder and smaller. It is large and then it shrinks, the sun dries it out.

Already three or four weeks before the harvest the wheat is ready. It just must not dry out, and it dries in the sun; the hotter the sun, the more it absorbs, and when it is dried out and hard, it is cut. It can be cut earlier too, but it needs to be dried, so it must be put in a hot place. At home, they would cut the wheat when it had not yet entirely ripened, carry it up to the attic and keep it in the attic the entire summer, the sun would bake it, it would dry out, and in the winter they could grind it.

If it rains when it is "not in need of drawing from the ground" - so says the Mechaber - it becomes chametz!! It is chametz!! You look at it, it is wheat.. but chametz wheat!!

..If it rains and does not fall off, there is an opinion that one can be lenient.
"The reality is that in New York it rains!! It rained, so what could one do? They relied on that opinion, meaning it is kosher bedieved in a time of need, and that is how the matzos were."

"Thank Hashem that we went to Arizona!! It does not rain!! So how does the wheat grow? They let water into the ground and it flows over the earth, the water comes in and the ground soaks it up!! Like the Nile that watered in Egypt.. the Nile rose and irrigated - not flooding, the ground soaks it up and it grows, it does not need any rain.

"A hiddur that has no equal, that has no equal. I thank the Creator that He gave me the strength and understanding to go to Arizona to harvest wheat! 'Nasatah simcha b'libi' - I have joy in my heart, 'me'es diganam v'seerosham rabu' - that it is a good harvest, and we will IY"H have kosher wheat for the coming Yom Tov Pesach!!"

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