Is this bad? Not at all! Indeed, it would not be exaggerated to say that this is the goal of Torah life in general. But the Torah is warning us about something on Pesach. This process of growth and development, when left to unfold of itself, wildly, can be catastrophic. The raw powers of the human spirit, unguided and unchannelled, are anarchic precisely because they are powerful, precisely because they represent real growth and vitality. The first step, when granted freedom, is not to run and let all the repressed inclinations and urges fly out.
Seven weeks must pass, counting each day, waiting for the giving of the Torah, with its direction and goal, learning what the infinite possibility before us consists of in the positive sense, and then one bakes two loaves and brings them before God. What is the connection then between Pesach, freedom, and chametz?
Freedom is the cornerstone of Judaism. Without it, one cannot serve God. Paradoxical as it sounds, only free men can obey God. Pesach is the first holiday, the beginning of the cycle of the year. But the experience of freedom alone, by itself, is also an empty one. Freedom in its first stage is a negative concept — no domination by others, no laws, no restrictions. It does not have positive content. But the Torah knows that you cannot educate slaves.
There is no alternative but to build positive meaning on the basis of negative freedom. Hence Pesach celebrates freedom itself, without the Torah. It is true that matza is the food of slaves. But it is also the food of free men if they have not worked to impart meaning to their freedom.
And so, when the Jews left Egypt, their freedom granted to them hurriedly by the frightened Egyptians, they had no time to leaven their bread. Running out of Egypt, technically free, unrestricted in fact, they were still slaves at heart. Their only goal was to be free, to leave Egypt. But freedom is not the goal of freedom. The food of free men who have not yet learnt, who have not chosen to serve God, to SERVE higher ideals, to use their freedom to rise above servitude and not merely escape it, is matza.
It would be dangerous, catastrophic, for them to taste the intoxicating flavor of leavened bread, the fruits of a process that multiplies itself in the dark, growing wildly, unchecked, raw power and potential. Indeed, chametz on Pesach is not merely a prohibited food.
You have to put it out of your mind completely. It does not even exist. For these seven days, any sign of unsupervgrowth must be burnt, before the wild weeds take over the fallow earth. The cycle of Jewish living during the year is not an evenly-balanced picture of quiet moderation. On the contrary, it offers experiences of extremes, so that we may inculcate their meanings into our lives.
Today is Pesach, and the experience is pure freedom. Why should we put more emphasis on this work at this particular time of the year more than any other time of the year? Indeed the Radvaz himself notes this problem in Metzudos Dovid Rabbi Baruch Sungolowsky offers two explanations to resolve this difficulty.
First, the Zohar teaches us that the exodus was not merely emancipation from physical slavery. This was due to the evil influence of their Egyptian jailers. When Hashem took the Jews out of mitzrayim, He not only liberated them physically, but He also saved them from falling into the fiftieth level of tumah, from which there is no return. After the Jews left mitzrayim, they began a forty-nine day process of elevating themselves from the forty-nine levels of impurity into which they had sunk.
This culminated fifty days later in the giving of the torah on Shavuos. It comes out according to the zohar that the freedom of the exodus was not just a physical freedom, but also a freedom from the influence of tumah. In order to commemerate this additional aspect of the exodus, we engage ourselves in a process of removing the tumah, embodied by the yetzer harah, from within us. A second explanation is based on the gemarah in brachos that I mentioned earlier.
The gemarah there stated that there are two factors that prevent a person from actualizing his desire to become close to Hashem. On the holiday of Passover we commemorate our freedom from domination by a foreign power. It is appropriate that we add to this by dealing also with the other factor that distances us from Hashem, namely the yetzer harah.
By engaging in the process of eradicating the yetzer harah, the holiday of Passover deals with both of the factors that the gemarah in brachos says distance us from our Creator. We can thereby emerge from the holiday spiritually rejuvenated and inspired to serve Hashem without sin. The Ramchal in his sefer Derech Hashem part IV chapter 8 , like the Pele Yoetz and the Radvaz, understands the symbolism of the prohibition against Chametz- as eliminating the yetzer harah.
However, there seems to be a major difference between the approach of the Ramchal as contrasted with the approaches of the previous two commentators. The latter commentators understand the commandment to destroy and avoid Chametz as a symbolic activity meant to inspire us to conduct introspection, and reign in the real yetzer harah.
The goal of the prohibitions regarding Chametz explains the Ramchal, is for a person to make himself more spiritual by overcoming his physical desire for Chametz for seven days. Rabbi Chaim Friedlander, in his commentary on Derech Hashem, compares this to a person who goes on a diet to repair his physical heath.
The Ramchal says, without elaborating, that during the rest of the year Chametz is a positive thing. He cites the words of the Rambam in his introduction to the mishnah where the Rambam explains that ta'avah is a necessary component of life. Without ta'avah, people would not eat until they get sick, and would not procreate and have children. Therefore, it was not the will of the Torah for us to totally eliminate ta'avah for the whole year.
Rather, it was sufficient for a person to refrain from his ta'avah for a one-week period of time and thereby create within himself a state of balance between pursuit of spiritual growth and the necessity to live in the physical world. The Metzudos Dovid explains that it would be to physically taxing on the body for chometz to be forbidden the rest of the year also, Pg.
To explain why we engage in this exercise of self-control over our ta'avah for tasty food specifically on the holiday of Passover , the Ramchal seems to use a general principle that he applies to many mitzvos. The way to tap into this spiritual force is by doing mitzvos that are similar to the actions that our forefathers did at the time of these original historic events.
With regard to Passover, this entails removing ourselves from spiritual impurity just as our ancestors did back then. To summarize, there are two types of reasons why Hashem forbade us from eating Chametz on Passover. According to the Chinuch and the Maharal, the point of this prohibition is to fortify our emunah, our faith in the existence in Hashem, and his divine guidance over world events.
However the Radvaz, Pele Yoetz, and the Ramchal have a different approach. According to the Ramchal, physical Chametz itself is a major form of yetzer harah- i. Abstaining from it for the seven days of Passover creates a healthy spiritual balance within us. Your submission has been received! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Search Library. Clips haggadah. Contributed by M Tep. Add To haggadah Save Share Download. Featured clips. Add to haggadah Save Clip. Urchatz Seder Symbols.
Rachtzah Garlic on the Seder Plate. After the birth of Nishmat Shoom the queer, radical, non-zionist minyan project I am part of, whose name, inspired by this work, means Breath or Soul of Garlic , many of the Garlic Eaters in our community began adopting this practice and Bareich Cup of Redemption. At this seder we are raising a cup of water as a symbol of the redemption that women have brought through the generations.
All: Water is the symbol of life. Reader: The biblical prophet Miriam saved her brother from the waters of the Nile, she led the song of victory aber the waters of the red sea parted Yachatz The Matzah of Peace. Among these Pharaohs of every age were the Kings of Babylonia, the Emperors of Greece and Rome, the Churchmen and Nobles of Medieval Spain, Hitler and his Nazi followers, the Pharaohs of Moscow, and the dictators, potentates and terrorists of the contemporary Arab world.
The Babylonian exile was followed by a Tzafun Afikomen Prize. At Passover, we receive a personal directive to create an inclusive and welcoming community.
Even when we intend to be welcoming, many in our community still feel like strangers. The things that divide us — race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, among others — also have the power to unite us.
During the Seder, we are each meant to remember that we ourselves were once strangers in a strange land. If the Jewish community is to be a home for all, we So, first of all, the four children appear in the Jerusalem Talmud, where Rabbi Hyyia, a student of Rabbi Judah the Prince, is quoted as bringing this parable.
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