Nothing in life is clear cut or simple. Everything - every act, decision or situation - contains countless, even contradictory, possibilities. Like Jacob's ladder with its feet resting firmly on the ground and its top reaching to the heavens, we often find ourselves moving in two directions at once, always in the process of going up or coming down.
So too on Passover. Seeming contradictions abound. Almost synonymous with the word "Freedom", Passover often seems like a different form of "Subjugation". The preparatory work before, the countless and strict laws during, the cleaning up after. But of course the entire point of Pesach is not to provide us with unfettered freedom of action, but rather to offer us freedom from the Pharaohs of the world, enabling us to serve G-d. It is the freedom to submit to the Divine Will.
Matza, the Passover-Freedom symbol par excellence, is called Lechem Oni - "poor bread". Maror, another symbol of` our ancient subjugation, is obviously unpleasant, but even the sweet charoset has unpleasant connotations, reminding us of the cement the Jews were forced to make. And the zeroah, the roasted bone on the seder plate, symbolic of the Paschal lamb, reminds us that we are obligated to the Divine service of G-d (for vegetarians, this may be a particularly difficult submission to the Divine Will).
In sum, the Jewish concept of Freedom, with its strict and exacting demands, rules out much "free choice". Any freedom without restriction is chaotic, but on Chag Hacheyrut - the ultimate Holiday of Freedom - the apparent contrast between the message and the means is glaring.
In fact, all areas of life are laced with contradictions. We are strange combinations of sublime spirituality and potential bestiality. We long for love, and hate with passion. We are brilliant, thinking creatures, who are often hopeless, unthinking slaves to unbridled emotions and desire. We are the world's most humane, most merciful people; yet, we are commanded to eradicate the evil Amalek - men, women and children - without mercy. We love unconditionally, yet our love is highly disciplined. Jewish marriage is a union of holy matrimony (an expression that sounds curiously quaint today), yet half the time together is spent "apart". We are Goy echad ba'Aretz - one nation in the Land, originally divided into twelve separate tribes. The Torah views us as the very heart and soul of the world, yet we are an Am levadad yishkon - a people apart. Like G-d Himself, we are constantly separating things: Kodesh v'Chol - the Holy and the Mundane; Ohr le'Choshech - Light and Darkness; Tov ve'Ra - Good and Evil.
We are the ultimate oxymoron, a living contradiction in terms, two opposite ends of a cosmic pole. Can the ends ever meet and merge, leaving us a harmonious entity, or at the very least, less conflicted?
The Rabbis answer with a resounding ?Yes!? Regarding the seemingly constraining commandments, Chazal said long ago, ?Al tikra charut al haluchot, elah cheyrut.? - Do not say they [the commandments] are charut - engraved on the stone tablets. Say rather that they are cheyrut - Freedom. The very restrictions are what "free" us to pursue higher and more noble pursuits. They keep us on the path to the Divine, making it more difficult to stray into tempting thickets on the side of the road.
Nonetheless, even after rabbinical explanations, the contrasts and conflicts abound. What are we to make of all this?
Simply that our role is to distinguish, discriminate, differentiate and separate in order to keep the world holy and whole. Ultimate Truth belongs to G-d, who is One; but our job is to extract and unite what we can from an endless world of polarities.
So, after having scrupulously cleaned your home of every crumb of chametz/leaven (and immediately watching it fill up with crumbs of matzah - a notoriously super-crumbly food), after working yourself to the bone for several weeks in order to rest for one week (Pesach has been called Pharoh's Revenge....), after celebrating a Holiday of Freedom replete with restrictions - you will find yourself breathing deeply and savoring every moment of a spiritual freedom, the likes of which you cannot find elsewhere. And in the midst of a confused, complex world, for one week, without the familiar chametz in tow, it becomes easier to walk with G-d - without guile, without fear, without constantly needing to rule, arrange and manipulate. By giving up our "freedom" and submitting to love, faith, joy and G-d's exacting rules, we attain the only true and ultimate Freedom we can ever know.
Chag Sameach!
--------------------------------------------------------
Yaffa Ganz is the author of forty titles for Jewish children, two books of essays for adults and many articles of Jewish interest in publications worldwide. Her works include the Savta Simcha series and Sand and Stars - A Jewish Journey Through Time (a two- volume Jewish history for teenagers).
Copyright 2003 Ganz
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
So too on Passover. Seeming contradictions abound. Almost synonymous with the word "Freedom", Passover often seems like a different form of "Subjugation". The preparatory work before, the countless and strict laws during, the cleaning up after. But of course the entire point of Pesach is not to provide us with unfettered freedom of action, but rather to offer us freedom from the Pharaohs of the world, enabling us to serve G-d. It is the freedom to submit to the Divine Will.
Matza, the Passover-Freedom symbol par excellence, is called Lechem Oni - "poor bread". Maror, another symbol of` our ancient subjugation, is obviously unpleasant, but even the sweet charoset has unpleasant connotations, reminding us of the cement the Jews were forced to make. And the zeroah, the roasted bone on the seder plate, symbolic of the Paschal lamb, reminds us that we are obligated to the Divine service of G-d (for vegetarians, this may be a particularly difficult submission to the Divine Will).
In sum, the Jewish concept of Freedom, with its strict and exacting demands, rules out much "free choice". Any freedom without restriction is chaotic, but on Chag Hacheyrut - the ultimate Holiday of Freedom - the apparent contrast between the message and the means is glaring.
In fact, all areas of life are laced with contradictions. We are strange combinations of sublime spirituality and potential bestiality. We long for love, and hate with passion. We are brilliant, thinking creatures, who are often hopeless, unthinking slaves to unbridled emotions and desire. We are the world's most humane, most merciful people; yet, we are commanded to eradicate the evil Amalek - men, women and children - without mercy. We love unconditionally, yet our love is highly disciplined. Jewish marriage is a union of holy matrimony (an expression that sounds curiously quaint today), yet half the time together is spent "apart". We are Goy echad ba'Aretz - one nation in the Land, originally divided into twelve separate tribes. The Torah views us as the very heart and soul of the world, yet we are an Am levadad yishkon - a people apart. Like G-d Himself, we are constantly separating things: Kodesh v'Chol - the Holy and the Mundane; Ohr le'Choshech - Light and Darkness; Tov ve'Ra - Good and Evil.
We are the ultimate oxymoron, a living contradiction in terms, two opposite ends of a cosmic pole. Can the ends ever meet and merge, leaving us a harmonious entity, or at the very least, less conflicted?
The Rabbis answer with a resounding ?Yes!? Regarding the seemingly constraining commandments, Chazal said long ago, ?Al tikra charut al haluchot, elah cheyrut.? - Do not say they [the commandments] are charut - engraved on the stone tablets. Say rather that they are cheyrut - Freedom. The very restrictions are what "free" us to pursue higher and more noble pursuits. They keep us on the path to the Divine, making it more difficult to stray into tempting thickets on the side of the road.
Nonetheless, even after rabbinical explanations, the contrasts and conflicts abound. What are we to make of all this?
Simply that our role is to distinguish, discriminate, differentiate and separate in order to keep the world holy and whole. Ultimate Truth belongs to G-d, who is One; but our job is to extract and unite what we can from an endless world of polarities.
So, after having scrupulously cleaned your home of every crumb of chametz/leaven (and immediately watching it fill up with crumbs of matzah - a notoriously super-crumbly food), after working yourself to the bone for several weeks in order to rest for one week (Pesach has been called Pharoh's Revenge....), after celebrating a Holiday of Freedom replete with restrictions - you will find yourself breathing deeply and savoring every moment of a spiritual freedom, the likes of which you cannot find elsewhere. And in the midst of a confused, complex world, for one week, without the familiar chametz in tow, it becomes easier to walk with G-d - without guile, without fear, without constantly needing to rule, arrange and manipulate. By giving up our "freedom" and submitting to love, faith, joy and G-d's exacting rules, we attain the only true and ultimate Freedom we can ever know.
Chag Sameach!
--------------------------------------------------------
Yaffa Ganz is the author of forty titles for Jewish children, two books of essays for adults and many articles of Jewish interest in publications worldwide. Her works include the Savta Simcha series and Sand and Stars - A Jewish Journey Through Time (a two- volume Jewish history for teenagers).
Copyright 2003 Ganz
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.