We have just started the month of Nissan and moved to British Summer time last Sunday. Pesach is less than two weeks away. My kitchen cupboards look at me with relief at this time of year, knowing I will be cleaning them and tidying what’s amassed during the year. The physicality of the festival is comforting beyond measure; my shank bone is safely in my freezer already. Our Seder menu is coming together.
The literal act of clearing out is always welcome, resulting in making one lighter through the process of removing all that is unnecessary in your drawers and cupboards, hallways and even your car. So, you remove the leaven and free yourself a little. The core of Passover offers this: chametz is both heavy baggage you carry with you and unnecessary ‘stuff,’ both material and metaphorical. Chametz is any food that has risen or been leavened and is forbidden on Pesach because, as our Torah teaches us, the Israelites, rushing after the final plague, did not have time for their bread to rise as they were leaving Egypt.
Yet there is another layer of this ritual for us. We refer to this as spiritual chametz. It’s this that causes our egos, our sense of worth and importance, to inflate. Rabbi Arthur Waskow refers to this type as ‘the swollen sourness in our lives.’ This is chametz that prevents us from being free to encounter the world unencumbered, in a more spiritual way. There’s something about this small (albeit exhausting, if your house really needs it) ritual that can model so much and pave the way for a more honest engagement with Passover. The communal begins with the personal. I love these layers to Passover. Reaching for personal freedom from being stuck and fixed can only be a good thing. We start with ourselves and wrestle meaning from the Seder and Passover experience. I’m looking forward to sharing extra readings and ideas at an online learning session on Monday, 7th April at 7pm and in person on Shabbat on 12th April at 10am.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
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