The Charlotte Jewish News - April 2009 - Page 15
The Anomaly Called “Bread”
By Rabbi Chanoch Oppenheim
Jews know that we don’t eat
bread on Passover, but we go to
extremes during this particular
time of year because of the pecu
liar law stating that we must purge
chometz (leavened bread) from
our possession. Interestingly, we
don’t find the idea of eradicating
forbidden things as part of other
Torah prohibitions. For example,
the Torah forbids us from eating
pork, but we do not need to rid our
homes of pork if it happened to be
there. And again, we cannot have
an intimate relationship with
someone else’s wife, but we are
allowed to have another man’s
wife in the house. So too with all
things forbidden by the Torah. We
may have them in our surround
ings. But with bread on Passover,
it is different. On the night before
the holiday begins, we must go on
a search and destroy mission. Why
is this?
On the most basic level, bread
may be eaten all year long, and
therefore we might forget and
accidentally eat it during the week
of Passover. With pork this would
not happen because we never eat
this forbidden food. And so, we
should remove bread from our
homes. However, why must we go
to the extreme of destroying every
last breadcrumb?
To answer this question, we
must discuss what bread repre
sents in Jewish consciousness.
Getting nourishment from flour
and water requires mixing them
together and baking the dough;
this creates matzah. The only dif
ference between matzah and bread
is the leavening product; bread is
simply a puffed up version of
matzah. We use yeast or some
other leavening agent to modify
the original dough. Therefore,
leavening symbolizes an artificial
modification of ourselves, usually
by inflating our ego through arro
gance. When we are egotistical,
we experience a metaphysical
leavening process because we’re
merely puffing ourselves up and
therefore distancing ourselves
from who we really are.
The very physical process that
takes place during leavening sym
bolizes the metaphysical changes
that a person can experience. A
chemical agent reacts in the dough
to produce gas that becomes
trapped as bubbles, which ulti
mately become little holes in the
bread. The only difference
between matzah and bread is hot
air. Likewise, when a human being
starts with his or her basic essence
and adds a negative metaphysical
agent such as arrogance, it’s like
the gas that creates bubbles. We
cannot be truly content while
inflating ourselves with the “hot
air” of arrogance. How do we
loosen our spiritual shackles?
By delving into the deeper
meanings of Passover whose
theme is freedom. We rarely ask
ourselves, “what would I have to
do to be free?” though we all have
an infrinsic sense of what it would
take to make us happy. Some peo
ple strive to avoid excessive eat
ing. Others hope to stop feeling
the need to impress friends and
coworkers. And others want to
improve a damaging relationship.
Whatever it is, each of us has
issues that cause us to be some
thing other than what we want to
be. We become prisoners to these
things. Anything physical or meta
physical that turns us into some
one we know is not us, someone
whom we don’t like, is like the
leavening agent that takes a basic
dough, fills it with air bubbles, and
creates a puffed up version of the
original ingredients.
By ridding our homes of all
traces of chometz, we send our
selves the powerful message that
just as we remove physical leaven
from our possession so too must
we remove any spiritual leaven.
Only then will we truly feel free
and content. The great Chassidic
master, Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz,
advised his disciples in this way:
when burning chometz on Erev
Pesach (the morning preceding the
Passover festival), we should
think that just as the physical
bread is being burned, the spiritu
al leaven should be eradicated as
well.
With this new understanding, it
no longer seems strange that the
Torah requires us to rid ourselves
of every last morsel of bread
before Passover The deeper mes
sage is that for one week we can
live with just the basic ingredients,
flour and water, and for one week
we live with the basic person we
are, with nothing that detaches us
from our true essence. Leaven is
something that modifies. Let’s
give ourselves the eight days of
Passover to live without that mod
ification in our stomachs, minds,
and hearts.
Chag Samayach ^
Beth Shalom of Lake Norman Supports
Red Cross Disaster Relief Efforts
As part of the celebration of
Purim - a Jewish holiday that
emphasizes concern, understand
ing and compassion for those in
need - Beth Shalom of Lake
Norman’s religious school created
two fleece blankets and a stack of
“comfort kits” for the American
Red Cross’s support of local fire
victims.
In many cases, home fires occur
during the night and the families
must escape in their pajamas. The
Red Cross arrives as the fire is
being extinguished by the fire
department. When a family loses
all material possessions in a fire,
the family often says and feels that
many memories are gone.
The Red Cross provides a blan
ket to family members - some
thing warm that the family can
immediately call “mine.” The Red
Cross supplies each member of the
family with a “comfort kit” that
contains personal hygiene items
such as soap, shampoo and a
toothbrush. In addition to the basic
purposes of the comfort kit con
tents, these personal items help the
victims feel more confident and
better able to cope with the loss
they have suffered.
In the event of a home being
desfroyed by fire, the Red Cross
makes sure that the individual or
family has a place to live with
food, clothing, medical supplies
and other emergency needs.
For more information on the
local American Red Cross, visit
WWW. greatercarolinasredcros s. org
For more information of Beth
Shalom of Lake Norman, visit
www.bslkn.org. ^
The Society for Classical Reform Judaism
Founded a year ago as a new
national voice of advocacy for the
historic values and traditions of
American Reform Judaism, the
Society of Classical Reform
Judaism is a vital option for many
people today. While affirming the
broad diversity within the Reform
Movement, and the many differ
ent interpretations and worship
styles embraced in Reform con
gregations around the country, we
believe that the broad, progressive
and inclusive perspectives of the
historic continuum known as
“Classical Reform” offer a com
pelling and uniquely meaningful
alternative:
- An inclusive, accessible, pri
marily English language worship
service, enriched by a high stan
dard of teaching and music, which
both inspires and challenges us
intellectually.
- The spiritual values, ground
ed in the timeless, universal
vision of our Prophetic fradition,
that inspire our personal decision
making and ethical action as a
central expression of our religious
commitment as Reform Jews.
The centrality of the
American experience in the shap
ing of our Jewish identity and
commitment, celebrating the con
tributions our people have made
to the founding and building of
the pluralistic, democratic society
of the United States.
- An active outreach and warm,
unconditional support for inter
faith couples and multicultural
families - including the celebra
tion of their weddings - and a wel
come to all those seeking to
become part of the Jewish com
munity, regardless of their reli
gious backgrounds. We believe
that the broad, inclusive and uni
versal spiritual values of the his
toric Reform fradition offer an
inspiring message for all people
on their spiritual journeys.
Please visit us at www.renew
reform.org, or locally, call Anne
Yudell at 704-366-8280. ^
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