We Jews come from royalty. Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaacov, our forefathers, were not only well respected members of society, they were also materialistically wealthy. Avraham was tall and charismatic. Yitzchak was looked upon as quiet but very spiritual, as he had been the one chosen to be the sacrifice. Yaacov had the twelve tribes. Our forefathers were blessed with good Mazal, and whatever they touched turned to gold. This was the result of their wholehearted belief in G-d.
So it’s puzzling how their descendants would be tortured, humiliated, and victims of genocide as a result of being taken as SLAVES!!
How did that happen? Why slaves? Why that particular punishment? What happened to the royalty that our forefathers enjoyed?
It seems like us children were so remotely distant from the lifestyle of our forefathers.
We allude in the Hagadda to the descent of our ancestors to Egypt. Yaacov and his sons, the twelve tribes, packed their bags and headed towards Egypt because that’s where Yosef resided. Yosef, who was sold by his jealous brothers many years before, was now second in command of a superpower country. It was because of Yosef’s advice that Egypt became the “caretaker” of the world. He promised to take care of his brothers during the famine years.
One of the prime directives of our Torah is to make us master and refine our natural character traits. An angry or jealous person, or whatever other bad traits one has, has no place in G-d’s world. One has to work on himself to eradicate bad traits and thereby better himself.
The brother’s jealousy of Yosef was a trait that bothered G-d tremendously. For this reason, they were punished by being converted into slaves. Slaves have no say, no opinion. They don’t own anything so no one slave can be jealous of the other. They are all equal. This is the kind of mindset G-d wanted his chosen people to have. “We are equal!!”. There is not one Jew who’s better than the other, and one cannot be jealous of his fellow.
The Seder is set up so that the first half, until the meal, discusses the slavery period. During this time, there was no jealousy among the Jews. The second part of the seder, after the meal, discusses the redemption. It’s a period of tremendous spirituality, closeness to G-d, and a unity among Jewish brethren that also contains no jealousy.
G-d is teaching us the importance of unity, of caring for one another. It was a painful and costly lesson- one that absolutely had to be conveyed.
CHAMETZ- AN INTRODUCTION
What is chametz?
To begin, let’s introduce SEOR- leaven, which is an ingredient used in making bread which creates the pores one sees in bread loaves. Leavening agents spread throughout the dough by releasing gases that causes the entire batch of dough to rise.
A leavened product is called CHAMETZ. The Torah describes SEOR as being a lump of old dough which was left to reach a high level of fermentation called yeast. When a peace of yeast is kneaded together with a mixture of flour and water, it accelerates the rising process and creates chametz. Today’s yeast is SEOR. So is chametz the same as SEOR? Well, Chametz is edible, while seor is not.
The Torah declares that no chametz shall be eaten for a full seven days starting from the 15th of Nissan through the 22nd of Nissan (Shemot 12:15-18, 34:18)
Enough of biology, what is the Torah’s perspective about chametz?
Chametz, we believe, is considered an evil force. Its task is to manipulate the purer element. Similar to the lump of leaven in the batch of dough. Chametz is the evil in us. The bad traits including pride, desire, lust etc. are chametz. Therefore, we eradicate it, every speck and crumb, from our midst during the eight days of Pesach
The prohibition of chametz is not limited to the holiday Pesach. It was also banned from the meal offering -the Mincha
IF CHAMETZ IS SO BAD, WHY DON’T WE BAN IT ALL YEAR?
It seems like we have tremendous respect for bread, especially on Shabbat. We even cover the bread so we shouldn’t hurt its feelings, since the kiddush on the wine is recited first. Some have the custom that if they see bread on the street, they turn it over if it’s upside-down and move it gently to the side. If bread was so evil why do we give it such respect?
We have to be aware of a few points in order to understand the answer. Firstly, the power of the Seder night is such that, without much effort, we can accelerate to the 49th level of kedusha. Once achieved, we have the ability to request from G-d whatever we desire. The high spirituality, although diminishes over the Yom Tov, is still powerful throughout the eight days. Secondly, it’s funny how things are. Against our will we are brought down to this world. (Some say that this is why the baby cries at the brit; he doesn’t want to be in this world. Similarly, when a person dies, the relatives cry, however the soul, is happy).
Why in actuality doesn’t the soul want to come down to this world? Simple. It is because he has to co-exist with the lowly body. Therefore, his spirituality is limited.
So we are presented with a quandrary, we don’t want any physical motivations, but still we are told that “chametz” -our bad traits, are not always prohibited? To resolve this. we must realize that indeed chametz has a time and place as well. In order for humans to function, one needs both the spiritual and the physical. Humans cannot function without the chametz, our evil side. Therefore, G-d said refrain from chametz for seven days and that will be sufficient for the whole year. These are the seven days from 15 Nissan to 22 Nissan when G-d displays a special kindness towards us.
It is no coincidence that this auspicious time occurred when we were first redeemed and led out of our bondage. Hashem specifically granted us this time when we needed it the most to draw close to Him and ask for whatever our heart desires.
So we see that although, yes, “chametz is inherently bad and must be eradicated, we unfortunately are faced with the reality that we cannot survive without it. Therefor chametz is only prohibited for one one week period throughout the year, for the duration, we need the chametz.
Interestingly, the only sacrifice that has chametz is the one offered on Shevuot, when we celebrate receiving the Torah. We are not concerned by the intrusion of the chametz as the tremendous infusion of Torah deems the chametz insignificant and will not influence us.
One of the items that are controversial on Passover is whether kitniyot is permissible. Let’s mention some fundamental concepts before explaining what kitniyot are. The Torah forbids us to eat chametz (leaven) on Pesach. Something becomes chametz when flour and water mix together long enough for the dough to rise. The sages explicitly state and rule that chametz can be produced only from certain grains: wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats. The Rabbis imposed a stringency on kitniyot as a prevention to violating the Torah law of chametz. Kitniyot are also cooked in a manner similar to the way the grains are cooked and that could be confusing. In addition, in many locales, kitniyot are made into bread and people who are not well versed in Torah law might get confused.Another concern is that kitniyot are mixed with grains that have the ability to become chametz. For example, spelt is often mixed with rice. That is why in many communities our mothers and grandmothers clean rice before Pesach. Much has been written about which items are included in the minhag (custom) of kitniyot. Four issues are usually explored. Is the item defined as kitniyot (legumes, such as beans, lentils, rice, soy, kidney beans, lima beans, peas, corn), or at least similar to kitniyot? Can the item be ground into flour in the same manner as grain? Does the item grow near a field of grain? Various communities have different customs and define what is and is not allowed. Some customs allow eating kitniyot; some just allow rice, and some none at all. My family custom permits rice with the exception of the first Seder night. There is no generality except what the Talmud explicitly states what is chametz which we mentioned above. Therefore, when going to a kosher supermarket for Pesach shopping, look at labels and ingredients to be in accordance with you family traditions.
The most important advice is to follow one’s rich traditions and customs, as long as they don’t violate any Jewish law. Minhag avot (the custom of our fathers) is the leading indicator to proceed in various functions of every day Jewish life. It is vital to consult with a Rabbi who is well versed in Torah and is also familiar with your family traditions.
