The Inside Story on Passover
In each one of us there is an Egypt and a Pharaoh and a Moses and Freedom in a Promised Land. And every point in time is an opportunity for another Exodus.
Egypt is a place that chains you to who you are, constraining you from growth and change. And Pharaoh is that voice inside that mocks your gambit to escape, saying, “How could you attempt being today something you were not yesterday? Aren’t you good enough just as you are? Don’t you know who you are?”
Moses is the liberator, the infinite force deep within, an impetuous and all-powerful drive to break out from any bondage, to always transcend, to connect with that which has no bounds.
But Freedom and the Promised Land are not static elements that lie in wait. They are your own achievements which you may create at any moment, in any thing that you do, simply by breaking free from whoever you were the day before.
Last Passover you may not have yet begun to light a candle. Or some other mitzvah still waits for you to fulfill its full potential. This year, defy Pharaoh and light up your world. With unbounded light.
Between Matzah and Chametz
What’s the difference between matzah and chametz?
They’re both made from flour and water, both baked in an oven, and both provide nourishment.
But one stays flat and humble, while the other fills itself with hot air.
That’s why matzah is a key ingredient for leaving your personal Egypt:
As long as we are full of delusions of self-importance, there’s no way to break out and grow to a new level.
Once we make ourselves small, we can fit through any bars and fly to the highest heights.
Exodus in Broad Daylight
The Exodus began at midnight.
We departed at midday.
To tell you that even at your darkest hour, you have the power to shatter your chains.
And even at your brightest moment, you must say, “From this, too, I must break free.”
Inquisitively Challenged
In the order of the Haggadah, the rebellious child who questions everything sits before the child who has nothing to ask.
Because if the rebellious child questions, it is because it touches him, it says something to him. Perhaps it even bothers him.
But a perfectly capable human being who has no questions about Torah and G‑d—he is stuck in his place.
Perhaps he is a good, observant Jew who does good deeds and never sins. But there is no sense of the spirit, of the meaning of life, of transcendence.
He, too, must leave Egypt, and know of something higher.
A New Wonder
What was the wonder of the Exodus?
That an infinite, unbounded light broke its way into a dark, tightly-bounded world.
What will be the wonder of the future, when that light will shine in every corner, perceived by every eye?
That there is a world.
To us, then, there will be no greater wonder.
The Door Is Open
Our sages taught, “G‑d only tells us to do that which He does Himself.”
He tells us to open the door on the nights of Passover. It must be that He does the same.
On the nights of Passover, the One Above opens every door and every gateway for every single Jew.
Regardless of whatever you have done over the past year, on these two nights you can attain the highest levels in a single leap.
Exodus From Delusion
One day we will each awaken to the realization that all that we imagined ourselves to be was a delusion. We are G‑dly souls.
That soul will shine. All souls will shine. All the world will shine.
That is the journey of Exodus we have been traveling for more than 3,000 years. That is its final stop, around the corner today, at any moment.
Why Is Matzah on Passover Different From Matzah on Any Other Night?
Any other time of the year, it’s just a cracker. Eat it on the night of Passover, and it nourishes your soul.
Because, in truth, all food feeds not only the body, but the soul as well.
That’s because, like everything else, food is a divine creation. It is sustained by a constant flow of energy from its Maker. When we consume food, we metabolize that divine energy and live from it.
The kind of food-energy we consume and the way we consume it has a lot to do with kind of person we become and the kind of life we end up living.
If we eat foods sustained by energy hopelessly distorted, corrupted, and disconnected from its origin, they pull us down with them and it becomes harder for us to keep in touch with our own soul. These are the foods that are not kosher.
But then, even the energy of kosher food needs to be reconnected to its origin. And we do that by investing whatever energy we’ve gained from this food into G‑dly deeds—a.k.a. mitzvahs.
Matzah on Passover is the exception. On the night of Passover, it’s not just a mitzvah to eat matzah; the matzah itself is a mitzvah. It’s already intimately connected with its source.
So that, rather than us having to reconnect this food, it reconnects us, nourishing both body and soul with divine light, carrying us to heights we could otherwise never achieve.
And so, writes Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, matzah on Passover—especially on the first night—not only nourishes your divine soul, it softens up the animal instinct within you. Your inner beast becomes open to knowing something greater than itself.
At the very least, he writes, it allows your divine soul some respite.
As it turns out, matzah on Passover is not just food for the soul, it’s potent medicine for the human animal.
Chametz
Rabbi Alexandri said, “Master of the Universe! It’s obvious to You that we want to do what You want done. So what is holding us back? The yeast in the dough!” (Talmud, Berachot 17a)
What is so terrible about chametz, that once a year, for the Festival of Freedom, we must search, burn and destroy any trace of it in our possession?
Because yeast makes a little dough into a big loaf of hot air. And that pretty much describes the fundamental gameplay of all that imprisons you.
It's like the yeast that takes your healthy need to earn an honest living and blows it up into a desperate need for recognition and yet more recognition.
Or like the yeast that mixes in when you are about to do a beautiful mitzvah out of the sincerity of your heart, saying, “Yes! Do it! People will say you are such a tzadik!”
Or the yeast that appears when you are studying the wisdom of Torah and it whispers, “Soon you will be wiser than anyone else!”
It’s that yeast that ties every thought, every word, every deed you do to your ego, as though your existence is somehow invalidated if you do not occupy more and more space every day—with nothing but hot air.
You are its prisoner. It is your taskmaster. It has stolen your life from you, rendering you just another subject of an oppressive world you must satisfy and please.
On Passover, you are empowered to break your chains of bondage. To do a mitzvah only because it connects you to your G‑d. To learn Torah wisdom only to become one with divine wisdom. To be yourself. To escape bondage to anything in this world. To be free.
And you begin by ritually eradicating a physical manifestation of that ego from our world. By selling and burning our chametz, we are empowered to set ourselves free.
Self-Imposed Exile
The ultimate exile is to deny that there is anything greater in store for you.
But the one who yearns each day for light is always free.
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