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Jewish Community News

Ask the Rabbi: April 2006

Ask the Rabbi: Explaining the obsession over Hametz

By Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun, Congregation Beth David

The one question a rabbi can expect to get year after year around the holiday of Passover goes something like this: “Rabbi, why are we so crazy about getting rid of our hametz? I thought we were supposed to be celebrating freedom! All of this hard work seems more like slavery to me?!” This is a very good question and one that I sometimes even ask myself around this time of year. The answer is that beyond all of the hard work, there are many values hidden beneath the surface of this mitzvah. But before we discuss the “why?” behind our preoccupation with hametz, we first need to understand the basics behind the Passover prohibition.

Hametz is defined as “leaven.” The prohibitions regarding hametz are rooted in the Torah (see Exodus 12:19-20, and 13:7). We are not allowed to eat, own, come into contact with, derive any benefit from, or even see any hametz during Passover. Indeed, even after all of the cleaning we are supposed to go on a “search and destroy mission,” spending the night before the holiday searching for any bits of hametz that might still remain in the house and then we burn them the next morning.

Tradition also teaches us that we must sell all of our leavened food in order to officially renounce our ownership of hametz. When it comes to hametz, our restrictions are even more stringent than our year-round dietary restrictions about non-kosher meat. For example, during the rest of the year if a small amount of non-kosher meat falls into a kosher meat stew, and the amount is so small that the ratio of non-kosher to kosher is 1:60, the non-kosher meat is considered to be non-existent and we can still eat the stew. However, on Passover, if even one one-thousandth of a piece of hametz falls into your matzah ball soup, the contents and the pot itself are no longer usable for the holiday.

“Rabbi, why all of this mishegas?!” Though it may make us somewhat crazy, there are numerous lessons that can be learned from our avoidance of hametz. One lesson can be found in the way that we describe the matzah at the Passover Seder: “Ha Lachma Anya, this is the bread of affliction/poverty.” Matzah is made up of flour and water and is definitely “poor man’s bread.” When we eat matzah, and avoid our usual “rich man’s bread,” we are reminded of our ancestors, those poor slaves who did not have time to let the dough rise as they rushed out of Egypt. We are reminded of our humble beginnings when we did not have the luxury to go to the grocery store down the street and get whatever type of food we desired.

In his book entitled “Leading the Passover Journey,” Rabbi Nathan Laufer reminds us that fermented bread was actually invented by the Egyptians and was used as a form of currency in their economy. He writes: “Fundamentally, by eating matzot on Passover we are identifying with and reliving the experience of our Israelite ancestors. By shunning chametz, we are rejecting the lifestyle and values of their Egyptian taskmasters.”

Getting rid of our hametz is both a reminder of our history as poor slaves, and a rejection of a slave-master lifestyle. We learn that we must constantly strive to see our fellow human beings as created betzelem Elohim, in God’s image. We must constantly endeavor to treat others with the respect that comes from this acknowledgment, always striving to remember that, in God’s eyes, we are all equal.

The avoidance of hametz also helps us do some internal work. In Rabbi Michael Strassfeld’s “A Book Of Life,” he writes that hametz is dough that is allowed to rise and “puff up,” a symbol of pride. Strassfeld reminds us that, “Passover is a call to return to a simpler sense of self, one that is not artificially inflated.” In other words, the avoidance of hametz on Passover reminds us to keep our egos in check. Self-confidence is healthy, but we should not walk around with our egos constantly “puffed up.” Strassfeld continues: “…the purpose of the removal of hametz is to bring us clearer to a sense of self and place in the world. We can be significant players…but we should always remember our limitations and our mortality and not become Pharaohs.”

The destruction of all of our hametz reminds us not to take our freedom for granted. The rabbis noticed that the Hebrew words hametz and matzah are very similar. There is only one small space, distinguishing the het from the hey, that prevents the words from having identical letters. Rabbi Strassfeld remarks that our focus on matzah and avoidance of hametz reminds us that “little separates the prohibited from the permitted, the slave from the free.”

This year, when we are cleaning out our cupboards and looking behind our couch cushions for those little breadcrumbs, we should stop and remember that very little actually separates our freedom from slavery. Many of us, for example, just happened to be born in a country that prizes freedom as a supreme value. We could just as easily have been born elsewhere. The avoidance of hametz and the embrace of matzah remind us that we should never take our precious freedoms for granted. Rather we should constantly endeavor to pursue freedom both for ourselves and for others.

Finally, Strassfeld points out that the avoidance of hametz reminds us that “slavery lies among our possessions. The things we possess often possess us.” Avoiding hametz on Passover reminds us that our material possessions are valuable, but we must constantly strive to remember that it is our relationships to ourselves, our family, our community, our neighbors, and our God that are our most important possessions.

So, as we immerse ourselves in our Passover cleaning and begin kvetching about the craziness of the holiday we should remember to stop and think about why exactly we are doing all of this. When we are shlepping dishes in and out, vacuuming crumbs, and searching for any morsel of hametz that might be left, we should remember that the values and lessons behind this avoidance of hametz must be as important to us as the cleaning itself. While the Passover preparations can definitely be a lot of work, bringing meaning into our lives and making a difference in the world around us is well worth the hassle. I wish you all a Hag Kasher V’sameach- May you have a wonderful Passover holiday with your friends and family!