Some Final Thoughts For Passover 5783

 

One of the central rituals of our seders comes right before the meal. We are told that Rabban Gamliel, the first century sage, held that as part of the seder we have to explain three symbols on our seder plate – the Pesach, the Matzah and the Maror. The Pesach, or shank bone, represents the Passover sacrifice that our ancestors ate before the Exodus. The Matzah represents the flight from Egypt. The Maror represents the bitterness of the experience of being slaves. But while Rabban Gamliel focuses on the national and historic meaning of these symbols, I wonder if there are some other, more personal meanings hidden within them.

The word Matzah is related to the root mem-tsadi-heh which means “to squeeze”, or “to drain”. Matzah, therefore, can symbolize our basic selves, squeezed, or drained of any pretention or pride. Matzah is a simple, honest food. It symbolizes, therefore, the values of modesty and humility in our own lives. It represents our “pure” internal state, where we can be our “true selves”, free from any external, material influences, free from comparisons with others. Matzah symbolizes the absence of the superficial in our lives, and the ability to be “faithful to ourselves.”

The Maror represents the bitterness of slavery, but it also can represent the difficulties in our own lives. We cannot avoid bitter moments in our lives – times of loss, times of disappointments, sadness, and pain. They are part of being human. Here, we not only partake of the bitterness, but we also recite a blessing over it!  Perhaps this is because, as Maimonides teaches, we can never know when those bitter times will in fact turn out, in the longer run, to be a blessing. The eating of the maror teaches us to look directly at the hard moments of life, without fear, without evasion. Out of every difficulty we grow, we become strong in the broken places.

The Pesach sacrifice was eaten in a communal setting, among family, friends, and neighbors. Moses commands the Israelite slaves that each family should set aside a kid or a lamb to sacrifice on the night of the 14^th of Nisan. If the kid or lamb was too much for the family to consume in one evening, they were to invite their friends and neighbors to the roasted meal. Thus, the Passover sacrifice was not to be eaten by only one person alone. This reminds us that it is with the help of family and friends, neighbors, and community that we endure the bitter times in our lives.  The shank bone also symbolizes the mysterious bonds that connect one Jew to the other, not only at this Passover, but to Passovers throughout the ages, beginning with the very first observance of our Festival of Freedom on that Egyptian night so many years ago.

Chag Sameach