I just came up from the fire that burnt the neighborhood's chametz. For those of you who remember Rechov HaKablan, it was in the empty space between the French synagogue and the stairs that lead down to the Breslov minyan. The kids of course are fascinated by the scene. The latent pyromania that occupies a little space in the 5-10 crowd is fully alerted. The boys especially love thowing yesterday's falafel into the flames. The adults who are their both to burn their own chametz and to watch the fire and put it out when the 11:10 deadline comes are more involved in what is happening spiritually and symbolically.
Let it burn
All the evil in me and in the rest of us
Let it burn
The ego the fears the pettiness that fuels the hatred
Let it burn
The envy and hatred that fuel the endless violence and doesn’t let it die a silent death
Let it burn
By the fire of your inner knowledge of good
By your longing for connection and love
By the Torah whose fire can never be totally extinguished by evil
By the force of the One who redeemed us out of Egypt
And is with you and us, Now and Then, Always and Tomorrow
Let it burn
The siren just blew announcing that the last time for eating chametz has passed for this year. The next week will be a time for simplicity/originality/and sharing when it comes to eating. Every bite of matzah gives you the same message. Eating is so visceral that you can't forget its Pesach even for a moment. The moment that Hashem melted away all of the limitations, fears, sins, and every other barrier that kept is in Egypt is repeated tonight. You know what your own prison is. For some of you it is lowliness, for others it's disappointment in yourself an in others. For still others it's about money, or about health. No matter what the prison looks like, (and without saying too much, one of you is in a literal prison), Hashem has the key. If you let the faith that is what made you the person you are stay with you as you eat the Bread of Faith as the Arizal would call matzah.
The entire week is meant to move you further than the seder night. The word seder literally means "order", and in this case it means the order that Hashem had in mind when He created the world. It incudes both good and evil, light and dark, nights like the seder nights, and ordinary nights. Maharal tells us that this seder is purposeful. It's what gives you the ability to drive away darkness with the light inside you. Some people are masters of this art. I was at the French Hospice yesterday, visiting my friend Marcie. She is totally disabled, but is full of light. Another friend came with me, as well as my daughter Guli. Using her word board Marcie let us know that she remembers my friend, Judy Silverstein from Toronto (Neve cica 1812) from her last years visit. They discovered that they shared middle names (Temma, not such a common one) and that their grandparents shared . We were soon joined by Dr. Abrams (also from Neve's ancient days). Before you know it, Marcie directed us to sing one song she knew we would all know, Yerushalaim Shel Zahav. Judy's voice is sweet, I am good with the words, and had enough sense to sing quietly. The others turned it into a chioir.
What a moment of light!
Love, Tziporah
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