By
the time you read this, you will have eaten as much matzah as is ritually
prescribed and THEN some. You will have
seen it in its many permutations; Matzah Brye, Matzah French Toast, Matzah
Pizza, Matzah Kugel, Chocolate Matzah, Matzahball soup, and any number of
dessert ‘confections’ made with that mysterious substance… MATZAH FLOUR, which
I can only imagine to be the remains of sandblasted matzah… or, perhaps, the
PYRAMIDS themselves!
I’ve
hunted for matzah in Paris, where it is known as “Pain Enzyme’ defined as pain sans levain que le peuple Juif mange à Pâques (Hébreu) – bread without leavening which the Jewish People
eat during the Hebrew Easter! I’ve eaten
U.S. Army surplus matzah in the synagogue in Tokyo, where, I believe, all
unconsumed matzah originally sent to soldiers in the Pacific is shipped after
Passover, and where it is consumed at kiddish luncheons for THE REST OF THE
YEAR!!!!! (The perfect accompaniment to ARMY SURPLUS GEFILLTE FISH?)
The largest matzah eating orgy
I’ve attended was at Kibbutz Ein Harod where over a thousand kibbutzniks and
their extended families all ate in one very large hall at a VERY large seder! Even though this was a secular kibbutz,
Passover brought everyone back to the fold… even if it was only for one night.
The
most poignant matzah sharing was the seder held at my sister’s home only hours
after my father’s funeral. My sister was convinced that dad had somehow “rigged” his passing so that she
would be compelled to host a seder
for the ENTIRE family!
Before
the holiday of Passover, traditionally we “search for the Chumetz” that is, to
clean out all the crumbs of food that contain leaven and then ceremonially,
burn the last few crumbs. There is to be no chumetz in our settlements… or in
our automobiles for the aficionados of the “drive up window.” Certainly, this
is a form of “spring cleaning” but the symbolism of the chumetz, or chametz,
can’t be missed. Chametz is all that is
inflated within us.
I
am thinking, however, that what we SHOULD have at the END of Passover is a
collection of MATZAH CRUMBS! Instead of
counting down the minutes until we can order PIZZA again, maybe we should
COLLECT matzah crumbs! They can be
symbolic of all the Passovers we have spent with loved ones, the Passovers
celebrated during good times, the Passovers observed during difficult
times. The matzah crumbs can also recall
the times when, out of memories of loss, we are reluctant to even sit down to
the Seder table and reenact the story.
Eating matzah has been part of our ritual heritage since the very
beginning… but it has been part of our OWN life experiences as well, whether
growing up Jewish or coming to Judaism later in life.
Jews
are storytellers by virtue of their literary heritage. After all, what is the Passover Seder if not
story telling? But AFTER we’ve told the
story we are commanded to tell, it is time to kick back and collect a few
matzah crumbs. Those matzah crumbs tell
OUR stories. Everyone has matzah
memories. Take a moment to inventory
YOUR matzah memories. Try to reinterpret
them as an adult… since many of your memories probably come from your youth
(especially the memories of how hungry you were before the seder, how long the
seder was, and how it was all done in Hebrew so you didn’t understand a word!)
Take
a moment out of your busy day, sweep up some matzah crumbs, and ponder the
following:
- What are your earliest Passover memories, not just the seder, but preparing for the holiday?
- When did you first participate in a seder?
- Can you recall the people at past seders?
- Do you remember the food, the melodies, the atmosphere?
- Do you think back on those who have died, but now live on in your Passover memories?
- Have there been marriages and births, enabling you to create new memories?
- How does it feel to share the Passover experience with others who are not related to you?
- What are your most unusual Passover stories?
As
you eat up the last few boards of matzah… look deeply into that empty box,
stare at the last few crumbs, and firmly place the events of THIS Passover in
your mind so that you may look back on this time and remember.
Shabbat
Shalom,
Rabbi
Rose Lyn Jacob
No comments:
Post a Comment