Torah in the Key of Healing

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Rafael Goldstein, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Passover Food Considerations Metzora Leviticus 14:1- 15:32

Have you started getting ready for Passover? I noticed this week that the market near where I live has a huge display its Passover foods. I found some incredible stuff: there were 6 different brands of matzah, all with different prices. What is the only recipe for Matzah? Flour and water. There are no other ingredients allowed. So maybe they cook it differently? Nope. No variations are allowed. From the moment the water hits the flour, the entire process – mixing, shaping and baking – can take no more than 18 minutes. So what’s the difference? The name on the box and the price you pay.

What else is on the shelves? There are lots of gefilte fish jars and cans. Cake mixes. Mixes, actually, for just about everything you really don’t need. Matzah Ball Soup Mixes abound on the shelves. Have you ever tasted this stuff? It actually could sit on your seder table instead of the salt water. There is aaa tremendous amount of incredibly useless stuff on the shelves. Passover candy is plentiful, and there’s every possible variety of Passover macaroons, Passover cakes and cookies. (People with a sweet tooth and no weight problem have it made. I’m jealous.)

So what’s not there? Just about anything that’s nutritious, or for that matter, essential for Passover (except the matzah and derivatives). The items on the seder plate don’t come in boxes. Did you ever wonder why there’s no mix for haroset (apple and nut mixture that is supposed to remind us of the mortar that was actually not used in the building of major structures in Egypt)? And the stuff in the boxes and jars on the shelves aren’t part of the seder. What do you make of this abundance of stuff we don’t really need?

It seems to me to be the classic conflict between form and content. The shelves are filled with the stuff that is form, with no content. Passover bagels are the best example. Why would someone need bagels on Passover? Can’t live without them for one week? When you think about the content of the holiday, you know they are contrary to what it’s about. But if there’s a holiday in which it’s supposed to be all about content, it’s Passover. We don’t get to eat anything without it serving as a reminder that we were slaves, and we are supposed to see ourselves as having personally been liberated from Egypt.

I guess what was also missing from the grocery store shelves is the one best source of really great content: there wasn’t one Haggadah (the book read at the seder table) to be found.

The content of the seder has always been fluid and has changed over the years. Gefilte fish is an added item from our experience as a people in Eastern Europe (it has a Yiddish name, after all, and was poverty food to stretch the amount of fish a family might have by adding fillers to it). But gefilte fish, while served at a seder, is not mentioned, except by the people who either love it or hate it! The egg is on the seder plate with no explanation. The original bitter herbs were some kind of arugula or lettuce, since horseradish is not bitter and has its origin in Eastern Europe, where lettuce was not common. The timing of opening the door to strangers changed, as has the understanding of the role of Elijah the prophet.

A special cup of water as a reminder of Miriam’s role in the desert has been added by many families, noting that Miriam had a very important role of finding the sources of water in the desert and that Moses did not act alone. It also recognizes the partnership of brothers and sisters.

Put on orange on your seder plate, and see where it leads. I like the explanation that it is a symbol of the Jewish people: 12 sections, each composed of tiny pulp, all held together as one. I read this week about adding a banana to the seder plate as a reminder of the people who are refugees from oppressive regimes – Syria in particular. We used to have a special matzah for Russian “refuseniks”. Maybe we need a new one to remind us that there are still people who are enslaved today. What else can be added or understood in a new light?

This year, I hope we all will struggle to find the ways in which we can focus on the content, the meanings of the symbols in our homes and on our tables. I hope we will all participate in asking questions about all the aspects of the holiday, and maybe even find some of the answers. May the Holy One inspire us find our own meanings, even in the most mundane of symbols, in the most normal of places.

© Rabbi Dr. H. Rafael Goldstein, BCC
Dynamics of Hope Consulting – Mentor for Personal and Spiritual Transformation
347-280-3654 www.dynamicsofhope.com rabbirafael@gmail.com