If one reason why we refrain from chametz is to experience a hint of suffering, when do we begin to feel a sense of freedom?
Some may say freedom arrives with the first taste of pizza. But I begin to feel relief when I change over my kitchen, putting my coffee maker, mixer, and toaster back in their rightful places. There is freedom in the familiar.
However, this week ushers in Yom HaShoah, when we remember the six million that perished at the hands of the Nazis. I heard twin sisters share their story. Their parents survived the war by fleeing to Shanghai. The sisters grew accustomed to living in ghetto conditions, sometimes five families sharing one tiny room. They lived in dire straits until the family left for Minnesota; the girls were then eight years old. The sisters explained they did not understand freedom until they walked into a home in which the plumbing was inside and under the roof. Freedom felt strange, uncomfortable even. While there was no desire to return to their prior lives, the road forward was scary and confusing. What was this new and shiny future?
Perhaps we have the Passover experience all wrong. The refraining from chametz may be the beginning of freedom; the opportunity to do something different, to change our routine, elevate our minds through what we put in our mouths. We assume the familiar feels freeing, but really, it is the first step into the unknown that may bring a sense of possibility we have yet to experience.
Freedom comes when we do not settle back into our familiar habits but instead, choose to forge a brighter path forward: An uncharted road, a journey unexplored. But redemption awaits those of us that are willing to walk ahead.
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is senior rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik or on Instagram @rabbiguzik. For more writings, visit Rabbi Guzik’s blog section from Sinai Temple’s website.
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