21 Apr Pesach Shorts – Prinable Version

Pesach; To Remember Deeply
Pakod yifkod in it’s various forms may translate as ‘G-d will surely remember‘, and may also be found as Pakod Pakad’ti, to Deeply Remember.  

 

It is referred to as ‘the redemption code’ and appears at 4 critical places in the Torah in reference to the coming of the Mashiach. The inspirational message is that there are powerful sparks of holiness concealed in the past that when ‘deeply remembered’ (pakod pakad’ti) and redeemed, are critical to bringing Mashiach and the Final Redemption,  

 

Whatever we may choose to remember to heighten our awareness of Pesach (or or as it may be in other experiences in life) we need to go beyond the superficial to truly open the depths of our heart to fully appreciate the potential of the emotive experience concealed within an event.  

 

That is what is meant to ‘remember deeply’. Sharing and journaling about our personal lives journeys  and the ‘challenges and oppression to freedom’ can help us deepen our awareness and connection to the story of the Haggadah, as a universal journey of the soul.

 

May you discussions at your seder be deep and meaningful.

 

Let the Haggadah be your guide. Pesach; To Remember Deeply;

                              

Pesach; A Time to Feel
Most of us have come to know Judaism mostly from anacademic, intellectual perspective.  A  Judaism of the mind.

 

But Judaism of the mind as an intellectual experience only, may compromise the full experience of Laws and Mitzvot as they can remain incomplete without a connection or ‘interinclusion’ of the intellectual aspects of the ‘mind’ with the (often neglected) emotive aspects of the ‘heart’. This interinclusion of the mind and heart culminates as the experience of ‘Daat- Knowledge’ of the interincluded and elevated experience of the Mind and the Heart’.

 

The holiday of Pesach and the story of the Haggadah are greatly focused on inspiring the emotive experiences of the Heart… ‘a time to feel’ .

 

 

 

Enslavement can be physical and or spiritual

During the Exodus from Egypt, individuals and families became separated and only 1/5 of the Nation, 2 ½ million people left Egypt to experience freedom and receive the Torah at Mr Sinai. Those 12 ½ million who did not follow Moses out of Egypt perished.

 

There is incredible power created through the unity of relationships of individuals, as a family and as Nation. It is through the gift of freedom that people have free-will and choice to make positive, elevating change. This requires effort as prescribed in the guidelines of Torah.

 

It is a Torah obligation to keep your fellow Jew close. No Jew should be allowed to fall into the darkness like the darkness of the Jews that were enslaved in Egypt.

 

Garments That Merit Redemption From Mitzrayim 

Of those meritorious acts that saved them in Egypt…

 

Garments as spoken about in the Torah can have a multiple meaning as a garment of cloth or a spiritual garment ; both are ‘enclothements’.

 

Among the those things that merited the redemption of the Israelites from Mitzrayim (Egypt) are;

 

The Israelite slaves maintained their Hebrew names and they maintained the Hebrew language. It is well known that the ppwer of Hebrew letters and Hebrew words are conduits of spiritual energies that create reality. These are commonly ideas that may be shared at a Seder table.

 

What may not be so commonly shared at the Seder table is the idea that the merit of ‘garment’s to merit redemption’ which are typically believed to be actual garments of clothing of the slaves are understood to be spiritual garments.  

 

It’s understood that as a slave, they didn’t have the luxury of ‘selecting ‘ their garments, we can than understand more deeply that the Torah refers to garments as something other than clothes, but as ‘spiritual garments’. So we can then understand the ‘garments’ the Israelites merited for the redemption was the merit of the spiritual garment (enclothement) of the mitzvot prohibition of engaging in the massive transgression of sexual immorality throughout Egypt.   

 

Perhaps we may have not shared this idea at a seder table due to the sensitive nature of the idea of sexual immorality where children are present.

 

 

Tower of Bavel ; Bricks and Morter (Parshas Noach-Pesach)  

As the world was created symmetrically, it has been the purpose of man following the fall from Gan Eden to restore that symmetry to himself and the world; Tikun Olam.  

 

Where there was the Flood Waters of Noach; a great mikvah that was to purify (to restore symmetry),  the world soon fell in to a deficient state resulting in the idolatrous building of the Tower of Bavel.

 

Shemos/Exodus Verse 8: [And] the quota of bricks that they made before, you shall place upon them..

G-d , His Torah contains the keys to restoration of  His symmetry of Creation.  

 

When Pharaoh says to the Israelites ‘…to build with bricks as before’, Pharaoh (unknowingly?) is referring to using the same numbers of bricks as were used at Bavel (nearly 1000 yrs previous). Concealed in Pharaohs order ‘as before’ is kapara (atonement).. a Tikun- or rectification and restoration of symmetry for the transgression of Bavel.

 

Perhaps the most well known event of the Tower of Bavel was that Hashem caused all the workers to speak (70) different languages. But deeper than just the chaos of different languages, those who spoke the same language did not always understand one another. There was in addition to the many different languages ‘misunderstanding’; a lack of clarity of the same language.

 

We know this today in our interactions that although we may speak the same language as the other person, we don’t necessarily understand the true essence of what they are saying. This ‘divisiveness’ is exactly the point of the event , a cause for rectification and binah – understanding of language that creates a rectified reality of unification… Oneness’. Where our transgressions are not properly rectified, there will continue to exist divisiveness that will ultimately return in some negatively impacting way.  

 

We need to keep in mind that ‘When something breaks, it can be repaired better than it once was.’

 

 

Pesach; Oppression, Tshuvah, Forgiveness  

The essence of Pesach is the redemption of the Jewish Nation from the oppression of slavery in Egypt .

 

Oppression has many faces. If we withhold the ability for another Jew to do tshuvah (to atone for and rectify a situation) by inappropriately withholding forgiveness, we have denied a freedom from that person… we have held him captive, oppressed like as he was when he was a slave in Egypt.

 
To Empty Egypt; Redeeming the Sparks of Holiness  

G-d promised Avraham and latter Moshe that the benefit of the oppression and Exodus from Egypt will be to ’empty out’ Mitzrayim. This does not mean to simply empty Egypt of material things, but to empty out Egypt by igniting and bringing out with them powerful, yet to be revealed spiritual sparks of holiness necessary for the process of rectification of the  Jewish Nation and the World… The Final Redemption and Mashiach, and Tikun Olam (the Rectification of the World).  

 

This is a beautiful insight (mashal) from R. Moshe Genuth (Gal Einai);  

 

Years ago, where a farmer worked the field with hard labour of the most simple harvest where he acquired the (limited) merit of the sparks of holiness through his hard labour and a simple superficial sustenance Today we don’t work the fields in the same laborious way. For the most part, today we have machines to do much of the labour. So, the sparks of holiness we cultivate and elevate now have to be acquired in a different and deeper way. The sparks of harvests of years ago have been ignited… emptied.  

 

Today we need to ‘cultivate our fields’ differently as we no longer plow by the physical hard work of our hands . We need to dig deeper, beyond the superficial, to elevate those sparks of holiness that were merited and redeemed aka emptied out from the hardship and exodus of Mitzrayim that have remained un-ignited since our exodus. We need to reveal and ignite all other remaining concealed sparks of holiness of galus if we are going to succeed at our mission; Mashiach and Tikun Olam.

 
Pesach; Free Will and Choice  

With the Redemption from Egypt came the power of free will and choice.  

 

Just as our free will has the power to repair and elevate ourselves, each other and the World, we must always keep in mind kindness and compassion, as our free will G-d forbif may also cause us to harm another.

  

 

Matzah; Ego, Zinc and Recovery Insight  

Those who observe the Laws of Pesach don’t eat leavened bread or cakes…chumatz.

 

People, especially those with mood disorders (bi polar, depression etc.) or addictions may find that during Passover they feel a little ‘low’.  During Passover journey it was  the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt that created a spiritual  void. A void of ‘self’  (ego) was created within the people which then prepared them and allowed them to receive the Torah.The process of ‘lowliness–shiflut’ or ‘bitul-self nullification’ is a state of being where we divest ourselves of  our ego (self).  We are more ready to receive when we are in a state of humility. The ‘creating’ of a void is like the creating of a vacuum which allows us to then be filled with holiness. This is a principle of Torah as well as physics.

 

In the leavening process (of bread and cakes and other grain products) there are enzymes known as phytates. These enzymes aid in the extraction of Zinc from protein (meat) which is key to the production of testosterone.

 

Low testosterone can cause a  feeling of ‘ flatness or emptiness’   and may trigger an episode of bi polar, depressive behaviour or cravings.  Zinc supplements can help maintain a healthy level of testosterone to help manage those at risk. Zinc supplements can be gotten over the counter at any pharmacy or health food store. The daily recommended amount of Zinc may vary. Ask the pharmacist for directions. It may be taken leading up to and during Passover.

 

What is quite interesting is that as our testosterone is lowered, it causes us to become more ‘lowly’ (ie nullified of our ego), and more receptive to receiving Torah somewhat like our ancestors who left Egypt. Once a void has become created, it can now be filled with the Goodness of  G-ds Spiritual Light, a spiritual transformation and rectification  of our ego can take place at the source of spiritual and psychological illness.

 

Once the process of creating a void in oneself has begun physically (in this case through self nullification of ego  from the ‘Passover diet’), it is then possible to rectify oneself spiritually and psychologically… and receive Torah.

 

Thanks to Rabbi Shmuel Veffer for his inspiring insights on this.

 

Shmura Matzah; Handmade vs Machine  

Shmurah matzah is preferred for the Seder. Its made from wheat that from the time it is harvested is carefully guarded to ensure no moisture may come in contact with it and cause it to become chumatz (leavened). The verse (Exodus, 12:17) states: ‘You shall guard the matzot. The matzah must be guarded to ensure that it does not become chametz’.  

 

‘Those who permit the use of the machine made matzot contend that these matzot are preferable, since the automated process is faster than making matzot by hand and there is thus less possibility of the dough becoming chametz, provided that special care is taken to ensure that the machinery is kept clean and that no dough is allowed to remain in the machinery between the processing of one batch and the next.  

 

Those who have prohibited the use of machine made matzot contend that baking matzah requires conscious intent that it is being done for the purpose of fulfilling the mitzvah, and this [intent] is absent were machines are used.  

 

Machines can have no intent, and thus, matzot prepared by machine lack this prerequisite. They also point out that the intricacy of the machinery makes it extremely difficult to ensure that no dough remains in the grooves or gears, for if dough is left in the machinery it will render subsequent batches chametz.‘ (Chabad)  

 

The debate continues; It is currently accepted that both machine and handmade shmurah matzos may be acceptable … best to talk to your Orthodox Rabbi. (Nb; machined matzah’s cost much less.)  

 

 

A Brief Look at the Omer

• An Omer is an offered amount (of Barley) 43.2 eggs. Barley is considered animal feed and accordingly is associated with lowliness and humility. These are traits required to rectify ones character.
• The full counting of the Omer is 49 Days that starts from 2nd day Pesach to Shavuos (the 50th Day). On the 50th Day one would hope to rectify his 7 emotive(character) emanations to then receive the Torah anew in a ‘rectified’ way on.
• There are 7 emotive ‘experiences’ (sephirot), each interinclude with the other that culminate as the rectification of the 7-within-7 for each of the 49 Days
• The 33 Days to Lag B’omer (L-amed G-imel =33) coincide with the Counting of the Omer. The 33rd Day is the Yehrzeit of the sage Rabbi Shimom Bar Yochai (The RASHBI) who penned the Kabbalistic text the Zohar. On this 33rd day of the Omer there is a celebration.
• The 33rd Day also coincides with the end of the plague of deaths of the of 24,000 student of Rabbi Akiva due to ‘baseless hatred’. They failed to embrace one another. Accordingly we observe a period of mourning during the first 33 Days. It is a period of diminished joy. The end of this period of mourning coincides with the celebration of Lag B’ Omer. All the days of the Omer culminate on the 50th Day of Shavuos, the day of receiving the Torah at Sinai.  

 

 

Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counselling (Hnrs)

www.LawrenceLax.com     ~  Counseling Site and Blog
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