S.5 #13 | Passover: The Personal Egypt

With Passover around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about the concept of personal Egypt: our own limiting beliefs and that which controls us. While during Passover the Haggadah instructs us to regard ourselves as having personally lived through the events of the Exodus, the Seder also allows for self-reflection and discussion of how we can break free of these metaphorical chains, leaving the restraining past in the past and taking the first steps to personal freedom - one that promises self-transcendence and lifts us out of our natural limitations.

Mentions:

Poem "Seder-Night" by Israel Zangwill

Book "How to Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay 

Book "On the Origin of the Species" by Charles Darwin 

Transcript

 I was in Las Vegas recently, AKA Sin City, and it made me think of all the different addictions that people have: gambling, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. And with Passover around the corner, I think it’s a perfect time to talk about the Personal Egypt concept. But first things first. Let me clarify what Jews celebrate on Passover and the symbolism behind it. On Peisach (Passover in Hebrew), Jewish people commemorate the Israelites' liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt and we celebrate with an eight-day ban on leavened foods and a special Seder (the passover meal). But wait! There is more! There are many important rituals that we observe  to experience the Exodus story personally, as if we ourselves had left Egypt. We read the Haggadah - the text used during the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah fulfills the mitzvah (commandment) to recount the story of the Exodus to one's children, and it's a key part of the Passover celebration, containing ancient texts, blessings, rituals, and Passover songs. Other Passover traditions, like the Seder plate and the eating of matzah, are meant to evoke the hardships of slavery and the joy of freedom. I will quickly go over the required ingredients placed on the Seder plate. Each item on a seder plate is a symbol of the Exodus story and helps participants at the seder retell the story each year. 

1. Beitzah: The roasted egg is symbolic of the festival sacrifice made in biblical times. It is also a symbol of spring - the season in which Passover is always celebrated.
    
2. Chazeret: Lettuce is often used in addition to the maror as a bitter herb. The authorities are divided on the requirement of chazeret, so not all communities use it. Since the commandment to eat the paschal lamb "with unleavened bread and bitter herbs" uses the plural ("bitter herbs") most seder plates have a place for chazeret.
    
3. Zeroa: The shank bone is symbolic of the Paschal lamb offered as the Passover sacrifice in biblical times. Some communities use a chicken neck as a substitute.
    
4. Charoset: This mixture (often apple, nuts, and spices ground together and mixed with wine) are symbolic of the mortar used by Hebrew slaves to build Egyptian structures. 

1. Karpas: Parsley is dipped into salt water during the seder. The salt water serves as a reminder of the tears shed during Egyptian slavery.
    
2. Maror: Bitter Herbs (usually horseradish) symbolize the bitterness of Egyptian slavery. 

While not placed on the Seder plate, matzah is really the star of the holiday. Matzah is a key symbol of the Exodus, the Israelites' liberation from slavery in Egypt. The flat, unleavened bread signifies the haste with which they left, not having time for the dough to rise. Matzah is also called "lechem oni," or "the bread of affliction," a reminder of the hardships faced by the Israelites in Egypt. Its simple, unadorned nature contrasts with the leavened bread, which symbolizes pride and arrogance. By consuming matzah during Passover, Jews are reminded to be humble and to remember the suffering of their ancestors, urging them to fight against oppression and injustice. Some interpretations associate matzah with self-transcendence and faith, as it represents a commitment beyond the scope of rational faculties. 

Then there are the Four Questions, which are asked by the youngest person present and encourage participants to reflect on the meaning of Passover. 

The questions, and answers, are as follows:

 "Why is this night different from all other nights?" 

• "On all other nights we eat leavened products and matzah, and on this night only matzah."

Slavery: Matzah was the bread of slaves and poor, it was cheap to produce and easy to make.

Freedom: Matzah commemorates the fact that the bread did not have enough time to rise when the Jews hastily left Egypt. Matzah also recalls the slavery of our ancestors and their triumph over tyranny. Matzah, too, has become a symbol of hope, urging us to speak for those who do not yet know freedom. We who celebrate Passover commit ourselves to the continuing struggle against oppression. 

• "On all other nights we eat all vegetables, and on this night only bitter herbs." 

Slavery: The bitter herbs remind us of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.

• "On all other nights, we don't dip our food even once, and on this night we dip twice." 

Slavery: The salt water into which we dip the parsley represents the tears we cried while in Egypt. Similarly, the fruit-nut paste into which the bitter herbs are dipped reminds us of the cement we used to create the bricks in Egypt.

Freedom: Dipping food is considered a luxury; a sign of freedom — as opposed to the poor (and enslaved) who eat "dry" and un-dipped foods.

• On all other nights we eat sitting or reclining, and on this night we only recline.

Freedom: reclining is a symbolic act of freedom and royalty, as it was the custom of ancient royalty to recline while eating and drinking wine

In addition, there is the Cup of Elijah - a symbolic cup that is left empty during the Seder in honor of prophet Elijah, and the door is symbolically opened to welcome him, representing hope for future redemption and the arrival of the Messiah

A favorite of the kids, The Afikoman is a special piece of matzah that is hidden during the Seder and then sought out by the children, who are rewarded for finding it. 

Ok, now you know the gist of Passover. I say gist because there is a ton more information and explanation of all the traditions and rules, but this would take hours. Trust me I know because my husband and I attended three Passover preparation classes with our rabbi, each lasting an hour, and we still didn’t get through everything! Nonetheless, the goal of this episode is to break down the concept of Personal Egypt, so here we go! The Hebrew word for Egypt literally means “the narrow, constricted place.” At the Seder we might contemplate where in our own lives we feel constricted or stuck. We are to think: Is there something that controls us such as an addiction or an emotion? Passover is an ideal time to spend thinking or talking about how we feel metaphorically bound in ways we don’t want to be – mentally, emotionally, spiritually or materially, for example. Dedicating time to such discussions, or personal reflection, prompts us to cultivate and act on the possibility that things can and do change. In fact, the matzah that we eat on this holiday represents just that! - the past and the future - leaving the difficult, controlling past behind and making our way to the free future. The Passover teaches us through the commandment to “see” or “show” ourselves as having left Egypt in order to honor and make space for our own stories while drawing spiritual, ethical, and historical connections to those who are facing hardships that differ from ours. Then, the follow-up work after the seder is to allow those connections to spur us to learning, partnership, and, of course, positive action. For instance, one limiting belief that I’ve been working on eliminating and will address this Passover is the belief that since I’m almost 40 years old and haven’t accomplished anything revolutionary or that which will leave a legacy, that I will never be able to. I keep telling myself that plenty of people much older than me started late in life and were able to change the world or do something meaningful and worth remembering. There is Henry Ford, who founded Ford at age 40. I just visited the Henry Ford museum last week and boy did this man leave a legacy! Charles Darwin was 50 years old before he published On the Origin of the Species in 1859, the book that espoused the theory for which he is best known today. And one of my favorite motivational speakers and authors, Louise Hay, didn’t become well-know until she was 58, when she published her best-selling book “You Can Heal Your Life"! So anything is possible and never too late!  

This Passover, I hope you can identify your own Egypt- that which controls you - and I hope you find the strength and inspiration to break free of these metaphorical chains, leaving the restraining past in the past and taking the first steps to personal freedom - one that promises self-transcendence and lifts you out of your natural limitations.

Thank you for listening! I will leave you today with a poem called Seder-Night

By Israel Zangwill

Prosaic miles of streets stretch all round,

Astir with restless, hurried life and spanned

By arches that with thund’rous trains resound,

And throbbing wires that galvanize the land;

Gin-palaces in tawdry splendor stand;

The newsboys shriek of mangled bodies found;

The last burlesque is playing in the Strand—

In modern prose all poetry seems drowned.

Yet in ten thousand homes this April night

An ancient People celebrates its birth

To Freedom, with a reverential mirth,

With customs quaint and many a hoary rite,

Waiting until, its tarnished glories bright,

Its God shall be the God of all the earth.