SERIES
PROJECT SHALOM
PESACH
– a time of
breakthrough
The appreciative journey
BY LEONARD CARR
74 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 82
THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS BROKEN, HUMBLE
CRACKER WHICH IS NOT ENHANCED BY LUXURIOUS
INGREDIENTS THAT WOULD MAKE IT INTO SOMETHING
MORE OR OTHER THAN WHAT IT ESSENTIALLY IS,
REPRESENTS LIFE WITHOUT THE DISTRACTION AND
BURDEN OF HAVING TO MANAGE COMPLICATIONS.
more free than a wealthy man, who has to
service and protect all his assets and investments, as well as manage the many
different demands placed on him by virtue of his station and resources. The less
you need, the freer you are. The less you
own, the fewer your concerns. The simpler your life, the less that can go wrong
and therefore the less there is to worry
about. Perfect faith can be described, as
the Maharal defines, as fear of Hashem –
fear of nothing else. All doubt, worry, regret, complaining and criticising, show
lack of faith because they give ultimate
power to the physical world. In so doing,
criticisers make themselves vulnerable
and preoccupied with self-preservation,
and not being creative and generative.
All unfinished business keeps parts of
you trapped in the past. Concerning yourself exclusively with how to best serve
Hashem and nothing else paradoxically
frees you to focus on what is truly important in life, namely, being the best person
that you can be and actualising your
unique gifts and talents. Being fully yourself means living for the future and being
free to fulfil your full potential in life. You
can only do this if you are not scared of
people or anything that is ultimately beyond your control – in short, if you have
complete faith and trust in Hashem.
The opposite of this freedom is the slavery of being submerged in the material
that distracts you from your own essence,
and from what truly matters to you in your
quest for the serenity of spirit that culminates in a life devoted to growing gracefully and ‘sageing’ rather than merely aging.
You mature by living your authentic self
and investing in service of the greater
good, ultimately making the world a better
place for you having been here. Taking
yourself seriously includes treating time as
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THE JEWISH NARRATIVE IS PUNCTUATED BY A
succession of journeys. Pesach is simultaneously a national journey from slavery to redemption and the birth of a national identity, as well as an extemporaneous personal
one. The personal journey is represented by
the matzah, which is held up at the beginning of the Seder, and on which the entire
Seder is recited. The Maharal of Prague says
matzah represents simplicity, purity and
clear, single-minded purpose.
Matzah and chometz contain identical
ingredients. The only real difference between matzah and chometz is time. Time
is a defining characteristic of the physical
world. Chometz, on the personal level,
represents that which has been adulterated by, reduced to and subjugated by material reality. Matzah represents the transcendent and the spiritual; that which
exists beyond the material realm. On a
personal level, it represents pure faith
and paradoxical wholeness.
The simplicity of this broken, humble
cracker which is not enhanced by luxurious ingredients that would make it into
something more or other than what it essentially is, represents life without the
distraction and burden of having to manage complications. A poor man, with only
basic possessions and very little to manage other than just staying alive, is far