Thought for the Week

Pesach is coming.

The New Moon on Sunday, together with the turning forward of the clocks, are both reminders that there is no stopping the spring. With gardens long dormant bursting into life, it is as though time itself is speeding up. As the Jewish birth story, the Exodus too, was something drawn out over far too long, and then, accomplished after one long night.

The extra Torah portion that Reform communities read on this Shabbat ha Chodesh, on the threshold of the spring, describes exactly how to remember the suddenness of freedom. “You are to eat it [roasted lamb, bitter herbs, matzah] with your belt tied, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you must eat it in a hurry!”

In thirteenth century France, the thoughtful commentator Chizkuni points out that this means gulping down three messages at once: slavery, rescue and freedom. The bitter herbs of slavery. The lamb of rescue, a reminder of its blood, smeared on the lintel, that protects us from the first- born death. And the matzah of freedom, the dough that cannot rise in Egypt, but survives the escape. It is powerful to consider eating them all at once, and that difficult mouthful is appropriate to the moment.

I believe that this year, the herbs will be more bitter; and the matzah will taste more like the bread of slavery than the dry hopefulness of freedom. But, as ever, we consume these experiences all at once.

May the powerful drive of spring enlighten your life, and may this new month allow us the taste of freedom, ue and hope.

Shabbat shalom