April 1, 2011-Tazriah

I can't believe it's snowing. Big giant flakes of snow on April 1st. It's certainly the last snow we'll see for a while - I hope you stopped for a moment to marvel. I think it's quite fitting, however, that the snow-calendar has taken its cue from the Jewish calendar as we prepare to wrap up the leap year month of Adar (the 2nd). Our system of direct calibration of the solar and lunar cycles leads us every few years to stick in an extra month for good measure (literally), thus pushing Passover right back into the spring, where it belongs (that's how we know to calibrate, btw).

We leave winter with thoughts of spring. And for many of us, it's spring cleaning that makes the most noise. The mad dash to chase down every last spec of chometz - leavening - begins, and frankly turns us all into paranoid, ocd neurotics. Why the madness? Freedom. I suppose we could try a different tactic to prepare for Pesach; we could spend a few weeks shacked at the wrists and ankles in solitary confinement and then release just before the Seder. Thankfully, our Torah came up with an alternative. Chometz busting.

Why are we so hung up on it? Because most of the year, we're hung up on it - so much so that it rules our existence. What does it stand for? Why is it antithetical to freedom? It's the ego. It's physicality devoid of spiritual content. It's simply metaphysical hot air. It's what gets in the way of true freedom. Hedonistic indulgence and self indulgence (one and the same) are the hurdles we face every day and the chains that shackle more than our wrists and ankles. On Pesach night, we will have (should have) broken free. But not without a fight. Know the enemy well. Seek and destroy.

This week's torah portion chronicles all the laws of purity and impurity - very elusive subjects for us nowadays. However, the impurities we suffer from today are quite obvious and the Torah's call to sensitivity and purity should be a call to action. The freedom we seek is also equally elusive. It's not a freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want to - that's more the enemy's motto than ours. If we make a list of what we feel we should be, what we aspire to be, what we want our spouses, children, confidants and friends to think of us, we'll find it's full of sacrifice, hard work and determination. And the chometz of life stands in the way.

Ready, aim, fire.

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Lynn