This week’s parashah, Tzav, continues discussing the intricacies of the Temple sacrifices and touches on chametz (leavened bread). It’s the parashah before Pesach (some years it’s read on the Shabbat just prior to Pesach, and other years we read it right after Purim, a few weeks prior to Pesach). Learning the parashah, we can draw connections between the weekly portion from Leviticus and the larger Jewish story of moving from spiritual constriction into spiritual freedom. From safek (doubt) into salvation. So when Tzav falls out such that we have a few weeks before Pesach to get into the mindset of Redemption, I see that as a blessing. As Rav Kook so eloquently asks of us all, “find delight in what is truly precious.”
It’s only recently that I really began to delve into the meaning of Pesach. I’ve realized that the Seder is not just a historical retelling of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, but an actual manifestation, an opportunity for each of us to leave our own Egypts. Through this ritual, we’re meant to free ourselves, to ‘burn’ the chametz that holds us back from seeing and living in full truth (emet), from being fully connected to the Infinite Light (ohr ha-kodesh). As it’s written in the Zohar, “G-d does not dwell in… a fragmented place.”
In his notebook, Rav Kook writes:
“The reality of Hashem’s providence is discernible when the world is seen in its totality. The Divine presence is not manifest in anything defective. Since HaShem does not abide where there is deficiency, how can HaShem abide where everything is lacking, where all we have is the weak and puny entity, only the particularity of the ego? This call to be committed always to the principle of universality to the divine ensemble, where all things have their being, is the essence of the soul of the righteous who walk before Hashem and whose delight is in the Divine.”
We must remember through the story of our enslavement that we, too, were once slaves and that, as Dr. King reminds us, no one is free until we are all free. Redemption is when the light of universality shines. It’s our task to usher in that revelation. This starts within our own sanctuaries and shines out from there. Nullifying the ego so the screens of separation between us all begin to fall. Indeed, the Alter Rebbe teaches in the Tanya that the basis and root purpose of the entire Torah is to elevate and exalt the soul high above the body to [G-d], the source and root of all worlds, and to draw down the Ein Sof (Infinite Light). And only when we place primary importance of our soul over our bodies can the walls that separate us come down and be replaced with love and unification. Since it’s our bodies that separate us from each other, while the soul binds us. When one focuses on the body, the separation between us becomes apparent, and only the love we create can bind us, but a created love can never equal a natural and innate love. So, love between people whose primary importance is focused on the physical, on the body over the soul, is based on external factors and endures only as long as those factors remain in play. Only when we shift our focus towards the soul over the body, of oneness over self, of the unifying and Infinite Light of the Creator of all creation, over the differences of the elements of creation, can Infinite Love exist in its purest state.
In this week’s parashah, Hashem provides the instructions for the priestly meal offerings, sacrifices that did not involve animals. Moses is told that “[the meal offering] shall not be baked leavened (lo teahfeh chametz). I have presented it as their share from My fire-offerings.”
In Exodus, when Hashem gives the commandments of Pesach, it’s written, “No leaven (chametz) shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is chametz, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country.”
Chametz literally means leavening: that which causes bread to rise. Chazal (our Sages of blessed memory) teach us that this chametz represents arrogance and the evil inclination, the yetzer hara. In Talmud Berachot, the yetzer hara is depicted as the “yeast in the dough”, puffing up a person’s pride. The Talmud explains that the portion of the meal-offering eaten by the priest (kohen) is not allowed to be offered on the altar (mizbeach).
A priest is dependent on Divine Gifts for their bread, so they cannot succumb to haughtiness or arrogance. But us, we have to work for our bread (with “sweat of our brow” after Adam’s sin). The more we accumulate and think it is by our own doing, the more the evil inclination manifests in the form of ego, haughtiness, and arrogance.
Matzah– the central symbol of Pesach– is the antithesis of chametz. It is known as lechem oni, the bread of poverty and affliction. Matzah signifies the humility that comes with poverty, and so the mitzvah (obligation) to eat matzah can only truly be fulfilled if it is eaten with humility. The matzah that the Israelites ate in Egypt was lechem oni, and so, too, the matzah that we eat over Pesach reminds us to be humble– to bitul hayesh, to negate and nullify all traces of ego and self-centeredness, to transcend the illusion of self.
It’s no coincidence that matzah (מַצָּה) and chametz (חָמֵץ) are both composed of the same letters. The only difference is that matzah is spelled with a hey (ה) and chametz with a chet (ח). We see that the letter chet (ח) is completely closed from three sides, symbolizing that “sin crouches at the entrance,” while the hey (ה) has an opening on top, which means there is always an opening above, indicating the possibility to return to the Light. As our Sages say, “‘Open for Me as little as the eye of the needle, and I will open for you like the entrance to a hall.’ Rebbe Nachman teaches that each and every person, even the most wicked, must find the one good point in themselves, and that one point, however small, can bring them to merit in Goodness itself.
As we see in Talmud Kiddushin, just one single thought of self-improvement can change someone from a wicked person into a righteous person.”
As Ishay Ribo in his song Leshuv Habaita sings, “The time has come to wake up, to leave everything, to overcome, and to return home.”
As physical creatures, we can’t fully defeat the forces of fate, but our souls, the parts of us that are infinite, can connect beyond the finite world. When we choose to burn our chametz— the false sustenance of pride and devotion to material gain– we can surpass our limitations and connect to the true and everlasting freedom that can only be found in the Light of the Infinite.
READ IT IN FULL @ https://lightofinfinite.com/when-the-screens-of-separation-fall/
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Thanks for listening/reading.
Much love, Erez Safar
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Some quick thoughts on Purim! Soon we’ll be reading the Megillat Esther, which is also Le’galot Ha’ester (meaning “to reveal what’s concealed”). The word Esther is related to the Hebrew word, “I will hide,” which is said in Devarim when Hashem says, “I will surely hide my face.” The Megillah is one of the only books in Scripture not to mention Hashem’s name at all. It’s a story that took place in the Persian Empire long after the Biblical stories in which the miracles and revelations took place.
Purim, like the present, is a time in which Hashem, Melech Ha’olam (King of the Universe), has hidden himself in the universe (Olam / עולם). The root of ‘Olam’ is also something that is unseen, hidden or disappeared (Ne’elam / נעלם). Hashem has hidden himself in the universe so that our actions are of our own free will, but when we create spac...
