F8: Pesach

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The Free Choice of Pesach

There are many kinds of freedom: freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief etc., but central to all of these is the unrestricted freedom to choose. This freedom seems to be lacking in the Pesach story. For a start the Jewish people did not choose to be slaves. Also, it was not their choice when to leave, it was up to Pharaoh who kept on changing his mind! Only when he was finally good and ready could they go, and then they were thrown out (Exodus 12:39) They couldn't even choose what bagels they wanted for the journey, it had to be matza - the original fast food. The exodus from Egypt, though successful, was an escape to freedom, but there wasn't much freedom in the escape itself.

You may think that this doesn't matter, after all, we got out didn't we? Actually, it makes all the difference in the world. For over 3000 years we have told this story to each other on Seder night as the paradigm of freedom. If in truth it was just a chance well taken or a lucky break then it loses all significance. For Pesach to be the source of freedom it must fulfil its role from every angle.

The truth is that we did have a choice. The mistake comes from concentrating on how our people reacted to history instead of realising that God created history for them in the first place. Funnily enough, though it gives some people indigestion, matza is the key to understanding this...

Munching Matza and Counting Time

The command to eat unleavened bread was actually given two weeks before they ever left Egypt! Before they ever got into a frantic baking rush, God had instructed Moshe to tell the people to make matza. Lack of time for the bread to rise was only given as a reason afterwards. Another command was also given prematurely: counting time. The very first law that Moses ever taught the Jewish people was to establish and perpetuate a system of dating which has been in unmodified use now for over thirty-three centuries. The only problem is that there weren't any special dates to remember yet, like a diary with no entries, If the people were living under Egyptian rule with complete submission to their oppressors why were they being taught to use a new calendar when they had no use for it and no time for it? Time literally was not theirs. So we have matza commanded before the very reason for matza ever occurred and we have a new yearbook full of blank pages for an enslaved people. Why?

Living Historically

The answer lies in how Judaism looks at history. God's laws are not reactions to events, they are what cause the events. The story of life is not a list of never ending problems that need solving, life is a whole stockpile of possible solutions waiting to fix each new problem. To put it another way: Judaism teaches us that the events in our lives are not haphazard occurrences that we must constantly find ways of dealing with. Every event is a new opportunity for making an important choice. Life is a succession of exciting challenges not annoying difficulties.

If our calendar and its special occasions were only the reactions to events that just happened to occur, they would not be very significant. No, the new Jewish calendar required by a life of freedom would be presented in advance of the events. The commemoration of eating matza would be required before events necessitated baking it. When we use the Jewish calendar, time becomes a series of chances to make a difference, to achieve our potential. Eating baked matza reminds us that we can make history.

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