Page 22 - Shalom Toronto Centre Passover 2024

Moving from Constriction to Freedom with the
Symbolic Foods of PASSOVER BY Aaron Rotenberg, Spiritual Leader of Annex Shul
Our author, Aaron Rotenberg is the spiritual leader of Annex Shul annexshul.com
The Song of Songs which we read on Passover consists of poems about young lovers in the springtime. (Image: “Conversation by the Spring”, by Henryk Siemiradzki)
Year at PASSOVER during the seder, the ceremonial dinner on the first two nights of the holiday, we recall the journey our ancestors made from
slavery in Egypt to freedom. The Rabbis explain that the Hebrew name for Egypt, mitzrayim, shares a Hebrew root with the word for constriction, tzar. Each year we imagine ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors, moving from constriction to openness.
Each year at Passover during the seder, the ceremonial dinner on the first two nights of the holiday, we recall the journey our ancestors made from slavery in Egypt to freedom. The Rabbis explain that the Hebrew name for Egypt, mitzrayim, shares a Hebrew root with the word for constriction, tzar. Each year we imagine ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors, moving from constriction to openness.
The feeling of constriction is likely being felt by many of us in the unique circumstances in our world this year. With antisemitism on display all around us and the war in Israel and Gaza weighing on our
22 SHALOM TORONTO Central edition PASSOVER 2024
hearts, we are all looking for a way to move from our current situation of difficulty and constriction towards a freer future. I believe that the rituals and customs of Passover are uniquely suited to provide us with inspiration for what that freedom can look like and help us hold our fears and worries with understanding while we also cultivate hope and gratitude.
Passover provides a model of living with duality-- of holding both slavery and freedom at the same time. At the seder we lean on pillows like free people at a Roman symposium, while eating marror, the bitter herbs that remind us of the bitterness of slavery. Another striking example of this duality is the matza, the unleavened bread that we eat during the week-long holiday. In our tradition it is referred to as lechem oni, the bread of affliction, that recalls our slave rations. We also know that the reason we eat matza is to recall our rush to freedom. After Pharoah relented to let our people go, the Israelites didn’t have time for their bread to rise before it was time to leave Egypt. As we feel the constriction and afflictions of this current year, can we also hold the moments of joy and freedom that may be arising, just as our symbolic matza holds both?
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