BH
Religious ceremonies don’t usually take place in the bathroom… But there was one late Shabbat morning that our family VERY carefully washed for bread, nibbled a few bites covered in protective layers of disposable plastics and then proceeded to the bathroom as one. We took a few remains of the challah (chometz) and flushed them down the toilet.
Those were the last morsels of bread (chometz) in our possession before Passover which began that year on a Saturday night. Normally we burn the last bits of chometz on the eve of Passover. [When the eve of Passover is Shabbat, you cannot start a fire in dereference to the laws of Shabbat.] In that case, we rely on the alternative opinions that permit putting the last bits of bread into the ocean as a means for ridding oneself of the forbidden.
In the last 2 weeks, I learned 2 separate talks from the Lubavitcher Rebbe in which he analyzed the tremendous depth of this ruling. Rabbi Eliezer says that the leftover chometz must be burnt, the Rabbis say one can put it in the ocean or throw it to the wind. I think some of us would gloss over such an argument and just move forward down the aisle. Not much to see here. Move on folks.
Apparently, this is not the way a Chassidic Rebbe learns Torah. There is so much more to see, so many layers to uncover. Then there are the secrets of Torah that need to be decoded and then transmitted so that ordinary people can absorb them.
Burning the remnants of bread is different than throwing them to the wind or into the ocean. When matter is burnt its form is changed and it’s no longer accessible in anyway. Though you could spend a lifetime trying to retrieve all the crumbs that are blowing in the wind and still fall short – in essence it’s possible and the matter is not fully destroyed.
In one teaching the Rebbe explained the Rabbi Akiva sided with the ruling the Chometz must be burnt since he was the son of converts. What?
In order to completely and totally impact a full transformation one must utterly rid themselves of the past. Specifically through BURNING the leaven, one can move forward in a new approach even in the deepest and most subtle ways. The changes can impact the soul on the root level. Rabbi Akiva’s lineage which included a total transformation informed his opinion.
In another layered and in-depth teaching the Rebbe finds lessons in Jewish education that connect to laws of getting rid of our Chometz before Passover. Children should be taught to keep the mitzvos in best way possible from the youngest age.
Without having done much justice to WHAT the Rebbe taught, I just wanted to take a step back and look at HOW the Rebbe instructed us. Nothing is superfluous. No detail is extra. Everything is a lesson.
This Shabbos is 10 Shvat which is the day on which in 1951 the Rebbe accepted the mantle of leadership for Chabad Lubavitch. At 3pm on Shabbat afternoon, I will be hosting a farbrengen for women in honor of this special day. I will be sharing some ideas from the Chassidic discourse that the Rebbe taught on that auspicious day in 1951. Please join me. To be held in the Chabad House.
