Menu   

Honorable Mensch-ion

Bedikat Chametz


Last night, we performed bedikat chametz, the search for leavened products in our home. It is a childhood memory that I now get to share with my children, as they find the best hiding spot in their bedrooms for the last piece of bread in the pantry. This morning, we have our last chance for chametz. I remember growing up running to the local diner for the last bite of a pancake, then hurrying over to burn the chametz as we anxiously awaited the first crunch of matzah at the seder table. I still hear my grandfather’s voice, “Tell this story to you children.” That is what we are commanded to do and that is what we will do this evening. Many of us, separated by miles and miles, will be at our virtual tables, peering into each other’s homes, learning new traditions, outwardly expressing to the world, “We have faith that one day we will dine and recline together.”

As we ate our final chametz dinner last night, my son told us, “Abba and Mommy, one day the virus will be gone and there will be freedom.”

That is why we search for the chametz each year and that is why we continue to ask four questions, and that is why we find the afikomen, and that is why, even in these uncertain times, our rituals give us faith that soon we too will have freedom to gather and pray together. But until then we will say “Dayeinu,” God, you have given us enough. You have given us the blessings before us. You have given us each other.

A peaceful and safe Pesach to all.

Comments are closed.