“Rabbi, I’d love to believe in G-d; I just don’t!”
I’ve heard it again and again, and I think I understand: Faith can be elusive.
Logical equations can lead us to rational, cognitive conclusions. So if we’d like to reach a specific conclusion, we can choose to follow its intellectual trajectory.
But faith is different.
Faith is a relationship that defies ‘normal’, linear thinking. Faith is about what you feel, not [just] what you understand.
Sure, your intellect should serve as a supportive foundation to your faith, but – no matter how hard you try - you can’t reason your way across faith’s doorstep.
Intellect is simply the wrong tool.
To cross faith’s threshold, you need to surrender yourself to its sense of super-rational connection.
Which is why Passover presents exciting opportunities.
The Jews, coming out of slavery in Egypt, were a people with an unhealthy self-image and dysfunctional attachments. Their slavery had become an internal mindset.
This state of ‘captivity’ couldn’t be relieved by political freedom alone. The Jews needed something more.
So G-d gave them the mitzvah of Matza.
The gift of humility.
The gift of faith.
Matzah is dough that hasn’t risen, so it symbolizes an attitude of simplicity and humility. To a people absorbed in their own suffering, a people who have been disappointed and abused, a people who have learned – the hard way - never to trust, Matzah represents an attitude which is positively liberating.
Matzah says: “Give it up”. “You need to find a new beginning; please allow yourself to be touched by something higher”.
It’s not easy. It takes humility to creep out from under life’s burdens, humility to believe, to love, to think there’s something you still haven’t found.
But that humility can set you free.
Which brings us to the Seder.
Kabbalistic writings refer to Matzoh as a ‘food of faith’.
We see Matzah, as it is eaten to fulfill a Mitzvah on the first night of Pesach, as containing a spiritual nutrient: Faith.
So when you eat your Matzah on the first night of Passover, attune yourself to its spiritual character….and find the gift of Faith.