2 THE MEANING OF CHOMETZ

We do this primarily by learning about Pesach and cleaning our dwelling houses and other properties of all CHOMETZ (leavened foods).

On the evening before Pesach begins, we search by the light of a candle all the nooks and crannies where conceivably Chometz may have been carried and forgotten. We remove all cooking pots, crockery and cutlery that have been used throughout the year and prepare food for Pesach using Pesach foodstuffs and utensils.

The climax of all this frenetic activity is the Seder Night when we join with our families and enjoy the ritual and tradition of the festival itself.

For those of us familiar with the Twelve Steps and terminology of Recovery, the essence of our preparations for Pesach are a thorough First Step. Wherein we examine in great detail all the manifestations of the disease and all the forms which it may be taking control of our lives.

What is Chometz (leavening)? Technically, it is the action of particular enzymes in the flour which are activated only by the presence of water. It is what transforms a lump of pasta into the fluffy aerated palatable staple we know as dough which bakes into bread and cakes.

No one in their right mind would sit down to a meal of raw yeast. It may indeed be the secret, the essence of the goodness of bread. The fact that yeast makes the dough rise and taste good, is not a reason to make a meal of it. Gorging on yeast or sour dough would make anyone very ill. This has been our experience who have gorged ourselves on "yeast". We have been used to abuse something or someone in our lives. A relationship that might have been nourishing in the right circumstances or proportions has turned toxic because we are extreme. We have lost the balance of sufficiency and health. We are incapable of controlling the manner or frequency of our obsession or the nature of our compulsion.

The First Step is an admission of powerlessness and recognition of the unmanageability of our lives. Strangely though, the longer we work at recovery the trickier and subtler grow the crazinesses. Here is an example: Once there was a man who vowed to himself that he would have the perfectly Pesach-cleaned house. Towards the end of the winter he began in the attic, and working his way downwards, took the house apart stick by stick. Three weeks before Pesach there was no bread or Chometz in the house. People entering had to examine their clothing and pockets for crumbs, wiping their shoes on a special mat. He was satisfied that the house was completely free of Chometz, he had so to speak achieved a spiritual Asepsis. He sat down to enjoy his Seder with a clear mind.

Now a bird flew over the house with a biscuit in its mouth. The biscuit fell down the chimney into the soup cooking over the fire and appeared in the man's plate as he was about to eat. He was horrified and aghast. He looked for a reason to explain this obvious act-of-G-D.

We in the Program do not have to look far for an explanation. The man was obviously a control freak. His whole Pesach was the antithesis of surrender. The reality is that we are powerless even over such a relatively simple thing as cleaning for Pesach.

Unless we receive the help of a Higher Power we are doomed to struggle in vain. If we find the task of cleaning for Pesach daunting it is because we are supposed to find it so. None of us has achieved a clear picture of the nature of our disease without simultaneously being overwhelmed at the task of Recovery. That is why the Second Step follows the first full recognition: A power greater than ourselves.

In the history of the creation described in the Book of Genesis the unfolding of evolution is depicted over a series of six days beginning with the creation of Light. Each days progress is accompanied with the comment "And the Creator saw that it was good".

Upon completion of the sixth day of creation, it is observed "And behold it was very good". The Talmud asks "What happened on the six day that merited the superlative description Very good?"

The answer says the Talmud is this: There was an addition of a certain ingredient to the stew of creation, meriting that title. A final magic ingredient, the yeast that makes the dough rise. Sometimes we call it the Evil Inclination, sometimes we refer to it as Satan, sometimes we refer to it as the Angel of Death. It makes the world "Very Good".

This concept that the impulse to indulge our desires for comfort, sex and prestige is the source of all that is excellent in the Universe is thematic through Rabbinical literature. The disease model of addiction simply examines the effects of these desires when they have become ruling passions. Another theme that runs through the literature is the reference to the Evil Inclination as the yeast in the dough.

The full realization of how we have turned our lives into problems through the misappropriation, as it were, of funds must be clear to us before we can recover.

In order to keep it simple let us explore those three areas of lives where ancient sages and modern scholars agree we need to look.

Step four in the "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA" contains the following quote:

"If men and women didn't exert themselves to be secure in their persons, made no effort to harvest food or construct shelter there would be no survival. If they didn't reproduce, the earth wouldn't be populated. If there were no social instinct, if men cared nothing for the society of one another, there would be no society.

So these desires - for sex relations, for material and emotional security and for companionship - are perfectly necessary and right, and surely G-D-given. Yet these instincts, so necessary for our existence, often far exceed their proper functions. Powerfully, blindly, many times subtly, they drive us, dominate us, and insist upon ruling our lives. Our desires for sex, for material and emotional security, and for an important place in society often tyrannize us. When thus out of joint, man's natural desires cause him great trouble, practically all the trouble there is".

Compare the above with a much older quote, dating back around 150 C.E. Rabbi Eliezer is quoted in the Mishna as saying;

" Envy, greed and pride take a man out of the world".

It is clear that the Evil Inclination hasn't managed since the dawn of time to invent even one simple human pleasure. This stands at the crux of our understanding. Good and Evil are not the same as right and wrong.

Now can we apply all this knowledge to the cleaning of the house before Pesach?

Can we see it as the opportunity to survey our possessions and take stock of every single item in our lives. Can we bear to scrutinize them clearly and plainly? Ask ourselves how we are meeting our basic human needs? Are we obtaining our supplies in a spiritual way? Are we now living the excellence?

SPIRITUALITY

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