Tikun articles 
& podcasts

Weekly Davar - Take back control of your life

Achrei Mos
(Leviticus 16-18)

14th April 2011
3rd Nissan 5771
 
Good Afternoon!! Pesach/Passover is coming up on Monday night. If anyone needs a place for the Seder, please be in touch and come to us. We have serious fun! Because of the holiday, I won’t be sending out a davar next week.

Torah Portion

Achrei Mos begins with the Yom Kippur service and ends with the laws of forbidden sexual relationships. The first section is also read in the morning of Yom Kippur and the second part is read at the afternoon service.
 
Davar Torah

This is the time of year that we are searching for chometz (leaven). Chometz represents slavery – the inability to make the decisions that we want to make because we are held back by our desires. A smoker is not free. A drug addict is not free. A compulsive eater or shopper is not free. Of course, freedom doesn’t mean never eating chocolate cake; but it does mean being able not to eat it if that’s what you choose.
 
So we search our homes for this chometz, this leaven. And yes, we do so literally, but the literal in Judaism is always a guide to the spiritual. We search not only our homes, but also our lives. We look inside and see where we are not free. Where are we out of control? Where are desires and not decisions driving life?  Are we working to live or living to work? Do we actively decide how much time to spend with our children, or do we procrastinate until it doesn’t happen? Do we get angry when things don’t go our way, or are we able to maintain perspective?
 
Every single one of us has areas in which we are out of control; taking time to identify them is what this coming week is all about in the Jewish calendar. We are meant to be searching every nook and cranny of our selves for chometz. We are meant to be getting it all out so that the day before Passover we can make a decision to ‘destroy’ chometz – to live for 7 days with no influence from it. The holiday of Passover is a week of living free from one’s addictions; a week of taking control of one’s life back. It’s a powerful time and if one focuses and actually does it, much can be accomplished.
 
Jewish or not, religious or not, why not set aside a short period of time this coming week to consider where your own chometz lies, then take just one area and put yourself back into the driver’s seat? It’s in the air; spring is upon us and the world is rejuvenating – a good time for us to do the same. Judaism is never easy, but my experience has always been that when you do it properly, it does actually work. People don’t usually see that because they give up before they even start. Why not give it a go and see what happens for you? You might just find something of value.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt

Leave a comment

Boxes with an asterisk * next to them are required items

Name *
Email *	(Your email will not be published)
Website
Comment *
Enter the security code into the box below *
Click the speaker to listen to the code (Quicktime required). Click the image to change the code Enter Code: