“You shall not eat leavened bread”: Passover and the preparation for change

The theme of rapid transformation is essential to Passover. The whole basis for food matzah on Passover it is to remember the speed with which we left Egypt (Deuteronomy 16:3):

You should not eat sourdough bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of tribulation; for you came quickly out of the land of Egypt; that you may remember the day that you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

In other words, the Israelites left Egypt in such a hurry that they had to eat matzah because their dough didn’t have time to rise. That is partly true, but there is more to it.

When God told Moses that the Exodus from Egypt would finally take place, it was scheduled for the morning. On the night of the plague of the firstborn (Exodus 11), the Jews were told to remain in their homes – and they were commanded to eat the Passover lamb, bitter herbs and matzah. They did not eat unleavened bread that evening because they had to, because they were in a hurry; they ate it because they were told Unpleasant. On the eve of leaving Egypt, they had time to bake ordinary bread, but God ordered them to bake matzah.

Then there was a sudden change of plan. When the firstborn died, the Egyptians were so overcome with fear and despair that they drove out the Israelites in the middle of the night. To their surprise, the Jews did not have time to prepare provisions for the journey. They threw some dough on their backs and it baked before rising.

Once we understand this sequence of events, we realize that there was not one but two matzot at the time of the Exodus: there was matzah on the eve of the Exodus, and then there was the matzah of the Exodus itself.

These two matzot are the basis for two different commandments. First, there is the instruction to eat matzah on Seder evening: separate and clear is the prohibition on eating chametz (leaven) for the whole Passover. We eat matzah on the first night of the festival because our ancestors ate voluntarily matzah before they left Egypt, but we abstain chametz for the entire festival because they had no choice but to eat matzah when they left Egypt.

It should now be clear that the matzah of the first night of the Seder does not reflect our great haste to leave – so what does it represent? It cannot represent oppression and slavery, because that first Seder in Egypt marked the impending liberation of the people, and the Seder is our celebration of freedom. But if the matzah of the Seder is not a symbol of slavery, and if it is not a symbol of speed, then what is?

Willingness to change

The matzah That Jews eat on Seder night shows that we are always prepared for change. That is why in Egypt it was eaten with a staff in hand – another sign that the Israelites were ready to leave at any moment. That was one type of physical or geographic change, but there are many others. No one can ever be fully prepared, but we can take steps to put ourselves in the best possible position when change comes. We can train ourselves to be flexible, react calmly and think creatively when the unexpected occurs, because in every life there will be occasions when the unexpected occurs. The matzah van Sedernacht recalls the importance of this work of preparedness.

Consider the sudden collapse of Kodak, the long-standing manufacturer of photographic film. In 1996, Kodak was hugely successful. It had revenues of $16 billion and spent billions of dollars to buy other companies. In 2012 they were forced to file for bankruptcy. The reason was their resistance to change – especially the transition to digital technology.

Kodak had developed digital camber in 1975, but withdrew it from the market so as not to undermine their film business. Other companies recognized that digital technology could not be ignored or suppressed. Change was coming, and the only viable option was to embrace it. Those companies have succeeded where Kodak failed. Attempts, like King Canute, to hold back the waters would lead to disaster.

In 2004, Kodak was hit hard in the traditional camera film market due to the transition to the digital format. (Photo illustration by Chris Furlong/Getty Images)

We don’t know what changes will come, but we do know they will come, in one form or another. We can’t plan our response, but we can plan comment. We can, like the Israelites on the first Seder night in Egypt, sit with our staff in hand, ready to take action when necessary.

The great debate among the pre-Socratic philosophers took place between Parmenides and Heraclitus. Parmenides argued that the world was static, while Heraclitus argued that everything was in motion. Is the river always the same river, or does the incessant flow of water mean it is different at every moment? Are we the same people from birth to death, or does the fact that our bodies completely renew themselves every few years mean that we are no longer the same people we were twenty years ago? Was Parmenides right when he insisted on stability and continuity, or Heraclitus when he said: ‘No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man’?

I propose a middle position. For all practical purposes, we can think of the world as stable, but seismic changes are happening all the time – the technological advances of the past twenty years are just the most striking example. Change is scary, the unknown is terrifying, but grown men and women have to face it. Moreover, these changes can be enormously to our advantage. They can be liberating. They transport us to a world where we can communicate instantly, video chat with our loved ones from anywhere in the world, and obtain virtually any piece of information in an instant.

When God told us to eat matzah the night before the exodus, even though we didn’t leave yetHe taught us that lesson: change is inevitable, and it is also an opportunity. Prepare for it and embrace it. May we all courageously face change and use it to set ourselves free.

Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Elton is Chief Minister of The Great Synagogue, Sydney.