Faces on Faith: Restoring the child in each of us
This is the season of holiness.
In most years, Easter and the Jewish Festival of Passover fall within a few days of each other. This year — a leap year in the Hebrew calendar — that is not the case. This anomaly highlights this year that while on the surface the reasons for these religious observances may seem to have little in common, in reality there are many similarities. But to see them, one has to look closely.
Both holidays have rituals and customs surrounding eggs. Both have rituals and customs surrounding bread. In the juxtaposition, a secret of these holidays is revealed.
Eggs, the symbol of rebirth and springtime, are in plain sight on the Passover seder table. They have a prominent place on the seder plate. The word seder means “order” and is the collective name of the rituals of the seder meal.
On Easter, the eggs are hidden and the children are sent off to find them. On Easter, many Christian denominations take communion, where the bread of the Eucharist is displayed in plain sight on the altar.
On Passover, a piece of unleavened bread — Matzah — is hidden and the children are sent off to find it.
In both cases, the deep lesson is that it is the child-self in each of us allows us to draw closer to our renewal, redemption and our liberation.
“And a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6
Children are born free. Free of constriction. Free of conventions.
As we grow into adulthood, we enslave that inner child and bury it deep inside of us. Our burdens and cares rob us of the sheer joy and optimism of youth. We cease to believe in what we cannot see or touch. Yet we yearn for what has been lost.
Both the story of Easter and the story of Passover center around liberators who bring with them the promise of freedom from bondage, both physical and spiritual, if we will but listen to the story with the wonder and open minds of children. If we remove cynicism and doubt, restore hope and joy, and take into our hearts the call of our traditions, we can experience what it means to be truly free. We can be redeemed.
Rabbi Sunny Schnitzer is with the Bat Yam Temple of the Islands.