Rabbi Knopf's Blog

The Talmud teaches that 30 days before Passover, we should start learning about the festival and its meaning. In that spirit, I offer a brief message each day leading up to Passover, drawn from the wisdom of the holiday and the Exodus story. Feel free to share/forward.  -Rabbi Knopf

Day 15: Full of Hot Air
One of the central – and most headache-inducing – features of Passover is clearing our homes of all hametz, leavened food items, which we are not allowed to eat, own, or benefit from during the holiday. What’s so bad about hametz? The Jewish ethical tradition teaches that hametz, which puffs dough full of hot air, symbolizes pride. We puff ourselves up to compensate for our inadequacies, but it’s all hot air. Clearing our hametz on Pesah reminds us that true freedom involves humility and a willingness to just be ourselves.