Removal of Leaven

A central theme of Passover is the removal of leaven (see, e.g., Exodus 13:7). 

In Jewish thought the removal of leaven has been extended metaphorically to refer not only to the annual extraction of bread and yeast from our homes but also to our repeated efforts to seek out and remove what corrupts us and makes us less than whom we wish to be. 

For example, Rashi (the 11th century French sage) spoke of "the evil inclination, which causes ferment in our hearts" (Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 17a). The metaphor of ferment is an intriguing one. Dough rises because bubbles of carbon dioxide inflate it as microbes in the yeast break down sugars in the flour. By analogy, motives like pride and one-upmanship break down our resolve to do good and inflate our ego. 

May this Passover be an opportunity to seek out, and overcome, the leaven in our hearts. 

Belonging and Difference: A Passover Greeting

Why do some differences bring people together ("opposites attract") and others drive them apart ("irreconcilable differences")?

Interestingly, small differences aren't any easier to bridge than large ones. As Sigmund Freud noted in Civilization and its Discontents, "it is precisely communities with adjoining territories ... who are engaged in constant feuds." He called this phenomenon the "narcissism of minor differences." (For an illustration by Monty Python, click here: http://youtu.be/gb_qHP7VaZE)

It seems to me that what holds people together or pushes them apart depends not on how big the difference is between them but on how they position themselves in relation to it, and to each other. Phrases like "opposed views," "the other side" or "contrary" are, in essence, metaphors describing orientations in physical space. We can stand opposite one another with our differences between us. Or we can stand alongside one another, with our differences in front of us or placed to one side. The choice is ours.

This subtle difference of orientation is what distinguishes the wise son from the wicked son in the Passover Haggadah. Each asks a version of the same question: "What are all these rules and rituals for?" But the wicked son asks what are they "for you," choosing to stand opposite rather than alongside.

As we approach Passover, the festival of freedom and choice, I wish us the courage to acknowledge our differences and the modesty to stand alongside those with whom we disagree.

Open Doors

This month, a new coalition government begins its work in Israel. Optimists hope for a new politics; cynics tell us nothing's ever going to change. But something has already changed. Sections of Israeli society that had gotten used to talking only to themselves are talking to each other. A conversation has resumed about Israel's future.

In his (1958) essay, "two concepts of liberty," Isaiah Berlin notes the cost of self-imposed segregation:

"If I save myself from an adversary by retreating indoors and locking every entrance and exit, I may remain freer than if I had been captured by him, but ... [if] I contract myself into too small a space, I shall suffocate and die."

In the traditional Passover Seder, doors are opened twice: once, near the start, to invite in the needy; and again, near the end, when we pray for the destruction of our enemies. Such is the nature of doors. They make possible all kinds of movement: entrances and exits; invitations and threats.

May we have the confidence, on this Protected Night, to open doors to people and ideas we had previously locked out. And may this Festival of Freedom be, for us all, a time to celebrate the public spaces we share.

​From Dr. Eli Gottlieb’s Remarks at the pre-Passover gathering at the Mandel Leadership Institute, March 11, 2013

Identity and Freedom

Passover has many names: the Festival of Matzot, the Festival of Freedom, and the Festival of Spring. "The Festival of Spring" testifies to Passover's agricultural significant: it takes place in the spring, when the first harvest is just getting under way, and thus celebrates renewal and new beginnings.

The Mandel Leadership Institute is also at a juncture of renewal and new beginnings. We have just admitted new fellows to the next cohorts of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and of the Mandel Scholars in Education program for the coming academic year. The first cohort of the Women of Valor program, which trains women for social and educational leadership roles in the Haredi community, has completed its studies. We are now planning for the next groups. The IDF Educational Leadership Development program is about to launch a comprehensive program about Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers in the IDF.

There is also a new roundtable of Mandel graduates led by Dr. Daniel Marom, the academic director of the Mandel Leadership Institute.

Passover is also called the "Festival of Freedom", a name associated with the festival's historic and national significance – the exodus from Egypt. The meaning of freedom in Israeli life comes up in various aspects of the public discourse and in the materials taught in schools.

This morning, the twentieth cohort of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership completed "Identity and Education", a course that, among other things, addresses the tension between freedom and boundaries in identity formation, on three levels:

1. Refining concepts and exposure to various notions of identity;
2. Discussing the practical implications of these notions;
3. Clarifying the participants' educational identity.

As part of the third level, the fellows produced and developed various products for an exhibition entitled "Identity and Education", which will be on display for the next several weeks in the foyer of the Mandel Leadership Institute.

In class this morning, in the Identity and Education course, we read several texts that deal with the links between identity and freedom. I would like to paraphrase a line from one of them, "Thick and Thin", by Michael Walzer:

"My multifaceted self (attacked on all sides) needs a multifaceted society in order to express my various abilities and skills, my diverse notions of who I am."

I believe that the Mandel Leadership Institute aspires to be, and indeed to a large extent is, a multifaceted society of this kind – a micro-society that strives to embody the values that we would like to see realized in society as a whole.

When we recited the Shehehiyanu blessing – "Who has given us life and sustained us and brought us to this time," I believe that we should keep all of this in mind as well.

I close with another passage that expresses the tension between freedom and boundaries in identity formation, this time from the rock singer Bruce Springsteen – but whoever wants to can quote it at the Seder – in another identity game – in the name of Rabbi Baruch Shpringstein:

Bruce Springstein, SXSW Keynote, March 15, 2012, Austin, Texas:

So rumble, young musicians, rumble! Open up your ears and open your hearts. Don't take yourselves too seriously. And take yourself as seriously as death itself. Don't worry. Worry your ass off. Have iron-clad confidence. But doubt. It keeps you awake and alert. It keeps you honest. Be able to keep two completely contradictory ideas alive and well inside of your heart and your head at all times. If it doesn't drive you crazy, it will make you strong.

Excerpts from remarks by Dr. Eli Gottlieb at the 2012 pre-Passover toast at the Mandel Leadership Institute