Passover 2017
Pesach is a holiday that brings with it many mitzvot and much joy and freedom, but also a great deal more limitation and rules. Suddenly, something that is permitted all year, is indeed the staff of life, is suddenly limited. Additionally, there is great anxiety about chometz since we can not only not eat it but also not have it, and the biblical punishment for eating it is more severe than that of unkosher food the rest of the year.
This leads to something known as chumra d’pischa, strictures associated with Pesach. For instance, though Ashkenazim usually hold that one may kasher glass from non-kosher to kosher, for passover we generally hold by a stricter opinion that glass may not be kashered. But strictures in Jewish law can sometimes, unwittingly, lead to their opposite -leniency.
One example from the history of matza is matza sheruya, or gebrokts, in yiddish, matza that has been soaked in water. Though the Talmud (Pisachim 40a) says it is fine to eat such matza, many chassidim have the custom not to eat matza that was soaked in water for fear that there may be uncooked flour in, or on, the matza and soaking it in water will lead to its becoming leaven. This custom emerged from a responsa written by the great, early chassidic master, Rabbi Shneur Zalmen of Liadi who lived in the late 18C. He writes: “In the old days when people made matza they would knead the dough well until the flour and water were well mixed (the halcha is that as long as the dough is being kneaded, even if one kneads it all day it can not become chometz). But over the last 20 years, it has become widespread to try and knead the dough quickly (people wanted to be strict and do it fast, within 18 minutes). This has led to a situation in which the dough is not well mixed, and there are pockets of flour within the matza...And with regard to soaking matza in fruit juice, one should not be strict at all about this. (Teshuvah 6 in Shulchan Aruch HaRav)”
Religious thinking often views stricture as an indication of legitimacy. But perhaps dedication, spirit and passion rather than stricture should be our indicators of legitimate religious practice. Stricture may be more a posture to achieve cultural respect and religious self assurance than actual genuine religious life. Additionally, as we can see, it is sometimes fraught with unintended consequences.
To fulfil our desire for chumra, -stricture- I suggest we first practice it in the mitzvot between us and others. Punctiliousness, passion and care when treating others well makes a big difference in their lives and fulfills God's command also. After we have accomplished this in how we treat others then we can move on to stricture in the realm of ritual toward God.