Q:
Isn’t it a bit extreme how careful we are about getting rid of chametz before Pesach?
A:
Pesach tells us that the Am Yisroel is a nation of fanatics. We’re fanatics for Hashem. We’re fanatics for His Torah. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
If you look in the Chumash, it tells us laws about Pesach. Now Pesach, everybody knows, is for the purpose of commemorating the Exodus from Mitzrayim. That’s what Pesach is all about. We eat matzah, and we don’t eat chometz for a purpose, because we were driven out of Egypt in a hurry; it took a long time to convince Pharaoh — he refused again and again — but when the time came however and finally he yielded, he did it in such a hurry that he got up in the middle of the night to send us out. It was a demonstration that it was Hakodosh Boruch Hu who forced him to let us go. In the middle of the night, he said, “Get out or else we’re all going to die here.” So we took our dough, we didn’t have a chance to let it ferment, to let it become leaven, and went out with unleavened bread from Egypt.
Now if that’s the purpose of chametz and matzah, to commemorate the rapidity of our redemption from exile, good. But along comes the Torah and starts saying queer things. The Torah says לא יראה בך חמץ ולא יראה בך שעיר בכל גבולך – in all of your boundaries, you shouldn’t have any kind of bread at all. Why so extreme? It’s enough to say, “Don’t eat bread in memory of that.” Put the bread, let’s say, on the side, in a pantry. But לא יראה – you shouldn’t have in your possession, בכל גבולך – in all your boundary?! No matter how big your estate is, you can’t have a piece of bread anyplace!
What are we learning here? We’re learning the principle of extremism. The Torah says, “If you’re devoted to me, don’t be halfhearted. It has to be בכל לבבך – with all your heart.” That’s the principle we’re learning here.
Now that’s fanaticism. Not to have any bread at all; not even in a basement you can’t keep a piece of bread. If all you want to do is commemorate Yetzias Mitzrayim, that’s enough. You put matzah on the table but on the side, in the pantry, you can have bread. You won’t eat it. You can put a sign on it, don’t touch it. You can lock it up. But not to be able to hold it in your possession? You have to get rid of all your bread and anything that looks like chometz? So you begin to understand that the principle of the Torah is, don’t do things half way.
Now along come our Sages. They’re not satisfied with the fanaticism of the Torah. They say even more. They say the night before Pesach, you have to start looking for chometz. Why look? You’re getting rid of all the chometz.
So here the husband sits on his hands and knees with a candle under the bed.
His wife says, “What are you doing there? There’s no bread over there. I cleaned it out already.”
“Never mind,” he says, “I have to do the mitzvah of bedikas chometz.
She says, “Watch out! Don’t set fire to the bed.”
And so you watch out, you’re careful. But you climb under the bed anyhow.
So you’ll say, “What kind of fanaticism is that?”
Yes, that’s what the Chachamim expected of us.
Even more. Suppose on Pesach, one crumb of bread fell into a very great vat of food. Let’s say you’re preparing a big party on Chol Hamoed Pesach and by accident one crumb fell into it. The whole vat of food, even a ton of food, must be destroyed. משהו חמץ – even the smallest amount makes the whole thing forbidden to use. Now that surely is building a skyscraper on top of the Torah sky scraper. It was fanaticism to start with and now extremity on top of extremity.
And so you understand now what it means to be a Jew. A Jew means you live for Hashem. Not a moderate, a beinoni. You have to be moderate in everything except in the service of Hashem. With Hashem, you’re not moderate. As a Jew you can’t be moderate. A Jew must be an extremist.