Overcoming Self Imposed Limitations

By Rabbi Avraham Jacks
Montreal, Canada

After building the world’s most secure zoo, the architect and contractor are astonished todiscover that the kangaroo is able to get out of his enclosure every night. To stop thekangaroo from hopping out they redesign and build a new 19 foot fence.However, the next morning they still find him hopping about the grounds.And so, a 20 foot fence is put up, followed by a 30, and even a 40 foot fence, all to no avail.A bystander camel in the next enclosure turns to the kangaroo, and asks, “Hey Joey, howhigh do you think they will go? ““Uh, I’d guess about 1000 feet … or until they remember to lock the gate at night!”Matsah is the centerpiece of the Pesach experience. Much ink has been spilled touting thegreat spiritual benefits of this miraculous bread. The Zohar, chief book of Jewish Mysticism,calls Matsah both the “bread of healing” and the “bread of faith”. One mystic said that to eatMatsah is to “eat” G-dliness.And the accolades go on and on for the Jewish flatbread. Yet, in a break from this long list ofpraises, the Haggadah itself calls Matsah the “Bread of Affliction”. Why would we call thebread that symbolizes the freedom of the Jewish People, with all that this implies – bread ofsuffering and poverty?The answer lies in the fact that Matsah is associated with Egypt. “It is the bread that ourforefathers ate in Egypt” the Haggadah tells us. In Hebrew, the word for Egypt (Mitsrayim) isclosely related to the word for limitations and restrictions (Matsarim Ugevulois). Even as weprogress through the levels of Egypt, getting closer to the redemption, every new stepbecomes our current limitation. Limitations are relative. Once we break free from onerestriction, there is always a new challenge waiting for us.There is a fascinating Talmudic anecdote which tells the story of an incredibly wealthywoman, who was the daughter of Nakdimon the son of Gurion. When the economicsituation in her region deteriorated drastically, the sages set up a special fund to support herin the manner that she was accustomed. For example, they granted her the astronomical sum of 400 golden coins for a special fund to provide her with her daily perfumes. She was not impressed with the sum of money that the sages had granted her. She told the sages thatalthough the 400 gold coins would be considered a princely sum for most women, who wereused to much less; the same amount for her would be considered a small sum.The sages agreed with her argument. Since she considered this a paltry amount, it doesn’tmatter that the rest of us would have thought that it was a large fortune; wealth is relative.

The same is true of spiritual freedom. It is relative. Today’s emancipation becomes thestarting point for tomorrow’s struggle. That is why Matsah, the bread of freedom, is also thebread of affliction.A few years ago, the Bronx zoo imported a rare and exotic tiger. They planned to build astate-of-the-art facility to house the animal. The habitat would be a large enclave that wouldmimic the natural surroundings of the endangered tiger. The enclosure cost multiple millionsof dollars to erect, but somehow because of construction delays, the animal arrived at thezoo, a full two months before its enclave was complete.As a temporary solution, the tiger was kept in a 12 foot cage. Every day, the tiger walkedback and forth over the 12 feet of its cage. It began its incessant walking back and forth fromthe moment it awoke in the morning, until the time it went to sleep at night. It would walkthe few paces to the edge of the cage, then quickly stop, turn its powerful body around andkeep walking in the opposite direction. For two months, this was its regimen.Finally, the great day came when the beautiful tiger habitat was ready. The animal wasreleased into its new home. Amazingly enough, the tiger walked in one direction for exactly12 feet, and then it stopped, turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Althoughthe physical limitation of the cage had been removed, the limitation in the tiger’s heart wasstill there.What an apt analogy to describe our own, self-imposed limitations. Our task during thePesach festive season is to find ways to break out of the limitations of our cages, both realand imaginary. Last year’s accomplishments in this regard, are no longer sufficient. Lastyear’s freedom is this year’s relative imprisonment. Often we build walls of limitation thatare thousands of feet high. Pesach is the open door that allows us to leave our constraintsbehind.May we all break out of our personal boundaries, and collectively find that we have leftbehind the most terrifying boundary of all, that of Exile.