It's the eve of Pesach, just a few hours before the Seder. The house
smells lemony from all the cleansers. The tiles under foot sparkle. All
the surfaces in the kitchen are covered with paper, from the
refrigerator to the tables, to the counters, the paper freshly scotch
taped to the surfaces. You're hungry. You go into the cupboard to get
some tuna for  a late lunch. You pour the tuna into the bowl to mix in
the mayonnaise.  All of a sudden you realize it is not the right tuna.
It doesn't have an OUP. Not only that, but it wasn't the right cupboard.
You forgot to tape up the cupboard! You have defiled the sanctum of
Pesach.

Why all the fuss about Chametz? Why the rush to clean, to scour, to
scrub? Why the war on Chametz?  We can explain the obsession with
Chametz based on the basis of the fact that it is more strictly
proscribed than other prohibitions such as pork. A) Not only can we not
consume Chametz, but it must not even be in our possession. B) The
punishment for eating Chametz is more severe than for other
prohibitions. And C) the rabbis took a stricter approach to Chametz
since it is not something from which one automatically recoils. Since it
is forbidden only part of the year, it is more possible to inadvertently
eat it.

But what does it all mean? What am I supposed to be thinking about as I creep beneath my seats of my car to uncover ancient cookies and snacks? What intent should one have when scrubbing the oven for the 4th time to no avail? Some modern scholars have argued that the idea of eradicating Chametz is symbolic on our war on idolatry. Idolatry is one of the few other items  which the  Torah requires us to obliterate. "Thou shall surely destroy all the places in which the gentiles worshiped" (Deut. XII, 2).

The war on Chametz is symbolic of our war on idolatry both today and
specifically in the context of what happened to the Jews in Egypt.
Ezekiel records the tradition that in Egypt, G-d said to "cast off the
abomination of Egypt. and you rebelled against Me, and each did not cast off the abominations of .Egypt" (XX, 7-8). To top it all off, leaven
turns out to be one of the great inventions of the Egyptians. It is
emblematic of the Egyptian culture.

O.K. That's nice, a war on idolatry.  Well, I'll just go out and knock
down all those idols out there. What does a war on idolatry have to do
with my life here in Memphis, TN in the year 2000? What is idolatry?
Idolatry is the worship of self. A man takes some clay and fashions it
using  his own skills. Then he says, "this is so beautiful. I think I'll
worship it. It is my god. My work is my god. I am my own god."

Now it is starting to sound a bit more relevant. I think I've met a few
people like that. The enemy is us. The enemy is within. As the rabbis
have said for a long time, the enemy is the evil inclination within.
Chametz is the evil inclination. Chametz rises, like a haughty person.
Egypt was the epitome of a society which thought it was the best ever,
the highest expression of the human potential. In the words of Ezekiel,
who spent some time in Egypt in his day, Pharaoh says "The Nile is mine, and I have made it." This too is familiar. We once thought we owned the rivers. Just look at the muddy and polluted waters of the Mississippi and you'll see what happens when we think we own nature.

The market is riding high (as we go to press), internet and cable phones are improving every day, and we feel like we've never had it so good. We feel as if we've reached the pinnacle of human ingenuity. Sitting so high up on our clouds, what could some old religion possibly have to tell us about what's right or wrong? We know it all. We can do it all.

Pesach takes us back to the dark ages before yeast or sourdough was
invented. Simplicity reigns. As on Shabbos we stop our productivity and reflect on who rules the world, on Pesach we reign in our feelings of absolute autonomy and supremacy. Pesach is the time to realize that the development of technology may be a godlike process, but technology is not G-d. We may be improving technologically, but we are only declining morally.

The war on Chametz teaches us humility. It teaches me to root out any
sense that I can do without G-d, that G-d has somehow become
superfluous. It reminds me not to blow myself up so much that there is
no room for others and no room for G-d. The more space we take up, the less is left for G-d. Pesach demands that we take a deep breath, cool off a little, and leave some room for G-d in our life,  for Him to tell
us what to do. Pesach is also called Shabbaton. Like Shabbas, Pesach is a war on the human sense of total autonomy. On Pesach I submit to G-d's will. If we do this, we will be ready after the appropriate count of 7 weeks, to receive the Torah on Shavuot.