If you saw someone moving through a dark house with a candle, searching for crumbs, it might look strange. On the night before Passover, though, that strange act becomes sacred. We call it bedikat hametz—the search for leaven—and while it is certainly about cleaning a home, it can also become a way of searching the self.

Before Passover, we are asked to remove hametz from our homes: the bread, crumbs, and leavened foods that have accumulated over time. It is practical work, but it is also spiritual work. We clean, we sweep, we search carefully through corners and cabinets, and in doing so we are given the chance to ask what else has built up in us over the course of the year.

For many men, that question matters more than we like to admit.

A lot can accumulate in a year. Resentment. Shame. Harshness. Ego. Regret. The need to be right. The need to look strong. The habit of swallowing pain rather than naming it. The belief that if we just keep moving, keep providing, keep performing, then maybe we won’t have to face what is actually sitting inside us. Over time, all of that rises in us the way dough rises. What........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)