A Candle, a Feather, and a Spoon

By David Sears

   Every year on the night before Passover, we search our homes for bread or leavened products (chametz). The Talmud instructs us to use a candle to light up all the dark nooks and crannies, a feather to sweep up the crumbs, and a wooden spoon to serve as a miniature dustpan. Today, many of us use a flashlight, just to play it safe. But we still should use the candle, feather, and spoon, at least while reciting the blessing and beginning the search. The question is: what's so special about these particular objects that the Talmud singles them out in the first place?

   Beside their utilitarian value, perhaps these ancient "search and destroy" instruments have mystical significance. According the Kabbalah, there are four levels of earthly existence: domem (the realm of the "silent"), tzomei'ach (vegetation), chai (living creatures), and medaber ("speaking beings," or humans). The candle represents the "silent" realm; the wooden spoon represents vegetation; the feather represents the animal kingdom; and the person making the search represents humanity. However, this correspondence in turn begs another question: why must all four levels be involved in the search for chametz and its destruction?

   The key to unlock this mystery may be found in the writings of Chasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810). By working on nullifying our negative traits, says Reb Nachman, we can come to experience the essential and true reality, the "imperative existence" which is G-dliness. Basing himself on classic Kabbalistic works, he explains that these negative traits are fourfold, corresponding to the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth. Specifically, the fire within the soul can give rise to anger, air can produce damaging speech, water can breed evil desires, and earth can pull us down into lethargy and depression.

   Perhaps we may add that these four elements in turn correspond to the four levels represented by the objects used in the search for chametz.

   Reb Nachman further states that everything was created as the necessary context for the Divine service of the Jewish people and humanity; by attaining realization of G-dliness, we bring about the enlightenment of all levels of Creation. Thus, the objects used for the search represent our negative traits and their nullification; and what is more, they serve as vehicles for the aliyat ha'olamot, the spiritual ascent of all the "worlds." Our efforts in self-transformation also benefit others.

   The sages of the Talmud state: "If you save a life, you save a world" (Sanhedrin 37a). The search for chametz teaches us that this applies particularly to saving a spiritual life - even if that spiritual life is your own. For the "world" you save is the entire universe.