Remembering Where We Come From...

In his autobiography, Billy Crystal offered a comic reflection on the Jewish holidays:

Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. A fantastic tale. Moses frees the slaves who were building the pyramids, we're lost in the desert for forty years, cross the Red Sea, get to the Holy Land, and we celebrate by eating cardboard and a fish called gefilte that is so lacking in flavor that you have to cover it with horseradish and bitter herbs. Not one chocolate bunny. We do have eggs, except that they're hard-boiled and served in salted water. My mouth is watering as I type this. Every year at the lengthy Seder serve, we ask the four questions. Why is this night different from all other nights - And it's not: it's ten-thirty and we still haven't eaten! ...

Despite Billy Crystal's frustrations with the holiday, one of the most poignant moments in his memoir reminded me of the true meaning of Passover.

He recalled that when he was a boy in New York, he would watch the Oscars each year but would get sent to bed before the show was over. As he was getting into bed, he would brush his teeth, holding the toothbrush, pretending that it was an Oscar and thank people. Once Billy Crystal grew up and became a famous comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer, he hosted the Oscar nine times. He wrote that when hosting the Oscars he "kept a toothbrush in my breast pocket, just to remind myself where I'd come from."

What a powerful reminder that toothbrush must have been! This reminder must have heightened his joy at the moment of achievement, by viewing it through the eyes of the child he had been. Indeed, Crystal recounts watching his mom in the audience "smile and shake her head in proud wonder at me, her little Shredded Wheat eater, hosting the show it had once seemed I'd never be old enough to watch to completion." I suspect the toothbrush also kept his success from going to his head - allowing him to tap into the little boy's sense of awe and wonder.

What Crystal didn't mention in his explanation of Passover is that the "cardboard" - the Matzah - is our communal toothbrush, a reminder from where we've come. Whereas other cultures take pride in descending from great kings or mythic heroes, Jews are constantly told to recall our enslavement in Egypt. The Torah reading for the last day of Pesach from Deuteronomy concludes its description of Passover with the refrain - "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall observe and do these rules." This punch-line is also offered as the rationale for many practices in the Torah: from keeping Shabbat, freeing slaves, leaving food for strangers and orphans, and doing justice. These reminders of our slave roots intend to prompt us to become more generous and compassionate to those in need.

Both communally and individually, we need frequent reminders from where we've come. As for Billy Crystal, these reminders can come from childhood objects, from visiting places we went to earlier in life, or from gathering around the Seder table. Often when I get bogged down in daily frustrations, I try to see my day through the eyes of my younger self - who longed to reach this stage of life. This mental shift snaps the day back into perspective.

Both in times of frustration and in joy, God reminds us: Recall that you were slaves in Egypt, and Billy Crystal reminds us: Wherever you go, don't forget your toothbrush.

-Rabbi Ilana Grinblat