A Prayer Upon Eating Chametz

Alongside the struggle to survive against the odds, the Holocaust brought all sorts of challenges for Jewish observance, to which many Jews strove to cling. Even in the ghettos and camps, some Jews found ways to make and distribute matzah at Passover. When that wasn't possible, they found ways to express their yearning to observe the commandments. A prayer to be recited before eating chametz (leavened bread) was written and recited in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; under normal circumstances eating leaven is forbidden during Passover.

The prayer for eating chametz opens with an expression of their desire to eat matzah, it explains the impossibility involved and then references Leviticus 18:5, “You shall keep My statutes and My ordinances, which a person shall do and live by them” together with the Talmudic extrapolation on Yoma 85b, "and not that he should die by them. In all circumstances, one must take care not to die as a result of fulfilling the mitzvot." This is the basis of the ruling that one should break the Sabbath and other such commandments – in this case by eating leaven – in order to preserve life. The prayer also cites the imperative "Take care of yourself and guard your soul exceedingly" (Deuteronomy 4:9).

The words "Behold we are ready and prepared" that precede the Biblical and Talmudic references are usually stated before the observance of positive precepts, often in a joyful manner. In stating that they were ready and prepared to observe the commandment to preserve life, they chose to emphasize, not that they were abandoning the commandments of chametz and matzah, but that they were going to eat chametz as a way of observing the commandment to preserve life. They made the choice to cleave to G-d and to the Torah through the means that were available to them under the circumstances.

Dissemination of the prayer through the camp was also a way to issue an Halachik (Jewish legal) ruling that under the circumstances of the camp, endangering one's life in order to refrain from eating leaven was not to be considered the more pious practice.

The prayer continues with a request for Divine salvation and redemption. A blessing of gratitude to God, "who has given us life, sustained us and brought us to this time," is traditionally recited on festivals. It is also said in thanksgiving upon hearing personal good news, on new clothing or eating seasonal fruit for the first time of the year. Rather than including the blessing in its usual form, the text was changed from the past tense to the future tense – May You give us life and sustain us – transforming it from a prayer of thanksgiving to a plea for salvation. Also, a plea for redemption took the place usually reserved for gratitude to God for having "brought us to this time.". Themes of freedom are traditionally associated with the holiday of Passover and their inclusion in this prayer would have been especially poignant.

The prayer was written by two Dutch Rabbis; Rabbi Aaron Davids, Chief Rabbi of Rotterdam and Rabbi Abraham Salomon Levisson, Chief Rabbi of Friesland and Gelderland. They both died shortly before the liberation in the spring of 1945.

There are two copies of this prayer in the Yad Vashem archives and another in the Ghetto Fighters House archive. All were transcribed after the war. The surviving members of Rabbi Davids' family and their descendants still recite the prayer at the Passover Seder every year. This attests to the power that the prayer held in the memories of those who had recited or heard it during Passover 1944 in Bergen Belsen.

Our Father in Heaven

Behold, it is revealed and known before You

That we desire to do your will

And to celebrate Passover by eating matzah

And by observing the commandment to refrain from eating leaven.

Even so, we are anguished that

The enslavement prevents us from doing so

And at Passover we find ourselves in mortal danger

We are ready and prepared to observe the commandment "You shall live by them – and not die by them".

And to heed Your warning – "Take care of yourself and guard your soul exceedingly"

And so, our prayer – may You keep us alive, and sustain us, and redeem us speedily

To observe your commandments and to do Your will

And to serve You with a full heart. Amen.

 

Bergen-Belsen

Passover 5704

By Rabbi Levisson (May God avenge his blood) from Holland