This week after returning home from delivering boxes of matzah to members of our community, a woman emailed me to say thank you. She wrote that matzah holds a cherished place in the hearts of her and her family because it had saved her husband’s life. Intrigued, I called her to find out the story…
Two years ago Pesach, Lisa* and her husband Adam* sat at the seder table, surrounded by family and friends, crunching matzah as is customary. Only, Adam apparently ate way more than he should have. On the last night of the chag, he experienced severe stomach pain and was rushed to the emergency room. The matzah had caused a blockage in his small intestine and the resulting obstruction needed to be removed surgically.
On the table, surgeons discovered Adam harboured a very rare cancer in his jejunum, a section of the small intestine. The matzah had gotten caught in the tumours, resulting in excruciating pain. Small bowel cancer amounts to only two percent of all gastric cancers, resulting in a dismal survival rate since symptoms and thus diagnosis only occur during stage four when other organs have already been affected.
Adam’s cancer had already progressed to stage three; his prognosis, a mere six months.
What does a Jew do when a doctor tells him he has six months to live? Change doctors, of course! But due to the rarity of the disease, no chemotherapy treatments had been proven effective, so Adam was instead treated for regular bowel cancer with successful results. The tumours shrunk and no further treatments were necessary. As Lisa herself put it, “If not for the shmura matzah the tumour would never have been discovered in time and there is no doubt I would be a widow today.”
Six months later, on Rosh Hashana, a perfectly healthy Adam, together with Lisa, first davened at our shul in the Marriot. On the holy day when members are called for an aliya to the Torah, I encourage them to commit themselves to keep one extra mitzvah for the upcoming year. Call it a new year’s resolution if you wish. So when Adam asked me to suggest a mitzvah to him, I proposed tefillin. After yom tov, Lisa called me to find out where she could purchase a pair.
I must admit that after the chagim, with the return to regular routine and the demands of the shul and office overwhelming me, Adam’s commitment slipped my mind and I forgot to follow up with him. When I finally did months later, it turned out Adam had not missed a single day since he had bought his tefillin. Until today he remains devoted to his commitment.
This past Rosh Hashana Adam again received an aliya. This time I recommended he take on the mitzvah of kashrut. Due to its challenging nature, we came to a compromise: Adam agreed to keep kosher once a week. Since then, Lisa informed me that the family orders Glatt kosher take-outs at least once a week, sometimes more than that.
Kabbalists have described matzah as “bread of faith” on the first night and as “bread of healing” on the second. Judaism advocates that if healing precedes faith, you can be certain the afflicted was indeed ill. But if faith is followed by healing, there was no sickness to begin with.
While it is indeed praiseworthy to remember G-d and thank Him after a recovery, this attitude is somewhat twisted, for a primary component of the healing process involves initial prayer and a firm trust. Hence the Kabbalists labelled this person sick. Those whose faith sustains them through a dark period, spurring them to constantly pray and beseech G-d’s mercy, remain totally healthy at the core. They appreciate that ultimately it is G-d who decides the outcome, no matter how bleak the test results may be.
* Names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals
Tradition has it that one of the main functions of the Pesach seder is an educational one. During the service, we encourage our children to ask questions by triggering their curiosity with narratives and customs. The Torah allows that every child is unique and thus each must be reared according to his own personality. Thus the Haggada lists four types of sons who grace the seder table every Pesach: a wise son and a wicked one, a simple son and one who does not ask any questions.