Searching by Candle in a World on Fire

Last night in preparation for the Passover holiday beginning today, we engaged in bedikat chametz, the final search for any leftover leaven and leavening that might be left after the thorough cleaning of the places in which we live.  The tradition calls for this search to be conducted by candlelight to ensure a careful review of any and all places that chametz can be found, every nook and crevice that can be reached. The code of Jewish law mandates that a torch not be used in place of the candle out of fear that one’s understandable reluctance to endanger their home will cause them to refrain from getting close enough to the walls and corners to really see what’s there.

I thought about this directive as I read with growing apprehension about how much our world seems to be on fire and how even the most passionate and compassionate are swallowed up in the blaze .  Real communication, even provocative and difficult, can be a flame that illuminates the corners and crevices helps us be bold in truly looking for what may be hidden from our sight or understanding.  But with a torch instead of a candle we must be careful lest the fire get out of hand. So we are timid and see nothing other than what we already know is there. Our Sages understood what could be gained when we are able to cast the light of a flame rather than the conflagration of the torch,  We need that wisdom and that illumination as much as we ever have to be bold in facing the unknown and finding even what we don’t know we have lost.