My 6th child was born with an allergy to his mother's milk and he didn’t do well with the regular formulas either.. We were in Thailand at that time and even if we could find a formula that would work for him, it would have been very expensive. I therefore, as a father, found out how to make the formula myself. I found a formula recipe using yogurt and other necessary ingredients. I wonder if this is what the Bible infers by the expression, "nursing father's 😀? The first time I made yogurt, I put a small spoonful of yogurt in to start the culture. Each time I made a new batch of yogurt for the formula, I would keep a spoonful of it to use as a culture for the next batch. In the days when people baked their own bread, they sometimes used to use the same system. People would keep a small piece of yeasted dough to use as a culture for the next batch. This represented a problem for ancient Israelites whose religion commanded that during the 7 days of Passover, they were not to eat anything with leaven, nor have any leaven or anything leavened in their house. That meant that the last batch before Passover needed to be fully used and eaten. After Passover, they would need to start a new culture that they would use for the whole year. While these practices may seem antiquated and meaningless to others, these were historical reminders of the Jewish people and of the Exodus, the time when their ancestors left the captivity of Egypt in such a hurry that they did not have time to let bread for their journey rise before they left. But as with all religious practices, there is a deeper understanding of the story. The Israelites were going away from Egypt in order to establish their own country. They were going to establish a country according to their own laws, ethics, and … "culture." There is therefore a very strong philosophical understanding of the story in the idea that once in a while, it is healthy to shed the old "culture", our old habits and negative attitudes and get on to a new start. People do it in relation to dietical health sometimes with purges. We certainly do it with electronics; when something goes wrong, what is the first thing we are told to do? Reboot! Paul himself used that analogy when, as he was trying to challenge his Corinthian disciples to a more virtuous life, he said, "Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new batch!" R' Gavriel
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