From the outside it looked like a decrepit building, maybe a used furniture store or old hardware store was hiding behind the wooden slats. One wouldn’t know that so much vibrancy, hustle and bustle, lived inside.

Entering the handmade Matzah bakery in Brooklyn, I saw a room with long tables. About twenty women worked both sides of the tables with long thin rollers, similar to a rolling pin but three times as long and one third as thick.

Dressed simply, the women wore full skirts and blouses with 'old country’ kerchiefs on their heads. They worked diligently, racing against an eighteen minute preparation and baking time deadline.

I became energized watching the women, several of whom smiled to me. Rather than go back out to the street, I yearned to be taken in by them, to get myself a 'rolling pin' and a spot at one of the tables--maybe even a housedress. The positive energy level was so palatable that you could taste it, triggering long faded memories and feelings within me.

I was visiting a college friend, Joannie, who lived with her parents in a small house that looked run down by my suburban ranch house standards. Their living room had old stuffed furniture, a dining table and chairs squeezed into one end of the living room and an outdated kitchen with hardly any appliances.

Her mother came to the door in a large print housedress with messy hair, no makeup and a voluminous body, and gave me a big hug.

After we chatted and snacked, music was put on. Joannie was a violinist and I knew there was a love of music in her family. As the music filled the small rooms, Mrs. R. jumped up and started folk dancing--turning, bowing and spinning. The whole house was filled with warmth and energy; we were soon all moving and swaying. The rooms seemed to expand to hold our movements. She was a true ballerina of the soul!

Back outside everything seemed cold and empty, almost sterile. I was confused by my joy at being there and my desire to remain, because her family didn't at all represent the external values I was raised with; to have a nice house with a clean new kitchen and big rooms, where it was important to wear makeup, be thin and dress stylish.

Joannie didn't meet my standards either. She was brainy but so ordinary looking. How was I to make sense of my suburban (that I now see as shallow) values jarred by penetrating feelings of connection to a person that didn't fit?

Now years later (after watching my friend's mom dance from her soul, light on her feet, natural and at ease in her own living room) I was in a small matzah factory with unassuming Russian immigrants working hard, but at ease, dancing with their arms as they rolled the dough.

These people had been forbidden to celebrate Passover most of their lives. Now they were making matzah dough for everyone else. In the large room, standing at wooden tables, their positive energy gave me a sense of comfort and welcomed me--made me a part of things rather than being apart from things. This energy made colors richer and external values poorer.

I was metaphorically watching Joannie's mom dance all over again. The matzah bakers touched a sense of validation of the human spirit, a space that had a form to it as solid as a rock, yet brilliant and transparent like sunlight.

Even as we were leaving the matzah factory, I stepped back inside to watch for a few more minutes. I didn't want to leave. Finally, I was dragged out, so to speak, as you remove a child when it is absolutely time to go. At first the sidewalk felt cold, as if the sunshine had receded. I felt it was all shining in that room, not outside, even though it was bright.

Had I been a little younger--maybe a little braver--I would have let the tears of soul knowledge pour down my face, or I would have run back inside and hugged some of them saying, "thank you for embracing me with your energy!" But I didn't have the courage. I went along with my day as best as I could, working as hard as I could to knead their sunlight into the bread of my life!

Passover is a time when our souls are encouraged to strengthen and stretch. We respond to the cry of the Exodus--"Let my people go!" Or we could say, "Let me go! Let me be free to grow and develop and not be imprisoned by depleting thoughts or feelings. Let my soul soar, while I try to dance freely--arms and legs moving in harmony with the universe as I bring heaven down to earth--a bit here, a bit there!"

May the sea always part for you and let you through to your promised land. May you dance and play on Tambourines as Miriam and the women did after crossing the Sea of Reeds.

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein , originator of THE ENCHANTED SELF®, a method of bringing delight, purpose and meaning into everyday living, is a nationally known Positive Psychologist. Visit her website at http://www.enchantedself.com/ and sign up for her free e-mail newsletter. Listen to her e-radio magazine show, THE ENCHANTED SELF, at http://www.ladybuglive.com/. Order <http://Order> her books, THE ENCHANTED SELF: A Positive Therapy, RECIPES FOR ENCHANTMENT: The Secret Ingredient is YOU!, and now, There Comes a Time in Every Women's Life for DELIGHT! at http://www.enchantedself.com/ordering/ordering.htm. Dr. Holstein loves to write on her personal journey as a Jewish woman! She can be reached at 732-571-1200.