PESACH AND PATIENCE

As we prepare for the Yom Tov of Pesach I would like to share with you the following humorous story.

  Joe and Bob, two homeless people were talking one afternoon. Bob said to Joe, “Do you know what tonight is? It’s the Holiday of Passover. That’s when the Jews have a Seder feast with fine food and delicious wine, all served in the most elegant fashion. I went to a Seder last year and it was incredible. All you have to do is go to the Synagogue and when the services are over someone will invite you to their home.”

   That evening the two friends stood in the back of the Synagogue waiting. Sure enough when the services were over they each get invited to separate homes for the Seder. “Good Luck” says Bob, “You are going to love it.”

  At the Seder Joe is really excited. He is hungry and hasn’t had a home cooked meal in months. He can already smell the delicious food from the kitchen. He sits patiently as the family reads in a language he doesn’t understand. He’s getting hungrier and hungrier and he finally sees a plate of food being passed around. But it is only little pieces of celery for what they called Karpas. After the ‘little pieces of celery’, they go back to reading from the book.

   An hour goes by and Joe is really hungry now. He’s willing to eat anything.  Finally, they pass around some Matzah and Joe takes a big piece. Then they serve a bowl of some white vegetable and Joe heaps a big pile on his plate. He stuffs his mouth full with it and FIRE!!!! The horseradish burns Joe’s mouth and stomach and he runs out screaming and cursing.

    Later that night Bob and Joe meet, “I’m so mad at you” shouts Joe, “You sent me to a Seder and it was terrible.” “What do you mean” says Bob. “At my house they had incredible fish, soup, chicken, kugel and dessert. All you had to do is hang in there and you would have gotten yours too!”

   The story captures the theme of Pesach night.  It serves as a metaphor for the dramatic turnaround of events the Jews experienced in Egypt. They went from the bitterness of slavery to the glory of freedom, all in one day. They just had to be patient.

   In the same light, we need to always remember when we feel pained and full of anguish Hashem can redeem us and deliver us into a life of tranquility in a split second. All we need to do is hang in there with Hope and Betachon and we will see our redemption and the redemption of the Jewish People.

  

                                חג שמח 

PESACH FOR ALLL GENERATIONS

         Pesach is in the air as we begin to prepare for this beautiful and family oriented Yom Tov. 

      One of the main themes of the Yom Tov of Pesach is “sharing”.  There are two reasons for this concept of sharing; one reason is that the KorbanPesach is brought only by a Chaburah , group,  and the other reason is that when the Jews came to Mitzrayim, they were only a clan – 

‘Ish Ubeiso B’au’,‘Men with  their household came.’

     However, when the time of the Ge’ulah, Redemption, approached, and Hashem addressed Himself to Moshe, He referred to B’nei Yisrael as an ‘Am’, ‘Nation’.  This term ‘Am’ is from the word ‘Im’,‘With’ - denoting togetherness and solidarity. 

     In Egypt, it was true that B’nei Yisrael, spiritually, were not much greater than their oppressor, but they were charitable people who helped each other and shared with each other.  Their co-existence based upon their solidarity was responsible for their Ge’ulah.  In the sentence of “I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and I have heard their cry because of its taskmasters, for I know its pains”, the Beis HaLeviasked: “Why does the sentence begin speaking of B’nei Yisrael in plural and end in singular?  For, though all 600,000 Jews were oppressed, they felt the pain of one person.”

          Thus, Pesach is a time of Tzedakah and Chesed – a Jew feels a sense of responsibility for his fellow Jew and extends aid to him.  This has always been a beautiful character trait of the Jew.  We have always retained the trait of ‘Ami’; no foe has ever succeeded in splitting ‘Our People.’

          Rabbi Solovietchik z”l related to us; “In the 1940’s, when the Jewish community practically tolerated the murder of 6 million Jews in the holocaust, I thought the Jewish community was falling apart, for it appeared to have lost the trait of ‘Am’.  However, they responded to the creation of Midinat Yisrael without cowardice; the sense of solidarity was still there.  Each member of B’nei Yisrael felt the pain of his friend and shared his Matzav.”

          At this time when Pesach is fast approaching may we learn the lesson of Achdut , which will lead us to the true redemption of the Jewish People.

Shabbat Shalom