Dear Friends,
Tonight we begin an eight day celebration of freedom. After eight decades of torturous slavery, our people were miraculously led out of Egypt through the Red Sea and on to Sinai. 3,328 years later we still gather to celebrate our nationhood, our family and the G-d who redeems us.
As we sit at our Seder’s, it’s a good time to reflect on our Jewish experience. Where did we come from and where are we heading, our harsh times and our awesome moments, the leaders who guided us to Hashem and those who led us astray, the times when we personally felt closer to our Father in Heaven and the times we felt distant, neglected and even hurt by Him. We are a people like no other, we survive it all and we live to tell the tale.
Indeed, the majority of the Haggdah we will read tonight consists of Maggid, telling the Jewish story. It’s not enough to tell our children or ourselves, what we do; we must share with them who we are. Not only on Passover, but all year round, even if only for a few minutes each day, we must read and share the history of our people. We must know more about Sinai than about Sanders and Trump, more about Rabbi Akivah than Abraham Lincoln and more about Abarbenal than Adele. Judaism will continue to thrive, the only question we ask tonight is whether we will we be part of that eternal story.
Let’s answer that in the affirmative.
Chavie, Chaya, Zeesy & Menny join me in wishing you a Zissen Pesach, a happy, healthy and Kosher Passover,
Rabbi Chaim Bruk