Pesach08 Apr 2009 08:33 am - כט טבת תרס
It’s crazy that it was snowing this morning when we went outside of the shul to burn our chametz.
Chag Kasher v’Sameach from all at the Markham St Shul!
Pesach
Leaving Egypt for Good – The Inner Power of Pesach
“As in the days when you left Egypt, I will show you wonders” Micah 7:15.
On the fifteenth of the Hebrew month of Nissan, Jews around the world will sit together with family and friends. They will sit at tables covered with white cloths, illuminated with candlelight, sparkling with silver, china and crystal. Throughout the night, they will taste the richness of wine, the bitterness of horseradish, and the subtle pure taste of matzah, the bread of faith.
On the seder night, we celebrate our liberation from slavery in Egypt, our redemption and freedom.
And yet, we are still waiting to be free.
When I was a small child, I lived in Chicago. We weren’t observant, but my grandparents were. And every Passover (Pesach), we would go to their apartment – my parents, my brothers and I – together with all my aunts, uncles and cousins, to celebrate the seder.
I remember my Uncle Artie and my Aunt Shiffy joking, the kids clowning around, my grandfather talking about the Exodus from Egypt and my grandmother saying: “Samuel, I’m hungry! Can you please hurry so we can eat?”
I never wanted my grandfather to hurry. I would have loved it if he had told the story of the Exodus all night long. Because from as far back as I can remember, at the seder – in the eating, the drinking and the telling of the story – I could feel the walls of the world shifting, opening and moving back. I could feel the presence of something else; something sparkling, something powerful, profoundly in motion, real and alive.
Many years have passed since my grandparents passed away. There were years – lots of years – when I didn’t go to any seder. There were years when I didn’t even know that Pesach had come and gone.
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