A message from the Rabbi
With my daughter preparing to settle with her new husband in New York my mind wanders to my first visit back to my country I made a few years ago after 17 years of being away. Yes there had been changes and yes there were still no diamonds paving the streets. But one of the few things that struck me was the names of the Shuls my American friends belong to. To name some: Pupa, Zelem, Rudnik, Ziditchov... there are no American cities or villages that have these names so where do they come from? They come from the “Heim”. These are all names of communities that go back to Europe before the war when all these little cities had thriving Jewish communities. After the war survivors came to America and restarted these congregations with the same traditions and customs of their communities in Europe.
The Jewish people always built their future based on the customs and traditions and Torah of the past. At the Seder table each family has its own way of conducting their Seder - all based on the past, what their parents and grandparents did.
And it was this thought that answered a question that I had and many people have asked about the Hagadah.
We say at the beginning of the hagada how we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and if it wasn’t for G-d strength we, our children and our children’s children would still be there. What? 3000 years later we would have still been there? Nato, UN, USA, I am sure would have come to our rescue and set up human rights tribunals to protect us, so how could we make such a statement?
The answer is that although we wouldn’t still actually be slaves we would always talk about those good days in Egypt, the days of immorality, corruption, pure materialism a place were no one was ever given a chance to think of the purpose of life, where no one was allowed to feel spiritual and we would have had custom and tradition based on “Me and only me”. That is why on Seder night we thank G-d for taking us out of that black hole and giving us opportunities to think above the close minds of our society where all principles and values are all but lost.
Seder night when you sit with your family and friends it is a time to ask yourself if you are you living in a Present day Egypt or if you are trying to leave that narrowness where everything around you thinks for you.
Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your family an enjoyable Pesach and a sunny summer. The Rebbetzin and I also thank you for all the kindness and generosity you showed our daughter and son-in-law at the time of their marriage.