Four questions, Four sons, Four cups, and FOUR WEEKS until Passover begins!! With that in mind, my messages for the next few weeks will each contain a short teaching related to Passover. Feel free to use any of these teachings at your Passover Seders. (And speaking of Seders, if you did not sign up for our second day community Seder on Tuesday night, April 15th, please call the office (732-531-4410) or click here.
A major theme behind the holiday of Passover is “redemption”. Throughout the Passover narrative, we are repeatedly told that we were redeemed from slavery to freedom. Our tradition teaches that the purpose behind this redemption was to enter into a relationship with God, bringing the values of Torah into our lives and into our world throughout future generations.
In keeping with the theme of redemption I found the following teaching in the Wellsprings of Freedom Hagaddah by Rabbi Ronald Aigen
In the Talmud our sages taught, “In Nisan we were redeemed and in Nisan we shall be redeemed.” There are two kinds of redemption. There is collective redemption of Israel, and there is the individual redemption of the soul which is in exile from God.
“In Nisan we were redeemed,” refers to the Jewish people in Egypt who went from a narrow to a broader state of awareness, and “in Nisan we shall be redeemed” suggests that every year when we come to this season, we can personally go from a state of small-mindedness to reach greater awareness. Meor Einayim, the first Rebbe of Chernobyl, Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twerski (1730-1797)
As we approach this season of Passover, I invite you to consider he following questions:
Personal redemption takes is work. These questions are not easy. But Passover reminds us of the opportunity that we each have to reclaim our selves, reclaim our souls, and reclaim our relationship with God as we strive to reach a state of greater awareness and redeem ourselves from the distractions of everyday life.