This Shabbat finds us celebrating both Shabbat and Passover’s first full day. The Torah reading comes from Exodus and the story of the command to observe this day and to teach the children and to remember that we were slaves. All themes that we speak of at seder. Likewise, we recite questions that speak to the special aspect of the seder as well as the holiday. So, for this Shabbat, a selection from a commentary published in the Holistic Hagaddah (Michael L Kogan. 2004. Urim Pub. Jerusalem. p.50) on the section of the Four Questions.
The sections reminds us that on Tisha B’Av we ask Eikha-How am I living my life? We ask Ayekha on Rosh Hoshonnah, “Where am I on life’s path?” On Passover we ask Mah? “What Am I?” The thrust of this is to remind us that Judaism asks us never to stop asking questions. In that way, when we are asked what is different every year we can ask ourselves the following: “In what way are you prepared to be different after this night? The Exodus from Mitzraim is about the willingness to let go and be different. If, by the end of this experiential evening, you come away unmoved, unwilling to shift, uncompromising in your self-righteousness then it will be as if you were never there. Remember, more than half of the Children of Israel opted to stay behind rather than take the risk of letting go”
Have a sweet and healthy Passover
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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