Passover Will Manifest Redemption
Passover is Martin Luther King Jr., meets Marie Kondo, meets Lighting in a Bottle Festival, meets Gordon Ramsey, and then they all have dinner with the Baal Shem Tov.
Part 1.
Recently I received an email from an organization that wanted to re-imagine Passover. I had a visceral reaction and screamed.
My wife asked me, “What’s the matter Yonah? Everything O.K.?”
I leaped up from the desk and this is what I shouted out to the heavens and the neighborhood, and a bit too loud considering how closely I was standing next to her.
And then, of course, I Tweeted it.
Passover doesn't need to be re-imagined. Many of us just have never celebrated Passover to its full potential. It's like returning a Tesla because it won't drive. Then finding out the parking brake is on, you didn't plug it in, and the tires have no air.
Passover is the most revolutionary holiday on Earth and contains radical expressions of freedom, and a liberation of our souls.
Passover is Martin Luther King Jr., meets Marie Kondo, meets Lighting in a Bottle Festival, meets Gordon Ramsey, and then they all have dinner with the Baal Shem Tov.
Yeah Passover is so very cool. And it always has been. Doesn't need reimagining. We just need to learn about how to celebrate it better.
Passover is a truly meaningful holiday on so many levels.
Let me share just one idea from the Sfas Emes that you can share at your Seder.
This incredible rabbi in a small town of Góra Kalwaria said this 150 years ago.
Every generation has its own Exodus. Every generation is constrained by its own challenges, and spiritual and physical hardships. And every generation will have a redemption from those specific trials and tribulations. Furthermore, each generation's redemption was simultaneously included in the original Exodus from Egypt. Our redemption from slavery and bondage in Egypt made possible all the future redemptions.
Our current generation is mentioned in the Hagaddah too. As is written in the Haggadah, “In each and every generation a person MUST see themselves as if they had left Mitzrayim”.
Mitzrayim, the word for Egypt, means a narrow place. A constricted and difficult place.
Each of us on a personal level, as a community, and a nation as well as the whole world are going through a Mitzrayim of biblical proportions. The pandemic has caused so many to lose so much.
One of the reasons that we are commanded at the seder to put ourselves into a time-travel mindfulness, and re-experience redemption from Egypt is so that we can manifest redemption in our lives today.
It’s difficult if not impossible to manifest something that you yourself don't believe can happen.
But when you think of our miraculous redemption from the depths of hardship and oppression, from brutal slavery and the loss we suffered, then you can see how we can experience redemption today.
Part 2.
I’m sure that when the communications and programming staff came up with the wording “reimagining Passover,” that they meant no offense to the beloved holiday. Likely the opposite. While there are some of us who may not enjoy parts of Passover - family or social dynamics, antiquated language, dietary restrictions - it’s hard to find a Jew who hates Passover.
So how did this come about? Maybe it's just marketing. Maybe I’m a rabbi who just takes things too seriously. It’s very likely. Yet, my visceral reaction was not exaggeration. The wording hit a nerve.
Passover doesn’t need a reboot, like someone whose career has hit the skids because they were found to be a loathsome person, or a makeover, like a house which is rotting from the inside out. When I hear the word reimagine that is what I think.
What is Passover? Passover is an under-appreciated and trusted loved-one who we have been taking for granted.
Passover needs our attention and love. When we focus our energy and put our time into Passover, the holiday gives back. It lets us reimagine our future and what’s possible.
Above I said that Passover is Martin Luther King Jr., meets Marie Kondo, meets Lighting in a Bottle Festival, meets Gordon Ramsey, and then they all have dinner with the Baal Shem Tov. What do I mean?
Passover is MLK because when the Jews wanted out of Egypt, they spoke truth to power, and said, “let my people go.” God was the one who sent the plagues to punish Egypt for oppressing the Jewish people.
Passover is Marie Kondo because everyone needs to do spring cleaning. It’s therapeutic to go through our homes to make sense and order of the chaos and disorganization and celebrate all that “sparks joy”. And clean up the mess.
Passover is Lightning in a Bottle, the creative music and art festival, because on Passover we put away our work lives, put on our festival outfits, and rejoice and enjoy a festival for a whole week.
Passover is Gordon Ramsey, because the culinary demands are real. Recipes, family, special hard to find ingredients, deadlines— it’s got Gordon written all over it. But no team loses on Passover.
Passover is dinner with the above mentioned guests and the Baal Shem Tov, because there are so many wonderful stories, traditions, spiritual ramifications and transformational opportunities for children and adults alike— it's a time like no other in the world.
Wishing you a CHAG SAMEACH a joyous festival, next year may we celebrate in Jerusalem together in a peaceful world!
Got 10 minutes? This is the quickest kosher seder
Interview with John Kunza, editor website Jewish Unpacked.
“I spent some time going through all the laws of the Passover seder and realized I could construct an experience that would meet the minimum requirements for Passover as desired by the sages,” Rabbi Bookstein told me. Read more