Dvar Torah for Pesach

By now, the pasta boxes are gone, the bread is finished, and the Oreos have been replaced with kosher-for-Passover chocolate covered marshmallows, a mainstay of my Pesach life, though I have been known to devour the kosher-for-Passover chocolate covered jels, too. Our cholesterol rises by about 200 points with the multitude of eggs we consume. Looking at the food-and-wine-stained Haggadot, we remember our grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends and the many seder tables where we have retold the Pesach story. We remember how we were pushed into eating the sweet charoset on matzah — after all, as our bubbie told us, “If you do not eat charoset, you will never get married.” We remember the first seder where there were three or four different types of charoset; the chopped dried fruit Sephardic charoset changed our Ashkenaz palates forever. We remember and remember and retell the story of Pesach, but we also remember and retell the story of our lives. This week’s Torah reading begins with Moshe giving the elders God’s directions for marking the Israelites’ lintels and doorposts with the blood of the passover offering, so that God would pass over the Israelites’ homes and not allow “‘The Destroyer’ in to smite them.” All of the first-born of the Egyptians will be killed. It is this act that propels Pharaoh to expel the Israelites from Egypt, thus setting the stage for approximately four millennia worth of seders. The Torah makes it clear that children will ask questions and the adults must explain the rituals. 

Unleavened bread will be eaten for seven days. There will be no work done. There will be burnt offerings. Pesach will be a sacred holiday to be observed “as an institution for all time — you and your descendants.” God has told Moshe what must be done for the preparation to leave Egypt; Moshe has related all of the above to the elders. And the command to observe the Pesach rituals “every year for all time by you and your descendants” was and is taken seriously.

In the scrupulousness of our preparation for Pesach, we often forget that this holiday celebrates freedom, that once we were slaves in Egypt, and “. . .the Eternal, our God, brought us forth thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” Since we are commanded to observe this holiday “for all time,” we learn the story visually, through the seder plate, “historically,” through Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, Rabbi Elazar the son of Azariah, Rabbi Akiba, and Rabbi Tarphon, and through the questioning of our children, who must pass this story down to their children. There is the musicality of the chanting of the text, the vibrancy of a rousing “Dayenu,” the feel of the wine as we recite the ten plagues, and the speed-singing of “Chad Gad Yah,” after four cups of wine! We sing the song of freedom and teach our children and grandchildren the central theme of our heritage, that without God’s help, we might still be slaves.

This year, the theme of freedom seems to take on more urgency with the war against Ukraine. Let us make certain that we speak of the hardened heart of a dictator and the freedom desired by a brave people. Let us answer our children’s questions about the world. And let us pray that God gives us “mighty hands and outstretched arms” to help all refugees. “Let all who are hungry, come and eat.”

Chag Kasher v’Sameach Pesach and Shabbat Shalom.