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Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the holiday of Pesach/Passover, and I must explain to those who are unfamiliar why this year it's historic.
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Passover must be one of the world's most ancient continuously-observed religious traditions.
We've been doing this for 3000 years, parent to child, link to link.
Celebrating our Exodus from Egypt.
We've been doing this for 3000 years, parent to child, link to link.
Celebrating our Exodus from Egypt.
You have to understand this celebration to understand the Jewish people; it is at the core of our identity; even 'unobservant' Jews today celebrate this holiday in the millions.
This was the event that made us into a people; it is our national founding.
This was the event that made us into a people; it is our national founding.
And the truth is -- we have celebrated Pesach in situations that have been far worse than Egypt.
Pharaoh wanted to kill only male children.
Hitler, may his name be obliterated, wanted to kill every single Jew and even non-Jews with Jewish blood.
Yet we celebrated in the camps.
Pharaoh wanted to kill only male children.
Hitler, may his name be obliterated, wanted to kill every single Jew and even non-Jews with Jewish blood.
Yet we celebrated in the camps.
This is a Jew:
A Jew celebrates a 3000-year-old redemption in a Nazi death camp.
Not because it is a past event, and certainly not because it has meant personal redemption from his enemies.
Because Passover is when Redemption, the Jewish national project, ENTERS THE WORLD.
A Jew celebrates a 3000-year-old redemption in a Nazi death camp.
Not because it is a past event, and certainly not because it has meant personal redemption from his enemies.
Because Passover is when Redemption, the Jewish national project, ENTERS THE WORLD.
At the beginning of the Seder, the structured Passover meal tonight, we say 'Now we are slaves, next year may we be free men!'
The Seder is not about perfection having been achieved.
It is about the ONGOING mission. The ONGOING project.
The Seder is not about perfection having been achieved.
It is about the ONGOING mission. The ONGOING project.
The truth is, we still have not FULLY left Egypt.
But neither does Egypt dominate reality the way it did 3000 years ago.
We are working, every day, to internalize the redemption. To wipe away the inner Egypt. To be humble. To be kind. To be G-dly.
But neither does Egypt dominate reality the way it did 3000 years ago.
We are working, every day, to internalize the redemption. To wipe away the inner Egypt. To be humble. To be kind. To be G-dly.
We still struggle with pyramidal structures, and drowning children in the Nile by training them to worship finite and temporary sources of life, and like Pharaoh 'not knowing G-d', and worshiping idols, and a land where we never have to turn our eyes upward...
But this year.
This year, things are CHANGING.
You must be blind not to see this.
This year, things are CHANGING.
You must be blind not to see this.
Again -- the Passover seder is one of the world's oldest continuously-observed religious traditions.
In THREE MILLENNIA, since the original Passover in Egypt as described in the book of Exodus, there has NEVER been ONE YEAR in which every Jew must make the seder in quarantine.
In THREE MILLENNIA, since the original Passover in Egypt as described in the book of Exodus, there has NEVER been ONE YEAR in which every Jew must make the seder in quarantine.
The circumstances of the original seder:
After a time of breaking Egypt by demonstrating Who really runs the world and the powerlessness of finite achievement, the Jews huddle at home, afraid of a deadly plague, and wait to be taken out from exile...
After a time of breaking Egypt by demonstrating Who really runs the world and the powerlessness of finite achievement, the Jews huddle at home, afraid of a deadly plague, and wait to be taken out from exile...
Many are worried that after this virus the world will not return to the status quo ante.
I have quietly been hoping it won't.
The truth is, the status quo ante was unacceptable.
Things are changing; transformation is coming to the world.
I have quietly been hoping it won't.
The truth is, the status quo ante was unacceptable.
Things are changing; transformation is coming to the world.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory spoke a lot about "Like the days I took you out of Egypt, I shall show you wonders."
How if we have the eyes to see, we are living in UNPRECEDENTED times. The regular cycles of history are breaking down. The world is on the precipice.
How if we have the eyes to see, we are living in UNPRECEDENTED times. The regular cycles of history are breaking down. The world is on the precipice.
The Rebbe never said this had to come through suffering or evil or negativity. It was not something to fear.
It was something to yearn for and to prepare for, an unprecedented form of ascension and G-dly revelation.
It was something to yearn for and to prepare for, an unprecedented form of ascension and G-dly revelation.
Sometimes it is hard to see. Sometimes, small and petty things close our eyes to the changes happening all around us.
The truth is, if ancient Egypt was at 0% transformation, and nothing like the Messianic prophecies, our world is at 99.9998%
The truth is, if ancient Egypt was at 0% transformation, and nothing like the Messianic prophecies, our world is at 99.9998%
A world of equality, peace, prosperity, where food is common as dust, where the entire occupation of the world will be to know G-d alone, where there will be no war, no competition, no jealousy.
We're not there yet, but IN COMPARISON, if we can imagine that ancient world...
We're not there yet, but IN COMPARISON, if we can imagine that ancient world...
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, Passover will be in the world.
A time of goodness, beauty, and G-dliness as we have never known is right around the corner.
We are not living in a year like any other.
The close to our national project feels close at hand.
A time of goodness, beauty, and G-dliness as we have never known is right around the corner.
We are not living in a year like any other.
The close to our national project feels close at hand.
All that is left is a few more acts of goodness and kindness, a few more moments to reacquaint ourselves with G-dliness, to make our lives just the tiniest bit more selfless, more devoted to a Higher Good.
G-d is going to show us more good and more blessings and more wonders than we could ever have imagined...
I can't wait.
I can't wait.
