I have been thinking about what to say for my Passover blog. Every day I receive about 20 emails from a variety of people and institutions regarding the political situation in Israel and the world. I scan them all in order to cull the most interesting and often underreported pieces that reflect intelligent thinking regardless whether I agree with the piece.
But I have begun to tire at the onslaught of speculation that the sky is falling. Maybe it is and I am just too advanced in age to give a damn. But then again, I do care but feel less worried about the outcome. There is a wave sweeping globally from voices crying out to be heard and demanding free expression. It is appealing at first, but then as the dust and deaths settle we realize that in this desperate cry there is a hatred of the “other” that will only continue this cycle of violence.
I have no answers except to suggest that Democracy and Freedom of expression are taught and must be set in an atmosphere of general tolerance. It is even rare to see this expression in full blown democratic countries. I have always been an optimistic person in spite of all the difficulties life throws at us.
Passover-Pesach is a time of stress at home with cleaning and preparing for this family event. It is an event, actual, historical or just a dream sequence that we ALL share. We are all the good guys and the bad guys. The slaves and the Pharaohs . We are the liberators and the liberated. We have all stood and stand ever presently at the foot of Sinai and we have heard the roar of the Omni-present one. But we are also Moses and the One that has enlightened us with this drama of personal quest for understanding the complexity of life and the possibility to reach our home, physically and well as spiritually in the land of our birth.
Communally in our homes we re-create the moments that the entire community shares especially before the close of this drama when we open the door to let in the prophet Eliyahu . We first pour him a drink and welcome him home. We welcome each of us home to land and place of our birth and the moment in time when we embrace the higher truth and sing the praises of our communal and individual freedom.
Yes, this is a broken world. And yes, it most probably has been broken since the beginning of time. However, this is the time of year that it is possible to take this journey across the desert and strip ourselves of the complexity of our lives and focus on the essence of the moment and the struggle to survive. Clean ourselves of the unclean that surrounds us in the constant desire for more stuff and the disappointments we attach ourselves to as if this will set us free.
Together we share the experience of freedom and individually we have this moment to be it. In this moment truth prevails and the homeward yearning through the desert is but a memory in the quest for our spiritual understanding that life is what it is and we Passover all the difficulties knowing that we are this tikun/repairing/fix. We are home in the unity of it all, celebrating with family knowing that there really is no place like home. Just remember to take a breath and all will be set free. The Seder is the expression of the experience shared on this journey of love and compassion. While it is a journey that everyone ultimately takes to be set free it is a uniquely a Jewish experience that must be appreciated in the context that it was meant to be understood. In this Jewish moment a nation is born and dies and is reborn in the land promised and the people that chose the ONE. A national, communal and individual tikun olam: fixing/repairing the world.
Dedicated to:
A special prayer for an amazing and kind human being, Dr. and Rabbi Moshe Dror. May he recover and continue to bless all of us with his kindness and humanity. Bubbalah, we love you Moshe.
