Tuesday, April 19, 2016

"Please Open for Your Complete Passover Toolkit" Chabad Magazine for Tuesday, Nissan 11, 5776 · April 19, 2016

"Please Open for Your Complete Passover Toolkit" Chabad Magazine for Tuesday, Nissan 11, 5776 · April 19, 2016
Editor's Note:
Dear Friend,
A recent coffee break found me rereading some of my favorite Passover stories. I read of Passovers celebrated during the Holocaust, in the Siberian Gulag, and in dim cellars during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The faith and courage that these stories convey never fail to inspire me.
Is it incongruous, one might wonder, to celebrate freedom while living under oppression? To commemorate salvation during times of desperation and deprivation?
The heroes of these tales knew, though, that Passover is more than just a memorial to past glories. The strong hand and the outstretched arm that redeemed our fathers from Egypt have continued to defend our people throughout the ages. “For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.”
On an individual level, too, we each experience a personal bondage to “Pharaoh”—those internal and external things that prevent us from reaching our full potential. Passover empowers us to overcome our limitations and serve G‑d in true freedom.
This year, don’t just retell the Passover story—relive it.
Wishing you and yours a joyous Passover!
Rochel Chein,
responder for Ask the Rabbi @ Chabad.org

Inquisitively Challenged
The rebellious child who questions everything sits before the one who has nothing to ask.
If the rebellious child questions, it is because it touches him, it says something to him. Perhaps it even bothers him.
But a perfectly capable human being who has no questions about Torah and G‑d—he is stuck in his place. Perhaps he is a good, observant Jew who does good deeds and never sins. But there is no sense of the spirit, of the meaning of life, of transcendence.
He, too, must leave Egypt, and know of something higher.[Second Seder, 1965]
This Week's Features:
Printable Magazine

What’s So Wise About the Wise Child?
A skit in four parts, with four siblings and four questions. by Tzvi Freeman

What’s So Wise About the Wise Child?
What’s So Wise About the Wise Child?
A skit in four parts, with four siblings and four questions. by Tzvi Freeman
Why Does This Child Not Question?

Characters:
Abbie:
Trendy lady in her mid-twenties. Heavily into new-age spirituality, saving the ecosystem and exotic travel.
Sheldon:
Sheldon plays tough, but there’s a soft spot inside for his family.
Tom:
Soft-spoken. Hangs out a lot in nature, thinking deeply.
Shaina:
Big sister personality. Rather conservative and insistent on tradition.
Intro
This is the story of four siblings, Abbie, Sheldon, Tom and Shaina, who sat up the entire night of Passover probing a great mystery: What on earth is so wise about the question of the wise child: “What are the testimonies, the decrees, and the legislation that G‑d, our G‑d, has commanded to you?” (Deuteronomy 6:20)? What does it have to do with Passover? And what is the answer to this mysterious question?
Along the winding path of that stormy journey of discovery, they uncovered one, then another, then yet a third way of understanding this wise child’s question—each more radical and profound than the one before. Finally, through a fourth version, they were enlightened with the ultimate conception of wisdom.
Abbie’s Version
Abbie:
“The Wise Child, what does she ask?”
Sheldon:
That’s the stupidest question I ever heard.
Tom:
It’s deep, very deep. Let her ask it.
Shaina:
Sheldon, it’s not her fault that she’s the youngest, so Mom and Dad always made her go first. And she’s just reading what it says in the Haggadah!
Sheldon:
No, she’s not reading what it says in the Haggadah. She purposely changed son to child and he to she. They call that affirmative action. I call it gender discrimination. Why must the wise child be a she?
Tom:
Abbie, say it in your own words. Be who you are.
Abbie:
Oh wow, that’s so kewel. I’ll switch to second person: “If you were a wise child, Sheldon, and not a wicked one, and you were sitting here with Mom and Dad absent for the first time, but still with your three very diverse siblings who nevertheless came together on the night of Passover despite the fact that they always quibble about everything, how would you open yourself to the experience of leaving Egypt and transcending the bounds of ego and self-definition again this year?”
Tom:
Deep, very deep.
Abbie:
You would say, “What are the testimonies, the decrees and the legislation that the Eternal, our G‑d, has commanded You?”
Sheldon:
Why? Why would a wise person be interested in such things?
Shaina:
Because that’s what it says in the Haggadah!
Sheldon:
The same dumb question, year after year!
Tom:
You also ask the same thing every year.
Sheldon:
What can I do? They make me ask! But I never get an answer. I get my “teeth dulled.” Abbie gets all the attention and plenty of answers. Which just reinforces her habit of repeating the same dumb question each year, expecting the same response.
Abbie:
Sheldon, I’m really sorry you feel that way. I’m not trying to get attention. I’m not even trying to be wise. They just gave me that label. I really hate being labeled.
Sheldon:
“The Wise Child.” How on earth do you get that label? You openly admit you don't know anything. You don’t even know what mitzvahs are. Torah is about mitzvahs. So how can someone be called the epitome of Torah wisdom when they don't know the first thing about Torah?
Tom:
It's the way she asks it. The analytical deconstruction of the mitzvah-paradigm into three distinct categories of testimonies, decrees, legislation…
Sheldon:
Intellectual sophistry doesn’t make wisdom. In this case, it’s nothing more than pretentious egocentrism. We were taken out of slavery in Egypt, therefore we do all this stuff. Simple, right? But no, wise, cute little Abbie here wants to know “What’s in it for me? What’s the payback?”
Abbie:
Where do you get that from?
Sheldon:
[yelling] You come right out with it. You say, “that our G‑d commanded you.” “You, not us!”
Shaina:
You say the same thing. Every year. “Why do you guys go through all this bother every year?” That’s what you say.
Sheldon:
And what do I get for it? I’m labeled—three thousand years of labeling. I’m called “wicked.” I’m told I’m a heretic. I’m shunned and dismissed. Like I’m not even part of the story. And what does cute little wise sister get? For exactly the same words? “Oh, such a wise child! Oh, so clever, so sophisticated! She can say le-jiss-lay-shun!”
Abbie:
Sheldon, I really appreciate you coming here year after year. I really do. But I would also like you to appreciate the question they make me ask.
Tom:
It’s deep. It’s profound.
Abbie:
It’s about spirituality. That’s my life quest. I come here year after year seeking it. Seeking wisdom, enlightenment, spiritual ecstasy.
Shaina:
Where? In the horseradish?
Abbie:
That’s just the point! I say I want to transcend my ego and attain true freedom from any spiritual bondage. So they tell me that first I have to buy food with special labels at double the price, matzahs at ten times the price of bread, spend a month removing any trace of leavened ingredients from my home, sell the stuff online, search the house for it and burn the remnants in a fire. I know, I know—I’m supposed to focus on this as a practice of eradication of ego.
So after all this, I come to the seder and I want to share that experience of the ego incinerated in flames, the transcendence of self. I want to chant together, sing entrancing melodies together, light pomegranate-scented candles, sit on memory-foam cushions on the floor and meditate on cosmic oneness. We could hold hands, and together, we will transcend our bodily selves and attain enlightenment…
Shaina:
But, Abbie, we have to say the rest of the Haggadah. And eat the matzah. And drink the four cups of wine.
Abbie:
There it goes. Every time I try to bring in a few minutes of wisdom, someone says, “We have to get on with the seder.” “It’s time to eat the onion dipped in salt-water.” “We can get to the words of wisdom at the meal, after the chicken soup.”
Shaina:
We have to eat the matzah before midnight. And we can’t start until it’s dark.
Abbie:
And then, after the chicken soup, Dad would always push me to hurry the deep wisdom teachings I have collected because “We have to eat the afikoman before midnight!”
Shaina:
Abbie, this is not some New-Age spirituality trip. It’s Judaism. It’s pragmatic, down-to-earth, just-do-it.
Hey, get this: Let’s say someone gets stuck in Reykjavik for Passover. No matzah, no kosher wine, no haggadah. But let’s say this guy has memorized all the kabbalistic meanings of the Passover Seder, including the eating of matzah. So he meditates on that, all night, real deep. Has he done a seder? Has he eaten matzah? No. No mitzvah.
But let’s say some other guy decides he’s not interested in a Passover seder. Let’s say he collects all sorts of bread and sandwiches and he’s decided to eat all those on Passover night. So some fanatic yeshiva boys find out about this, barge into his house, tie him up and force him to eat matzah! Did he do a mitzvah? Yes! Because he ate matzah!
Abbie:
Who says that’s Judaism? We are the children of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebeccah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah. That’s how we began—shepherd-people who sat in the tranquility of the Negev, gazing at the stars all night, meditating upon the oneness of all things, opening our minds to the cosmic oneness and the infinite light that transcends all things. What are we doing spending the most identifying moment of our year obsessing over rote and ritual, gulping down wine and stuffing ourselves with tasteless flat bread that isn’t even gluten free?
Sheldon:
So what’s the answer?
Tom:
You need to dwell on the question. It’s deep.
Abbie:
The answer? The answer is the ultimate paradigm shift. The answer is when I realize that this is the ultimate transcendence of the ego-self, of all material bounds. The answer is that the Infinite Light, if truly infinite, must be found in our material world as well. If we have to ascend from this world to a spiritual realm to reach it, then it’s not infinite. If we can reach it through our own meditation, it’s not the ultimate. We need to find the Infinite and Unbounded here, in the realm of physical sensation, of doing, eating and arguing with siblings.
In the seder, I discover the true infinite, that reaches even as far down as you, Sheldon.
Sheldon:
Cute, but nothing to do with the Exodus. You’re way off.
Shaina:
Okay, Sheldon, now you get to ask your Question of the Wicked Son. I mean, Wicked Child. I mean, um, Morally Challenged Human…
Sheldon:
I’m not morally challenged! I’m here at the seder, for goodness sakes!
Shaina:
Okay, the Question of the Chilled-Out Child. Can you read it now?
Tom:
But he asks good questions. The challenge is good.
Sheldon:
Yeah, like here’s another thing I never got: Why are we thanking G‑d for liberating us from Egypt? Who put us there in the first place?
Shaina:
How about you just add that as part of your question? I mean, we have to keep moving along…
Tom:
Sheldon, it’s deep, very deep. All that bondage in Egypt was meant to shatter the darkness that humanity had created in this world, the ugliness that was not allowing the inner delight of the divine to enter. That’s why we entered Egypt in the first place—to face that darkness in its lair, struggle with it and break its suffocating hold on the divine spark within the human soul. And those open miracles—that was the Infinite Light entering directly into our world.
Abbie:
Wow, this is so cool. We had to struggle with the oppressive darkness of the material world in order that this world can become a divine place. And then, after the Torah is given, we can bring G‑d into the everyday world by doing everyday sorts of things. What a high! A whole paradigm shift! The Infinite Light is everywhere, but it’s up to us to draw that light into the sensations of everyday life. Kewel.
Sheldon:
You got it all wrong. Doesn’t make any sense. And I have four proofs that you’re wrong.
The Sheldon Version
Abbie:
Four?
Sheldon:
Four. First of all, you haven’t explained what’s the deal with excluding yourself from everyone else by saying “G‑d has commanded you.”
Abbie:
Because we’re talking post-Sinai—after the Ten Commandments and all the mitzvahs!
Sheldon:
[shouting again] Then say “that G‑d has commanded us!” Or just “that G‑d has commanded period.” What’s the “you” about?
Abbie:
But…
Sheldon:
Secondly, if your whole question is about rote and ritual just-do-it, so say that. Say, “What’s up with these just-do-it rituals?” But no, you say “testimonies, decrees and legislation”—clearly dividing the mitzvahs by their meanings, not their actions.
Shaina:
That’s just how wise people speak, Sheldon.
Sheldon:
Wisdom, shmisdom. She can’t even get the order right. That’s number three: Decrees mean laws that you just do—as in G‑d says so and that’s it. Testimonies at least have some reason to them—we do them to relive some collective experience of the past.
Shaina:
Yes, like matzah to remember the Exodus. Shabbat to remember the Exodus. Sukkot to remember Divine protection after the Exodus. Usually, it’s an Exodus thing.
Sheldon:
And then legislation is what they call “natural law”—things we would have figured out even if we were never commanded. Like “Don’t steal.” “Don’t murder.” “Honor your mother and father.” “Don’t let your ox—or your Lexus—go gore other people’s oxens or Lexuses.”
Shaina:
How about “Don’t gore your little sister with insults and derision.”
Sheldon:
So little wise sibling here, what has she done? First, she uses terms that clearly indicate she has no problem with rote-ritual. Her whole problem is with spirituality—with what you have to have in mind when doing each of these different kinds of mitzvahs. And even then, she gets the order all wrong! Either put them in order of most reasonable to least reasonable, or the other way around. Her order makes no sense!
Tom:
That’s a good question. The order must have some deep meaning.
Abbie:
That’s three. What’s your fourth problem?
Sheldon:
Proof that you are totally into materialism comes directly from the answer given to you.
Shaina:
All it says here is that Dad is supposed to teach Abbie…
Sheldon:
Not that answer. The answer in the original source, as it’s written in the Torah.
Shaina:
Whoa!
Sheldon:
There, it says you answer this wise kid saying that “G‑d commanded us to keep all these decrees so that we will learn to be in awe of Him.”
Shaina:
Hey, Sheldon, you know your stuff!
Sheldon:
Hey, you gotta be informed to be a heretic! So if that’s what you have to be answered, it means that’s something you don’t know. And you especially don’t know about decrees, which means you can’t imagine anything beyond the grey matter in your own skull. And why? Because you’re so stuck in your self-centered world! Admit it! It’s spiritual hedonism, that’s all. Your yoga is all about body worship. Meditation is cool because that’s what cool people do today. You’re just another bobo, spiritual-coolness junky! But inside, there’s nothing spiritual or transcendental about you!
Abbie:
It’s not true.
Sheldon:
And that’s what’s hiding subliminally inside your question. You make it sound like it’s about “Why the just-do-it? Let’s get spiritual!” Really, without even realizing, you’re asking, “Who needs the spirituality?”
Shaina:
Sheldon, she’s your kid sister. You can’t lay into her like that. Take it easy.
Sheldon:
I’m not laying into her. She’s right. Her question is 100% spot on. She’s saying, “Hey, it’s post-Sinai. We’re no longer seeking out the divine in spirituality. We’re no longer making an absurd attempt to grasp the Creator of the Universe with the two and a half pounds of meat up in our skull. We’ve been handed the G‑d Himself, right here in this matzah, and in this lettuce, and this horseradish, too! So just read the Haggadah, eat the stuff and get on with life!”
Shaina:
What on earth are you talking about?
Sheldon:
That’s the wise child’s question: If we are post-Sinai, we are post-spirituality! Who cares why we’re doing it? Who cares if it’s self-serving or not? Who cares if it’s an irrational decree or if it makes sense? It’s G‑d talking—why should we even bother trying to understand a thing? Do it for ulterior motives. Do it because it you did it yesterday. Do it uninspired, just because you have to. If it’s about the your spiritual feeling it’s about you. The only way for it not to be about you, and to be about G‑d is for it not to be about your feelings. What’s the big deal? G‑d says so, so just do it!
Tom:
So what’s the answer?
Sheldon:
There isn’t one. There’s no spiritual point in spirituality. If it turns you on, cool. But make no mistake about it: It’s just another substance that turns people on. As for mitzvahs, we just do them because G‑d decided He gets a kick out of them and told us to do them.
Shaina:
Doesn’t sound very wise to me.
Abbie:
Sounds mean.
Tom:
Actually, Shaina, Sheldon has a point over here.
Abbie:
You too?
Tom:
He’s just pointed in the wrong direction.
Abbie:
Yeah, Sheldon. Maybe point in someone else’s direction a little.
Tom’s Very Deep Version
Sheldon:
Abbie, I’m not insulting you. I was just, just trying to explain your…
Shaina:
I think Abbie is sincere about her spiritual trippiness. Look, it’s not for everyone, but…
Tom:
Besides which, Sheldon, you asked four questions and you didn’t answer a single one.
Sheldon:
Hey, tonight is about asking questions. I asked. How many questions have you asked?
Shaina:
So maybe, Tom, you can answer.
Tom:
So Abbie says her question is why the whole just-do-it trip if the point is spirituality.
Abbie:
Right.
Tom:
And Sheldon says that Abbie doesn’t realize her question is really the opposite: What’s the point of spirituality when we’re dealing with something so totally beyond us.
Sheldon:
Right. Totally beyond anything you can experience.
Tom:
And I say, you’re both right. Abbie wants to have it all.
Abbie:
Now everyone’s against me.
Shaina:
Abbie, that’s just the way guys talk.
Tom:
No, but it’s true! Abbie has clear evidence that she can have it all!
Abbie:
I can have it all? Yes! I can have it all!
Tom:
Eating this matzah here, she can engage the ultimate, most super-transcendental Essence of Being—way beyond even what Sheldon is talking about, beyond anything spiritual, or anything the highest angel could engage. But also, she can eventually come to experience that.
Sheldon:
Ridiculous! If you can experience it, it can’t be the real thing. Like that Groucho line— “Any club that would take me as a member is not worth joining.”
Tom:
Generally it’s true. The thing itself and your subjective experience of it can’t be the same. They’re infinitely apart. Because you’re two separate beings
Sheldon:
Right, like having a cake and experiencing eating that cake.
Shaina:
Sheldon! It’s Passover! Don’t mention cake!
Tom:
But that limitation doesn’t apply to the Creator of all things. There is nothing outside of the His Oneness. And the Creator is not just interested in us engaging His core-essence here in our world of action, He wants it to be experiential as well.
Sheldon:
Where’s the proof?
Tom:
Why else would there be different mindsets for different mitzvahs?
Sheldon:
There’s only one mindset: G‑d says. We gotta do it.
Tom:
Then why the whole “testimonies, decrees and legislation” thing?
Sheldon:
Listen, Tom: You and I learned in the same yeshiva. We learned: “You shouldn’t say, ‘I can’t stand pork. I think it stinks.’ Rather, you should say, ‘I would like to eat pork, but what can I do? My heavenly father has decreed I can’t eat the stuff.’” And the same with saying that you don’t want to wear a fancy Italian suit made of wool and linen because wool and linen is itchy. I can even tell you where it is—Sifra, end of Parshat Kiddushin. Heh—and I’m labeled the Wicked Child.
Tom:
So, tell me, you’re supposed to say, “I would love to steal and kill, but what can I do? My heavenly father has decreed it’s not nice?”
Shaina:
That’s ridiculous.
Tom:
Or let’s say you’re visiting someone in the hospital, and they’re so excited to see you. So you say, “Really, I don’t care the slightest about you, but what can I do? G‑d says I have to visit you?”
Sheldon:
Well, that wouldn’t be nice.
Tom:
So you see, different mitzvahs require different mental focus. There are mitzvahs that require a sense of something transcendent of my own understanding—like not eating bacon and forgetting about that Italian suit. And there are mitzvahs that require me to understand and feel in my heart—even to feel love and awe.
Abbie:
Love, awesomeness, beauty, total oneness…
Tom:
And that’s Abbie’s wise question: If all the mitzvahs are expressions of a totally transcendent and infinite will, then how is it possible that we can possibly understand or have a sensitivity for any of them at all? We shouldn’t understand a thing.
Shaina:
Hold on. You mean, “Thou shalt not steal” shouldn’t make sense?
Tom:
If it’s truly infinite wisdom, then how is it possible that it makes sense?
Shaina:
But it makes sense to me.
Tom:
The wonder is that anything makes sense at all. We’re just little critters in a vast universe created by an infinite, unbounded Creator. And these mitzvahs—the matzah, the four cups of wine, the Haggadah—along with don’t steal, honor your parents, love your neighbor—along with don’t eat pork and don’t mix wool with linen—they are the innermost will of the Infinite. So how is it that they make any sense to us?
So it must be that G‑d doesn’t want us to just do. He wants us to experience as well. So He took His infinite will and packaged it in ways that we can relate to. And that’s Abbie’s question. She gets that G‑d is here now in the words of the Haggadah, the eating of the matzah, drinking the four cups of wine. What she wonders is how it’s possible that we can experience something so totally beyond ourselves.
Abbie:
The seder is totally experiential. It’s a multisensory experience of infinite light. So kewel.
Sheldon:
You’re also not answering any of my questions. What’s with the weird order she put them in? Testimonies, then decrees, then legislation?
Tom:
Simple. That order of testimonies, decrees and legislation—that’s actually the order by which divine energy enters into the cosmos.
Abbie:
Super kewel!
Sheldon:
Here we go. Wake me up when the Kabbalah is over.
Tom:
Don’t need Kabbalah. It’s simple reasoning. Legislation—those are the rules that make sense, right?
Sheldon:
Right.
Tom:
What makes sense about them?
Sheldon:
That they have some sort of utility. Utilitarian law.
Tom:
They create a healthy society, a sustainable world.
Sheldon:
Where are you going with this?
Tom:
So when society is healthy and we’re living in a harmonious world, that’s when the Creator of this world becomes apparent—in that harmony.
Sheldon:
Well, in a very limited sense. We’re not pantheists.
Tom:
Right. We want to tap into something transcendent of nature. So that’s why we have decrees. Those provide a higher context. They say, “Your puny mind is not the measure of all things and your little world is not all that could ever be. There’s is something totally beyond all of that, something you could never conceive.”
Abbie:
Transcendental. Surrendering the ego to the supernal oneness.
Sheldon:
So what are testimonies about then?
Tom:
You only need testimony on something that is hidden. Something you couldn’t ever know about on your own.
Sheldon:
Which is?
Tom:
Not finite. Not infinite. The Absolute.
Shaina:
We don’t drink that on Passover.
Abbie:
Is that like “to infinity and beyond?”
Tom:
Look, when you talk about the Infinite Light and the Unbounded Cosmic Energy, and all those kabbalistic terms—all of them are relative terms. All you’re saying is that there’s something that doesn’t have any of our limitations. But that’s not the ultimate.
Abbie:
What’s the ultimate?
Tom:
The ultimate is not relative to anything. Just is. Absolute reality. And the only way you can know it is if you are it.
Sheldon:
What on earth does anything you’re talking about have to do with testimonial rituals?
Tom:
Because they are beyond decrees.
Sheldon:
That makes no sense.
Abbie:
No, decrees make no sense.
Tom:
Decrees are G‑d saying, “I’m too wise to be understood.” Well, that’s a very relative and compromising stance. You wouldn’t say about an idea that it’s too deep to be touched.
Abbie:
Ideas are spiritual.
Tom:
G‑d is beyond spiritual—He created spiritual and physical, the tangible and the ethereal, ideas and physicality. They’re all the same to Him. So you can’t say about Him that He’s too wise to be understood.
Shaina:
Tom, you should be able to make at least something of what you’re saying understood.
Tom:
So testimonies present G‑d as He is beyond finite and infinite, immanence and transcendence, higher and lower. Testimonies say, “Here’s how I want you to remember leaving Egypt!”
Sheldon:
Eat this super-expensive poor-man’s bread that tastes like cardboard…
Tom:
We would never have come up with it ourselves. But once we’re told, so it sort of makes sense. And that’s way beyond decrees. It’s the Unknowable becoming known. That’s why it’s something we don’t do with our minds. We do it just by being. Our very souls are the breath of G‑d here now.
Abbie:
“The Unknowable becoming known.” I’m into that. It’s not something you do with your mind. It’s just by being who you are. Our souls are testimony to the Unknowable.
Shaina:
But nobody sees that until we’re eating matzah, or some other mitzvah.
Sheldon:
Which we do because we are supposed to do it. Not as some kinda trip.
Tom:
And that’s the order: First the Unknowable enters the universe—through a soul that is testimony to the Unknowable. But then the Unknowable has to become experienced. The first stage of experience is as a transcendent force—as decrees. And then as the very life-force of this world, as legislation that keeps the world going. But inside all that it remains an experience of the Unknowable.
Abbie:
Like a super-spiritual experience?
Tom:
An experience here, now, with your physical eyeballs and your haptic-kinetic-tactile hands. That’s where we do mitzvahs. Why can’t G‑d be experienced in the world of physical sensation—He’s everywhere, isn’t He?
Abbie:
But Tom, I never experienced any of that at a Passover Seder!
Tom:
We’ve got to get to the final step of Exodus to really experience it. Until then, we can only get just a taste.
Shaina:
I think that’s the real question.
Tom:
What’s the real question?
Shaina’s Short & Sweet Version
Sheldon:
She’s gonna say, “When do eat the matzah?” That’s her question.
Shaina:
That we’re not there yet. That’s why she keeps repeating the question year after year.
Abbie:
Well, it says right here in the Haggadah, “In every generation, you have to see yourself as though you left Egypt.” So here I am again, leaving Egypt.
Shaina:
So of course she has the same question all over again. She’s like a newborn child. She just left Egypt and she hasn’t even yet arrived at Mount Sinai. She’s expecting something amazing there. Like all the stuff you guys were talking about.
Sheldon:
So you’re telling me that’s the real reason she says “you” and not “us?” Because she hasn’t gotten there yet?
Tom:
Shaina, how did you come up with that? Brilliant.
Shaina:
When there’s a will, there’s a way. We gotta get on with the Seder.
Abbie:
But when do we get the ultimate experience?
Sheldon:
Tonight, Abbie, tonight.
Abbie:
That’s what Dad always used to say.
Shaina:
But Mom and Dad aren’t here now.
Sheldon:
Look, I never talked with Tom this much in my life. And we’re still sitting here together. If that can happen, Elijah the Prophet can walk in the door any minute.
Abbie:
Hey, that was a totally kewel discussion!
Shaina:
Let’s get on.
Tom:
On to the final Exodus.
Abbie:
The ultimate experience.
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Passover Learning

All About Maror
Do you wonder why we are eating this stuff? You’re on to something. During the Passover Seder, we ask that very question. by Eli Landes
Introduction
Though the central mitzvah of the Seder night is remembering the Exodusfrom Egypt,1 the night includes three individual mitzvahs as well: eatingmatzah, maror and the paschal lamb (the lamb is no longer eaten).
Let’s delve into the mitzvah of maror, the bitter herbs.
The Source for Maror
Do you wonder why we are eating this stuff? You’re on to something. During the Passover Seder, we ask that very question. The text of the Haggadahanswers by quoting a verse from the Torah: “They embittered our lives with hard work.”2 The bitter taste of the herbs reminds us of the bitterness of our slavery in Egypt.
The actual source of the biblical commandment to eat maror is found in a later verse, where G‑d commands us to make the paschal lamb: “Eat [the lamb] with the matzahs and maror.”3 The phraseology of this command is very precise: eating the maror is a part of the mitzvah of the paschal lamb.4 Rather than being an independent mitzvah, it is merely a prerequisite for the paschal lamb.5 Accordingly, since we no longer have the obligation to offer the paschal lamb, there is no biblical command to eat maror. However, even though the biblical notion of eating maror to remember our slavery no longer applies,6 the rabbis decreed that we should eat maror anyway to remember what we did inTemple days.7
What Is Maror?
By definition, maror is something bitter. But what?
The Mishnah lists five herbs that fit the bill.8 There is some discussion as to how to translate the Hebrew/Aramaic words of the Mishnah,9 but it is generally accepted that romaine lettuce, horseradish and endives (escarole) are included in the list.10 The Chabad custom is to use romaine lettuce and horseradish together.11
The Mishnah continues that both the stalk and the leaves (if using an herb that has leaves) may be used, and they may be fresh or dry. The Talmud, however, points out that this allowance for dry herbs is only regarding the stalk; the leaves must be fresh.12 The herbs may not be cooked, or even soaked for 24 hours,13 since that would cause them to lose their bitter taste.
How to Eat Maror
Now we get into the specific details of how to eat the maror.
During the Seder nights (one in Israel and two in the Diaspora), after we have eaten the matzah, we prepare to eat maror. First, we take a kezayit (the volume of an olive) of the maror and dip it into charoset,14 a traditional concoction of apples, nuts, wine and other sweet ingredients. This was originally done to kill a dangerous worm that could be found in the herbs.15Some say that the reason we still do it nowadays is because charosetresembles the cement we were forced to use in building the Egyptian cities.16Although we dip the bitter maror in the sweet charoset, be sure not to let themaror linger in the charoset so as not to dilute the taste, and shake off thecharoset straight away.
Once this is done, we make the blessing of al achilat maror (“Blessed are You . . . who has commanded us regarding the eating of maror”). There is no need to say the blessing of ha’adamah, since we’ve already said it over thekarpas (the veggies we dipped in salt water).17
Once the blessing is made, eat the maror straight away. You should not speak between making the blessing and eating the maror. If you did speak, if it was about a topic that was not related to the meal, you repeat the blessing.18
Even though we’ve been leaning luxuriously all evening when we drank our wine and ate our matzah, we don’t lean when eating the maror19—although you can if you want to.20
Ideally, the maror should be eaten in one mouthful.21 If that proves too difficult, you can eat it at your own pace, as long as it’s eaten in the allotted time (about 2–4 minutes). Even as you rush to eat your maror, however, slow down enough to chew it,since tasting the bitterness is an integral part of the experience. Swallowing it whole without tasting it does not count.22
Take Two
After we eat the maror, the herbs are used one more time for what is known as the korech, a sandwich comprised of matzah and maror.23 To understand why we do this, it’s necessary to take a moment to explain a dispute among the rabbis about how the paschal lamb, matzah and maror were eaten when the Temple was standing. Most of the rabbis were of the opinion that each was eaten separately. Hillel, however, held that one would make a sandwich of the three and eat them together. To fulfill all opinions, we do both. We first eat the matzah and maror separately, and then we eat them together as thekorech sandwich.
This is done as follows: First, one takes a kezayit of the matzah and snaps it in half to make two parts of a sandwich (if you have a Seder plate, use the third matzah for this24). Next, take a kezayit of maror and place it between the two slices of matzah. There is some debate in halachah whether or not to dip the maror again in the charoset. The Chabad custom is to dip, but those who are careful not to place any moisture on their matzah should instead place a small piece of wineless charoset on the maror.25
Then, say, “Kein asah Hillel . . .” (“So Hillel did . . .”), as quoted in the Haggadah, and eat the matzah and maror together while leaning to the left side.26
Lessons from Maror
At the beginning of this article,27 we stated a few things that seem to be difficult to understand. Firstly, we stated that maror is merely a “preparation” for the paschal lamb. Why is that? True, the Torah does connect them in the verse, but why does the Torah make one dependent on the other? We then said that nowadays, since there is no paschal lamb, there is no biblical commandment to eat maror—and there is therefore no reason to eat maror in remembrance of the slavery. Instead, we eat it only to remind us of the Temple. Once again, this seems difficult to understand—just because we have no biblical commandment, we shouldn’t eat maror to remind us of the slavery? Our slavery in Egypt is surely something worth remembering!
To explain this, it’s necessary to take a moment to analyze the Seder night—and to embark on a path towards a deeper understanding of maror. Externally, the Seder seems split into two distinct parts. First we gather our family together and recount the tale of our time in Egypt, reliving once again one of the most defining chapters of our history. Then, when that is done, we return to the present and fulfill the physical mitzvahs of the night—eating matzah andmaror. These two parts seem to have little in connection with each other.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, explains however that this viewpoint is superficial. Once we begin to analyze the Seder, we realize that these two parts share a common thread; they are the two acts of a single play, each one working in sync with the other to bring about the theme of the Seder night. That theme is remembering Egypt. First, we sit down for maggid, the step of the Seder when we use our gifts of speech, creativity and imagination to recount the story of our slavery and redemption. But that’s not enough; the story is still limited solely to our mind. So when we’re done, we take out the Passover foods to internalize that feeling of freedom through our very actions. When we eat the maror, the bitter taste grants us an appreciation for the hardships our forefathers endured, and ideally, if we were able to savor the paschal lamb, its rich sweetness would show us the freedom that followed.
This is why the maror is so important. We must sense the bitterness of slavery to really taste the joy of freedom. Freedom is meaningless if one has never felt confined. Therefore, the maror is considered a preparation for the paschal lamb—its bitterness lends an appreciation for the value of the paschal lamb.
Nowadays, however, we do not have the freedom of the paschal lamb. We are still confined to exile. Therefore, the bitterness of maror will not grant us a greater appreciation of our freedom—we do not yet have such freedom. On the contrary: its bitterness will only greater emphasize the bitterness of our current state. Therefore, there no longer exists a commandment to remember the bitterness of Egypt.
Instead, we eat maror solely in remembrance of the Temple.
Key Takeways
Maror nowadays is a rabbinical decree, instituted to remind us of the Temple.
Common herbs for maror are horseradish and romaine lettuce. Chabad uses both.
Before eating the maror, dip it into the charoset and then shake it off.
Make only an al achilat maror blessing, and not a ha’adamah.
You do not have to lean.
Eat it within 2–4 minutes.
Eat it again between two pieces of matzah.
FOOTNOTES
1.Exodus 13:8.
2.Exodus 1:14.
3.Numbers 9:11.
4.Pesachim 120a; Minchat Chinuch 6:3; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:15. (The Talmud explains that although based on this verse matzah seems dependent on the paschal lamb, it has a separate command from Exodus 12:18.)
5.Talmud, Pesachim 90a.
6.Tzofnat Paane’ach, quoted in Likkutei Sichot, vol. 22, p. 46.
7.Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:15.
8.Pesachim 2:6. See Necessities That Have to Be Prepared for the Seder for an overview of this topic.
9.Talmud, Pesachim 39a.
10.See the E-Mishnah translation.
11.Sefer Haminhagim, Pesach: The Seder and the Haggadah.
12.Talmud, Pesachim 39b.
13.Ba’er Heitev 475:6.
14.Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 475:1; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:11.
15.Ba’er Heitev 475:5; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:11.
16.Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:11.
17.Tur, ibid.
18.Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:18.
19.Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 475:1; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:13.
20.Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 475:1; Shulchan Aruch HaRav ibid.
21.Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:14.
22.Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 475:3; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:25.
23.See Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:15–18 for a detailed explanation of this paragraph.
24.Haggadah.
25.The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s notes to the Haggadah.
26.Whether or not to lean is a debate inhalachah (see Tur ibid.; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 475:20.) However, thehalachah is that we do (Shulchan Aruch and Shulchan Aruch HaRav ibid.) See Shulchan Aruch HaRav ibid., and Beit Yosef 475, s.v. Katav Achi, for the reasoning.
27.For the remainder of this section, see Likkutei Sichot, vol. 32, pp. 47–50.

What Is Chametz?
Everything you need to know about Passover's forbidden food by Yehuda Shurpin
The Very Short Answer
Chametz is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and "rise.”
In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passovermatzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening—is to be consideredchametz. This includes flour (even before it is mixed with water1), cake, cookies, pasta, breads and items that have chametz as an ingredient, like malt.
The Biblical Basis
Just before the Nation of of Israel left Egypt, G‑d commanded them to sacrifice the Paschal lamb and then eat it with unleavened matzah and bitter herbs.2 G‑d then told them that they should replicate this feast every year on the anniversary of the Exodus: “And it shall be for you a remembrance . . . seven days you shall eat matzah, and on the first day you should remove allse’or (sour dough, a leavening agent) from your homes. Anyone who eatschametz (leaven) from the first day to the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel.”
When Is It Forbidden?
According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to eat chametz after the fourth halachic hour3 on the morning before Passover. It is forbidden to derive any benefit from chametz at the fifth hour, and all chametz should be burned before the sixth hour. From then until after Passover, chametz is completely forbidden.
Why does the prohibition start before Passover begins?
The Torah states: “You shall slaughter the Passover sacrifice to the L‑rd, your G‑d . . . You shall not eat leaven with it . . . ”4 Tradition interprets this to mean that the prohibition of chametz starts from the time when the Passover sacrifice could be offered: from midday of the 14th of Nissan.5
To prevent people from transgressing the prohibition inadvertently, the sages decreed that the prohibition of eating chametz starts two hours before midday, and the prohibition of deriving any benefit starts one hour prior to midday.
To see the relevant halachic times for your area, click here.
Getting Rid of Chametz
Long before Passover begins, we clean our homes, offices, and any other place that belongs to us to rid our homes of chametz. Although it’s praiseworthy to be stringent on Passover, keep in mind that dust isn’tchametz. The main purpose of cleaning and searching for chametz is to remove any chametz that one may come to inadvertently eat or derive benefit from during Passover. This obligation of getting rid of chametz does not extend to inedible chametz or tiny crumbs or particles of chametz that are soiled or spoiled. So the key areas to focus on are things that may come in contact with food, since we are forbidden to eat anything with even a trace ofchametz.
The kitchen should be thoroughly cleaned, and all surfaces should be covered or koshered. Additionally, if you’re using your regular utensils or appliances for Passover, they will need to be koshered. If finances permit, it is better (and easier) to simply buy a set of Passover utensils. For more on the specifics of getting rid of chametz and koshering your kitchen, click here.
Some non-food items, such as vitamins and cosmetics, may contain chametzand will need to be disposed of or sold (see below). Please consult with a rabbi for a list of permissible and prohibited items.
The Search
On the eve of the 14th of Nissan, with just 24 hours to go to the Seder, we search our property—including home, office and car—for any chametz that may have been missed in the cleaning process.
The custom is to conduct the search using a candle, feather, wooden spoon and a (paper) bag for collecting any chametz found. Have someone place 10 pieces of bread throughout the house to be found during the search.6
Before we start the search, we recite the blessing (found here). No interruption should be made between reciting the blessing and the start of the search. Additionally, during the search, we only discuss that which pertains to the search for chametz.
In order to ensure that we remember to conduct the search on time, it is forbidden to eat or even learn Torah after nightfall until after the search has been completed.
The Nullification
Following the search for chametz, we recite a "nullification statement" renouncing all ownership of any chametz that, unbeknown to us, may still be in our possession. The nullification statement should be said in a language that you understand, and can be found here.
Through nullifying our chametz, we consider it as no more than dust and thus ownerless, thereby fulfilling the mitzvah of removing chametz from our possession.
The Sale
Utensils used for chametz (and chametz itself that you are reluctant to dispose of) may be sold to a person who is not Jewish for the duration of Passover. (Some have the custom not to sell any real chametz, although this is not the Chabad custom.)
The sold chametz and utensils should be set aside in a designated place (e.g., closet or cabinet), which is rented to the non-Jewish buyer until after Passover. This storage place should be clearly marked, so no one can take anything from there through force of habit.
The sale of chametz to the non-Jew is not a symbolic sale, but a legally binding transaction, and must therefore be conducted by a competent rabbi.
After writing a bill of sale, one may leave the chametz in his home without transgressing the prohibitions of not seeing or having chametz, since thechametz no longer belongs to him.
For more about the sale of chametz, click here.
To arrange for the sale of your chametz, click here.
The Burning
On the 14th of Nissan, before the sixth hour of the day, we burn any chametzthat we still have. This includes the bag of chametz from our search the previous night.
After the chametz is burned, we again recite a nullification statement. However, this nullification statement has a slightly different wording than what was said at night after the search for chametz. The statement recited at night only includes chametz that was missed in the search, but doesn’t includechametz set aside to be sold or eaten in the morning. When we burn thechametz, the statement includes all chametz that may still be in our possession, and serves as a final "safety measure" for a chametz-less Passover.
The text can be found here.
Kitniyot
Due to the gravity of the prohibition of chametz, the medieval Ashkenazicrabbis also forbade the consumption of any kitniyot (very loosely translated as “legumes”) on Passover, since they can be confused with the forbidden grains. This includes (but is not limited to): rice, corn, soybeans, stringbeans, peas, lentils, mustard, sesame and poppy seeds.This ban was accepted as binding law by Ashkenazic Jewry.
The prohibition only extends to the consumption of kitniyot; there is no obligation to destroy or sell kitniyot products before Passover, and we can derive benefit from kitniyot products (e.g., pet food) during Passover.
For more on kitniyot, click here.
Chametz After Passover
Due to the severity of the prohibition of owning chametz on Passover, the rabbis of the Talmud established an after-the-fact penalty for owning anychametz products during Pesach. This prohibition is known as chametz she’avar alav haPesach. One may not consume or even derive benefit from such chametz, and if chametz is found either on or after Passover that was owned by a Jew during Passover, it needs to be destroyed.
So, what does that mean on a practical level? When you’re purchasingchametz products after Passover from a Jewish-owned store, the owner cannot have owned that chametz during Passover. If he did, you’ll need to refrain from purchasing any chametz products there until it is deemed that a sufficient amount of time has passed for all of those chametz products to have been sold. Consult your local rabbi with any questions regarding stores in your area.
This prohibition does not apply to kitniyot, since one is permitted to own it on Passover.
On a Spiritual Note
Chametz and matzah are almost the same substance, containing the same ingredients of flour and water. The one key difference is that while chametzbread rises, filling itself with hot air, the matzah stays flat and humble.
Thus, chametz represents that swelling of ego that enslaves the soul more than any external prison. It is for this reason that once a year on Passover, when we celebrate our freedom from slavery and our birth as a nation unto G‑d, we are extremely careful to eradicate any chametz that we may have.
The flat, unpretentious matzah represents the humility, self-effacement and commitment that are the ultimate liberators, enabling us to connect to G‑d without our egos getting in the way. And that is why eating matzah on Passover is so fundamental to our faith.
FOOTNOTES
1.Technically, flour need not be chametz. However, common practice is that before the milling process begins, the wheat kernels are tempered (sprayed) with water and left to stand until the moisture penetrates it. Therefore, the custom is to treat flour as chametz.
2.Exodus 12.
3.A halachic hour is calculated by dividing the daytime hours into twelve equal parts.
4.Deuteronomy 16:2-3.
5.For more on this see Why Is Passover on Nissan 15, Not Nissan 14?
6.For more on this, see Why scatter 10 pieces of bread?

Passover Toolkit

Sell Your Chametz Online
Any chametz left undisposed must be sold to a non-Jew. Use this online form to quickly delegate a rabbi to sell your chametz for you.

Sell Your Chametz Online

Use this online form to sell your chametz for Passover.

The Seder Service in a Nutshell
A quick overview of the Seder’s steps; click on the print button and it becomes a quick reference during the Seder

A quick overview of the Seder’s steps; click on the print button and it becomes a quick reference during the Seder.
In Our Forefathers’ Footsteps
At the Seder, every person should see himself as if he were going out of Egypt. Beginning with our Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we recount the Jewish people’s descent into Egypt and recall their suffering and persecution. We are with them as G‑d sends the Ten Plagues to punish Pharaoh and his nation, and follow along as they leave Egypt and cross the Sea of Reeds. We witness the miraculous hand of G‑d as the waters part to allow the Israelites to pass, then return to inundate the Egyptian legions.
Kadesh—the Benediction
The Seder service begins with the recitation of kiddush, proclaiming the holiness of the holiday. This is done over a cup of wine, the first of the four cups we will drink (while reclining) at the Seder.
The Four Cups of Wine
Why four cups? The Torah uses four expressions of freedom or deliverance in connection with our liberation from Egypt (see Exodus 6:6–7). Also, the Children of Israel had four great merits even while in exile: (1) They did not change their Hebrew names; (2) they continued to speak their own language, Hebrew; (3) they remained highly moral; (4) they remained loyal to one another.
Wine is used because it is a symbol of joy and happiness.
Why We Recline
When drinking the four cups and eating the matzah, we lean on our left side to accentuate the fact that we are free people. In ancient times only free people had the luxury of reclining while eating.
Urchatz—Purification
We wash our hands in the usual, ritually prescribed manner as is done before a meal, but without the customary blessing.
The next step in the Seder, Karpas, requires dipping food into water, which in turn mandates, according to Jewish law, that either the food be eaten with a utensil or that one’s hands be purified by washing. On the Seder eve we choose the less common observance to arouse the child’s curiosity.
Karpas—the “Appetizer”
A small piece of onion or boiled potato is dipped into saltwater and eaten (after reciting the blessing over vegetables).
Dipping the karpas in saltwater is an act of pleasure and freedom, which further arouses the child’s curiosity.
The Hebrew word karpas, when read backwards, alludes to the backbreaking labor performed by the 600,000 Jews in Egypt. [Samech has the numerical equivalent of 60 (representing 60 times 10,000), while the last three Hebrew letters spell perech, hard work.]
The saltwater represents the tears of our ancestors in Egypt.
Yachatz—Breaking the Matzah
The middle matzah on the Seder plate is broken in two. The larger part is put aside for later use as the afikoman. This unusual action not only attracts the child’s attention once again, but also recalls G‑d’s splitting of the Sea of Reeds to allow the Children of Israel to cross on dry land. The smaller part of the middle matzah is returned to the Seder plate. This broken middle matzah symbolizes humility, and will be eaten later as the “bread of poverty.”
Maggid—the Haggadah
At this point, the poor are invited to join the Seder. The Seder tray is moved aside, a second cup of wine is poured, and the child, who by now is bursting with curiosity, asks the time-honored question: “Mah nishtanah ha-lailah hazeh mikol ha-leilot? Why is this night different from all other nights?” Why only matzah? Why the dipping? Why the bitter herbs? Why are we relaxing and leaning on cushions as if we were kings?
The child’s questioning triggers one of the most significant mitzvot of Passover, which is the highlight of the Seder ceremony: the haggadah, telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The answer includes a brief review of history, a description of the suffering imposed upon the Israelites, a listing of the plagues visited on the Egyptians, and an enumeration of the miracles performed by the Almighty for the redemption of His people.
Rochtzah—Washing Before the Meal
After concluding the first part of the haggadah by drinking the second cup of wine (while reclining), the hands are washed again, this time with the customary blessings, as is usually done before eating bread.
Motzi Matzah—We Eat the Matzah
Taking hold of the three matzot (with the broken one between the two whole ones), recite the customary blessing before bread. Then, letting the bottom matzah drop back onto the plate, and holding the top whole matzah with the broken middle one, recite the special blessing “al achilat matzah.” Then break at least one ounce from each matzah and eat the two pieces together, while reclining.
Maror—the Bitter Herbs
Take at least one ounce of the bitter herbs. Dip it in the charoset, then shake the latter off and make the blessing “al achilat maror.” Eat without reclining.
Korech—the Sandwich
In keeping with the custom instituted by Hillel, the great Talmudic sage, a sandwich of matzah and maror is eaten. Break off two pieces of the bottom matzah, which together should be at least one ounce. Again, take at least one ounce of bitter herbs and dip them in the charoset. Place this between the two pieces of matzah, say “kein asah Hillel . . .” and eat the sandwich while reclining.
Shulchan Orech—the Feast
The holiday meal is now served. We begin the meal with a hard-boiled egg dipped into saltwater.
A rabbi was once asked why Jews eat eggs on Passover. “Because eggs symbolize the Jew,” the rabbi answered. “The more an egg is burned or boiled, the harder it gets.”
Note: The chicken neck is not eaten at the Seder.
Tzafun—Out of Hiding
After the meal, the half-matzah which had been “hidden,” set aside for theafikoman (“dessert”), is taken out and eaten. It symbolizes the Paschal lamb, which was eaten at the end of the meal.
Everyone should eat at least 1½ ounces of matzah, reclining, before midnight. After eating the afikoman, we do not eat or drink anything except for the two remaining cups of wine.
Berach—Blessings After the Meal
A third cup of wine is filled and Grace is recited. After the Grace we recite the blessing over wine and drink the third cup while reclining.
Now we fill the cup of Elijah and our own cups with wine. We open the door and recite the passage which is an invitation to the Prophet Elijah, the harbinger of the coming of Moshiach, our righteous Messiah.
Hallel—Songs of Praise
At this point, having recognized the Almighty and His unique guidance of the Jewish people, we go still further and sing His praises as L‑rd of the entire universe.
After reciting the Hallel, we again recite the blessing over wine and drink the fourth cup, reclining.
Nirtzah—Acceptance
Having carried out the Seder service properly, we are sure that it has been well received by the Almighty. We then say “Leshanah haba’ah bee-rushalayim—Next year in Jerusalem.”. . .

When Is the Earliest Time to Start the Seder?
I’m having lots of guests from very different backgrounds over for the Seder, and I don’t want people to have to stay out too late. by Yehuda Shurpin
I’m having lots of guests from very different backgrounds over for the Seder, and I don’t want people to have to stay out too late. I also want to make sure that my young children will take part in the Seder. What is the earliest time that I can call the Seder for?
Reply
The Torah describes how the Exodus began on the night of the 15th of Nissan. The Torah then commands us to eat the Paschal lamb, together with the matzah and maror (bitter herbs), specifically at night.1 The four cups of wine, which were instituted to correspond to the four different expressions of redemption, are also an integral part of the Passover Seder and need to be drunk at night.2
On the Seder night, the cup of wine for kiddush doubles as the first of the four cups of wine that are drunk as part of the Seder. Practically, this means that the Seder can’t start before nightfall, since the Seder begins with kiddush.3
Depending on your location and the time of year that Passover falls, nightfall can be very late (for the times in your area, click here). This poses a challenge, especially since one of the main mitzvahs of the Passover Seder is the retelling of the Exodus story to the children. I recommend having your kids take a nap during the day so that they’ll be well rested for the Seder night.
The word seder actually means “order,” and it is ideal to conduct your Seder in the proper order. If, however, you know that under no circumstances will your guests come and stay late enough into the night to recite the whole Haggadah, eat the matzah and maror, and drink the four cups at the proper times, there are other options. For example, you could have your guests come before nightfall, and then you could serve a snack (not chametz4 or matzah5), discuss the Passover story, and be ready to start the Seder and make kiddush right at nightfall. Consult with your rabbi as to some possible solutions to help insure that everyone fulfills the Passover mitzvot.
FOOTNOTES
1.See Exodus 12:8 and Numbers 9:11
2.See Terumat Hadeshen 137 and Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 472:1.
3.Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 472:1, and Magen Avraham and Taz ad loc. See also Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orach Chaim 472:2.
4.The last time for eating chametz is approximately two hours before halachic midday (click here for local times). Past this point, no chametz is eaten until after the festival.

5.Matzah is not eaten the entire day before the seder, for more on that see What We May Eat .

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The (Not) Lost Art of Storytelling
Whatever happened to articulation, detail and nuance? by Levi Avtzon
Remember the days of fresh cookies, milk and Grandma’s stories?
There are many reasons for nostalgia for the “olden days.”
One of them: We had time to relate and listen to stories. The stories were told without slideshows, blaring TV screens and cute WhatsApp videos. It was just a loving relative or family friend regaling us with tales of his or her life.
Another memory: letters. We couldn’t get away with describing our day with a smiley face with its tongue stuck out. “LOL” wasn’t a way to describe our emotional reaction to an event. We actually wrote a paragraph or two describing our feelings. If I want to get to know my parents on a deeper level, I can read their letters. If my kids will one day want to understand my story, they will have to read my WhatsApp messages and figure out my emotional world through the emoji I chose to express myself at a specific moment.
Oy vay ☹.
Whatever happened to articulation, detail and nuance?
Passover is around the bend. Eight days of stories and drama. No, the story of Exodus will not be told on the screen while we chew popcorn and sip Coke. It will be told around an elegantly laid table by beautifully dressed family members, as our children sing songs and proudly show off their knowledge of a story of slaves who were redeemed by G‑d and a courageous leader named Moses.
Grandparents, parents, children, uncles and aunts will all sit around the table and practice the lost art of storytelling and verbal expression, just as our ancestors have done for thousands of years. We will sing the same songs. We will share the same stories. We will kvetch about the same matzah. We will share hugs and laughs, we will tease and take pride in our little angels, just like millions of parents and grandparents will do all over the world and have done all throughout history.
On Seder night, we will transcend time and space. Jews of every stripe and color will unite in one song, from Kathmandu to Anchorage, from the beginning of Jewish history until today. We will touch infinity and Jewish eternity in one of our most celebrated symbols—the Passover Seder.
Enjoy the journey.

How to Be Free
The two-step process towards personal and collective liberation by Karen Wolfers-Rapaport
How to Be Free: The Two-Step Process Towards Personal and Collective Liberation by Karen Wolfers-Rapaport
The Jewish people were in Egypt for 210 years, enslaved for half that time. Their parents knew hardship, they knew hardship, their children knew hardship. It was both a personal and collective narrative that was part of the fabric of their existence.
The Jewish slaves had been constricted for so long that they were unable to conceive what it meant to be free. So they suffered in silence. They suffered in stillness. In the hush, they were mute.They suffered in silence
Like the slaves, sometimes, we may be suffering in the quiet.
Like the slaves, sometimes, we may find ourselves in voiceless, powerless, invisible stories.
Being a slave to an abusive relationship, work, desires or even our own delusions is a painful place to be. Stripped of our rights and our autonomy, we can feel a real sense of bondage, even though we may not be building pyramids in Egypt.
So how did the Jews ultimately leave captivity?
According to Rav Dov Ber Pinson, the feat of leaving Egypt involved two important steps.
The first step the slaves took was to acknowledge their conditions and cry out.
Imagine the slaves starting to question their situation: “Maybe there is another way of being; maybe there is another way to exist.”
Just the possibility of this was enough. They opened their hearts and out came a hope. They opened their mouths and out came a cry.

Edward Munch, "The Scream"
When we take that first primal step and recognize that our backdrop is not serving us, that there is something dehumanizing about our situation, that there has to be something more ... only then can we begin to release, to breathe, to cry. We open up.
The cry of the Jewish slaves pierced the atmosphere. It was a cry that was heard in the sanctum of the heavens. It was a cry that began a paradigm shift.
The second step the Jews took towards freedom—after they acknowledged, after they cried out—was to embrace and visualize a new reality.
What does embracing and visualizing a new reality look like?
It looks like the moon.The cry of the Jewish slaves pierced the atmosphere
The moon waxes and wanes. Sometimes, it’s there; sometimes, it’s not. Even when we don’t see it during its last phase, we understand that it still exists. We know that inevitably, it will renew, regenerate and glow.
The “moon reality” is a G‑dly reality. It is the world of endless possibilities—of imaginings and actualities that are beyond what we see in front of us.
The first mitzvah the Jews in Egypt were asked to perform was to sanctify the new moon. Perhaps there was something about the qualities of the moon they needed to grasp. Maybe this was their key to unlocking years of servitude. Maybe this is a key to unlocking ours.
Living in the moon reality means transcending current conditions and embracing new ones. For the slaves, visualizing being unshackled—and all that came with that freedom—was a vital step towards tapping into a new actuality.
And then came G‑d’s

outstretched arm. Leading them somewhere the slaves had never been. And the Jews trusted that it existed even though they had never experienced it.
Freedom.
Could we use this model to free ourselves of our own entrapments?
I think we can.
We may not see future potential in situations, but if we acquaint ourselves with the moon reality, we can start to understand that embedded within nature is the possibility for the miraculous, unexpected and inexplicable.
An outstretched arm awaits us. Opportunities await us. Freedom awaits us. Redemption awaits us. But we have to make an effort. We have to summon the courage to acknowledge the unacceptable conditions and visualize a new reality.
Ultimately, the slaves did leave Egypt. We, too, have that ability.
Wishing everyone a powerful and redemptive Passover!

On the Chassidic Calendar

11 Nissan: 114 Years Since the Rebbe’s Birth
Anniversary of the Rebbe’s Birth
11 Nissan 5776: Celebrating 114 years since the birth of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

On his birthday each year, the Rebberedoubled his efforts to reach out to Jews in every corner of the world.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 (Nissan 11 on the Hebrew calendar), marks 114 years since the birth of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory. In honor of this milestone, we offer the articles and videos below to provide some insight into the significance of this special day.
Throughout his lifetime, the Rebbe marked his birthday by redoubling his efforts to reach out to Jews in every corner of the world. As Passover approaches, let’s heed the Rebbe’s call to gather the entire Jewish nation at the Seder table.
May this day bring blessings to us all, and may we be reunited with the Rebbe very soon with the coming of our righteous Moshiach.

11 Nissan Gatherings
Videos of the Rebbe’s addresses to those gathered to celebrate the date of his birth with him.

11 Nissan Vignettes
Videos capturing poignant moments from 11 Nissan celebrations throughout the years.

Education & Sharing Day USA
The United States annually marks "Education and Sharing Day U.S.A." on the anniversary of the birth of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

1915: The Rebbe's Bar Mitzvah
By Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson
From the memoirs of the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson.

1962: The Rebbe's 60th
A talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe at a public gathering celebrating his sixtieth birthday. These talks explain the special significance of this age in a person's life.

1972: The Rebbe's 70th
As he approached the age when many people slow down and retire, the Rebbe redoubled his efforts and encouraged others to do the same.

11 Nissan Letters
At various points throughout the year, the Rebbe would pen letters to the Jewish public. Here are some from 11 Nissan.

11 Nissan Transcripts
The Rebbe’s 11-Nissan talks would cover a variety of issues, each approached from an empowering, uplifting and practical perspective.

11 Nissan in the News
See how communities all over the world annually mark this special day with learning, kindness, and more.Learn the significance of this day and how the Rebbe would customarily celebrate through encouraging other to do good.

13 Nissan: 150 Years
Since the Passing of the Tzemach Tzedek
A new site replete with Torah teachings, stories, music, historical essays and more surrounding this great scholar and leader of the Jewish people.

The Tzemach Tzedek
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch (1789-1866)

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866), known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," was the third Rebbe of Chabad. An outstanding Torah scholar and prolific writer, he fostered warm relations with other Torah giants of his time, and produced authoritative responsa on many areas of Jewish law. His contribution to Chassidic thought was marked by innovative contextualization and synthesis, and the melodies he composed span the spectrum of human emotion and experience. During his leadership, Chabad flourished, swelling to hundreds of thousands of chassidim.

Life and Times
Timeline
A Brief Biography
The Chabad Shtetl Schedrin
The Previous Rebbe on the Tzemach Tzedek
View All 7

Teachings
'The Pen Shall Be Your Friend'
Three Understandings of the Sefirot
The Tzemach Tzedek and the Jewish Philosophic Tradition
Selections from Derech Mitzvosecha - Volume 1
View All 10

The Rebbe Speaks
In the Midst of the Earth
Yahrzeit of the Tzemach Tzedek, Yud Gimmel Nissan, 5739 (1979)
Yartzeit of Tzemach Tzedek, Yud Gimmel Nissan, 5742 (1982)
Erev Rosh Hashanah, 5744 (1983)
View All 14

Melodies
Exuberant Song, Haunting Melody
Tzemach Tzedek's Nigun Hishtatchus (Symphony)
Tzemach Tzedek's Nigun Hishtatchus
Yemin Hashem
View All 8

Stories
Sand and Water
The Climb
A Water-Carrier Named Shmuel
Hypocrisy
View All 11
Video

The Meaning Behind the Seder Plate
A short insight to make your Passover experience more meaningful. by Michoel Gourarie

Watch (3:52)
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://embed.chabad.org/multimedia/mediaplayer/embedded/embed.js.asp?aid=3293137&width=auto&height=auto"></script><span style="clear:both;" class="lb" id="lbdiv">Visit <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish.TV</a> for more <a href="http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/default_cdo/aid/591213/jewish/Video.htm">Jewish videos</a>.</span>

Who Took the Jews Out?!
This class explores the cryptic section of the Haggadah that places great emphasis on G-d “Himself” taking us out of Egypt. by Mendel Kaplan

Watch (1:09:46)

How to Prepare Your Seder Plate Items Quickly & Easily by Miriam Szokovski
Preparing the Seder plate items can seem overwhelming, but it needn’t be.

Although there are six or seven different components, none of them are particularly complex. Here, I’ll explain what each element represents, how it’s prepared and when it’s used. For more detailed information, check out the Seder preparation section on our Passover site.

Please note: Some of the items used may vary depending on your community and family. I am going according to the Chabad custom.
Zeroa: The Shank Bone
The shank bone represents the Pascal sacrifice given in Temple times. For this, we use a chicken neck, roasted on the stove top.
Hold the chicken neck over burner with a pair of tongs, until blackened on both sides. Prepare one for each Seder plate. The shank bone is not eaten, and the same one can be used for both nights.
Beitza: The Egg
The hard-boiled egg represents the holiday offering given in Temple times.

Prepare one egg per Seder plate. You may also wish to prepare one for anyone else at the table who is not using a Seder plate.
The egg is traditionally dipped in salt water and eaten at the beginning of the meal.
To prepare: Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water reaches a rolling boil, turn the fire off and leave the eggs in the covered pot for about 12 minutes. For easier peeling, run the eggs under cold water.
Maror: The Bitter Herbs
The bitter herbs remind us of the bitter slavery and exile in Egypt.

We use freshly grated horseradish root wrapped in Romaine lettuce.
To prepare the horseradish, peel and grate the horseradish root. You can use a hand grater or a food processor. Store in a glass jar for maximum freshness.
Chazeret: The Lettuce
The lettuce symbolizes the bitter enslavement of our fathers in Egypt. The leaves of romaine lettuce are not bitter, but the stem, when left to grow in the ground, turns hard and bitter.
Likewise, when we were enslaved in Egypt, at first the deceitful approach of Pharaoh was soft and sensible, and the work was done voluntarily and even for pay. Gradually, it evolved into forced and cruel labor.

To prepare the lettuce, wash it well and check for bugs. I find the easiest way is to cut off the stem and place the leaves in a big bowl of water. Remove and check each leaf, and pat dry with a paper towel.

The lettuce and bitter herbs are used twice. After we finish the maggidportion of the Seder, when we tell most of the story of the Exodus, we wash hands and eat the matzah. Then we eat the maror (the grated horseradish wrapped in a couple of lettuce leaves), and after that, we eat the sandwich (another dose of horseradish and Romaine, this time sandwiched between matzah).
Charoset: The Paste
Charoset reminds us of the bricks and mortar the Jewish people were forced to make while enslaved in Egypt. We use it as a type of relish, into which the maror is dipped (and then shaken off).

For a basic charoset, mix together 1 finely diced apple, 1 finely diced pear, 1 cup ground walnuts and ½ cup red wine.
Check out more variations here.

Karpas: The Vegetable
The vegetable alludes to the backbreaking work the Jews did in Egypt. The letters of the Hebrew word “karpas” can be rearranged to spell “perech samech.” Perech means backbreaking labor, and same chnumerically alludes to the number of Jews enslaved in Egypt.
The vegetable is dipped in salt water and eaten at the beginning of the Seder, after saying kiddush and washing hands. The Chabad custom is to use a piece of cooked potato or a piece of raw onion, but many others use parsley, radish or celery.

Peel and cut a potato and place in a small pot with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until the potato is fork tender. For the onion, just peel and cut into chunks. Prepare enough karpas for each person at the Seder.
The Salt Water
The salt water represents the bitter tears our ancestors shed while enslaved for so many years. It is placed in a small bowl next to the Seder plate, and both the karpas (vegetable) and the egg are dipped into it.

Make the salt water by mixing 1-2 tablespoons of salt into 2 cups water.
And that’s it ... you’re done!

Here are some tips to help your Seder plate preparation go quickly and easily.
Make a list so you can cross off each item as it’s done.
If your kitchen is Passover-ready in advance, get a couple of items ready early. The shank bone can be frozen after it’s roasted, for example. And if you put the lettuce in a Ziploc bag with all of the air squeezed out, it stays fresh and crunchy for a good week. Eggs can be boiled 1-2 days before, and the salt water can be prepared at any time. It also literally takes about one minute.
Multi-task. Keep in mind that the cooking of the eggs and potato is "passive time." You can use this time to prepare other elements.
Grate the horseradish in a separate room or even outside. When it is very fresh and potent, it can make everyone’s eyes sting, just like onions. When grated, that carries through the air and is particularly strong.
The most time consuming task is probably the washing, checking and drying of the lettuce. If you have kids around, this is a good job for them.
The amount of time it takes will largely depend on how many people you are preparing for. If you have a big crowd, delegate! Ask people to chip in and hand out specific jobs.
Happy Passover!

Homemade Gefilte Fish
Learn to make it from scratch. by Miriam Szokovski
Some would say gefilte fish is the quintessential Jewish food. So, why not learn how to make it from scratch?

This recipe is relatively simple, and kosher for Passover, of course. The recipe I’m sharing yields 60 gefilte fish balls, which sounds like a lot. Okay, it is a lot. But they freeze well, and the recipe also divides in half easily, so you can make a small batch.
First you’ll need to put up a stock of water, onion, carrot, salt and sugar.

While that comes to a boil, mix the fish ball ingredients together. You’ll need ground pike and whitefish, ground onion, eggs, water, sugar and salt. The batter will not be very firm, but it will still roll into balls.

Note: Many people do not wet their matzah on Passover. That is why there is no matzah meal in this recipe. If you are making this fish during the year, or if this is not your custom, you can add some matzah meal to the batter to stiffen it up. I would estimate about half a cup, adding slowly as you go.
Bring the stock to a rolling boil. Keep it at a boil while you roll the balls and drop them in gently, a few at a time.

Tip: Wet your hands between every few fish balls to help with the rolling.
When you’ve made all the fish balls and they’re all in the pot, turn it down to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour, then remove from the fire.

Take the fish balls and carrots out of the stock and let them cool. Discard the stock. Refrigerate the fish and carrots for up to 3 days. Or freeze for later use.
Gefilte fish is traditionally served cold, with a piece of carrot on top and somechrein (beet & horseradish dip) on the side. But there’s no wrong way to eat it.

Fish Ingredients
5 lbs. ground fish (mixture of pike and whitefish)
2 medium onions, peeled and ground
2 tbsp. kosher salt
5 eggs
3 tbsp. water
1½ cups sugar
Stock Ingredients:
16 cups water
4 tsp. kosher salt
½ cup sugar
2 onions, peeled and cut into chunks
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
Directions
Put the stock ingredients into a strong pot and bring to a boil.
Mix the fish ingredients together. Roll into balls.
When the stock comes to a rolling boil, drop the balls into it gently.
When all the balls are in the pot, turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour.
Remove the fish balls and the carrots from the liquid. Refrigerate, or freeze for later use. Discard the liquid. Fish lasts about 3 days in the fridge.
Yield: 60 fish balls. Recipe can easily be divided in half for a smaller yield.

Have you ever made gefilte fish before? Are you a fan? Tell us about your first gefilte fish experience . . . And if you have an exceptional gefilte fish recipe, share that with us too!

Passover Art Gallery
Experience Passover through our collection of holiday artwork by contemporary Jewish artists
Miriam Stood From Afar by Natalia Kadish

Giclee
Miriam had such faith in Hashem! She sent the only gateway to redemption down the river to be taken by literally the daughter of the other side, Pharaoh. Yet she still had faith that G‑d would take care of her brother.
Moses at the Burning Bush by Yoram Raanan

An angel of the L-rd appeared to him [Moses] in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed. So Moses said, "Let me turn now and see this great spectacle why does the thorn bush not burn up?" (Exodus 3:2-3)
The burning bush, sometimes identified as an acacia tree covered with red flowers and fruit, creates the impression of being illuminated but not consumed. Here in the painting the bush looks like a tree of life with golden light and jewel-like colors. Actually, the burning bush is a metaphor for the tree of life and both are symbols of miraculous energy and sacred light.
Here in the painting, as the Moses approaches the bush to investigate its special lights, his figure is overshadowed by the greatness of the vision. "I must turn aside," says Moses when he sees the burning bush, humbled by the vision and aware of his smallness He is engulfed in the heat of revelation as everything around the bush glows red hot. Tradition tells us that for seven days and nights Moses pleaded with G‑d before accepting the mission to redeem the people of Israel and bring them to Sinai to receive the Torah on a mountain that was also ablaze.
The Book of Exodus by Brooke Sendele

Colored Pencils, Chalk Pastel, Ink, and Charcoal on Bristol Board
One day in class, during a critique in which I displayed a Jewish-themed drawing, my professor said to me, “I Googled ‘Jewish art,’ and most of what I saw was Holocaust-related; that seems to be the ‘thing’ for Jewish artists. Are you going to work with that theme?”
Words cannot express the extent to which that bothered me. Why should the world’s view of the Jewish people be that of a formerly oppressed nation, not a culture that is rich in beliefs, traditions and Torah values? And how come the general population has no idea what Judaism entails? Why have we become “the people who died in the Holocaust” and “the people who don’t eat bacon”? With my art, I seek to change that perception, expand people’s horizons, and create works that encapsulate the Jewish culture and religion.
Staffs and Snakes by Yoram Raanan

Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh... Aaron cast his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Pharaoh too summoned the wise men and the magicians, and the necromancers of Egypt also did likewise with their magic. Each one of them cast down his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs... (Exodus 7:10-12)
The L‑rd said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of water, and they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of Egypt...’” (Exodus 7:19)
The metaphor of staffs and snakes appears twice in this week's Torah portion and in the corresponding painting. In the background are mysterious figures suggesting Moses and Aaron conversing with Pharaoh and his magicians. Their staff transform into large snakes, painted with broad streaks of color applied by hand. They seem to be slinking on the ground. In the sky the snake/staff of Aaron rises up ready to swallow the evil snakes of Egypt.
In their encounter at the Nile, Aaron's staff stretches over the river bringing on the first of the 10 plagues. The limited palette of black, white and red suggests that the darkness of Egypt is being transformed by the light of redemption as the waters of Egypt are turned to blood.
The Exodus by Yoram Raanan

And they shall take [some] of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel…And the blood will be for you for a sign upon the houses where you will be, and I will see the blood and skip over you….
It came to pass on that very day, that the L‑rd took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their legions…this day will be for you as a memorial.(Exodus 12:7, 13, 51.)
The Jewish people begin their journey out of the darkness of Egypt at the first light of dawn. The red frame conveys the blood on their doorposts; a sign of protection from the last plague which brought death to the Egyptian firstborns. Darkness hangs above the people as the night sky is slowly transformed by daybreak. The figures seem to be moving quickly towards the light which guides them to freedom. We sense the poignancy of the moment. The Jewish people have made this journey from darkness into light over and over since this first exodus.
Cloud by Day; Fire by Night by Mordecai Colodner

Acrylic Behind Acrylic Sheet
"God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.” (Exodus 13:21)
Painted on the back of a satin finish acrylic sheet, both the cloud and the fire are infused with the spirit of G‑d, represented by the Hebrew letter “Shin” which stands for one of His sacred names.
Faith at the Sea of Reeds by Mordecai Colodner

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
When the Israelites came to the Reed Sea, G‑d required that they show their faith before the sea would split. Nacshon ben Aminadav of the Tribe of Judahwalked into the sea, deeper and deeper. When the water reached his neck, G‑d split it.
Nachshon Ben Aminadav by David Brook

This is a painting of Nachshon Ben Aminadav who walked into the sea when the Egyptians where chasing the Jews. He continued walking until the water reached his nostrils, then it parted and the nation was able to cross on dry land.
Invitation to Freedom by Randy Zucker

Digital Art
In contrast to other images of the parting of the Red Sea during the Exodus, here the viewer is not off in the distance, objectively watching people swarm across... The viewer is there, part of the first group, being asked to make the decision to cross and trust that G‑d will hold back the waters. Freedom is offered, but it is a scary unknown. One must truly abhor slavery, must truly yearn for freedom, to take that step. This piece requires a leap of faith and deep, subjective involvement, unlike many of my more passive, objective pieces. This work uses "painterly" effects to depict the almost violent power, passion and drama of the event.
Exodus by Odi Kletski

Digital
Exodus depicts the triumphant events of the splitting of the sea. The colors, movement and expression of the piece capture the emotional impact of a nation exiting slavery. Hope, passion and unity are feelings included inExodus.
The Splitting of the Sea by Natalia Kadish

The splitting of the Reed Sea as the Jews left Egypt.
Celebrating the Miracle by Ahuva Klein

The splitting of the sea and the celebratory singing which followed.
The Splitting of the Sea by Yoram Raanan

“Then the children of Israel came into the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall from their right and from their left.” (Exodus 14:22)
The painting began as a beautiful abstract landscape. Wanting to find something greater, the artist painted over the previous painting and a huge wave emerged, like a wall of water. This opened a new pathway through the sea. As a gentle light seeps in, illuminating the pathway, it parts and forms walls of water. Much depended on the artist’s willingness to reach deeper and break through the barrier of mere prettiness. The way it was painted reflects what it is. Every day is a spiritual crossing, searching for the gifts hidden within the sea. Even though the Israelites crossed the sea thousands of years ago, the parting of the sea remains a timeless metaphor for taking a leap of faith, forging forward to discover hidden treasures.
Time for Passover by Erik Kucera

Ink and Marker on Paper
This work represents the holiday and its meaning. On the bottom left you will see a representation of the afikomen, “hidden” just below the six sections of the Seder plate. The six circles are representative of the Seder plate, and foods found on the Seder plate are written in Hebrew.
In the middle is a clock of sorts. The clock shows when Passover starts—in the first month, Nissan, on the Jewish calendar, and between the third and fourth months on the Gregorian calendar.
Within the Star of David we see a depiction of the Exodus, including the pyramids and the splitting of the sea.
My intention was to depict images from the past with a modern flair, to symbolize that we should always remember the past, and always celebrate this day for generations to come.
The Passover Seder Plate by Ahuva Klein

Overflowing Blessings by Yitzchok Moully

My Cup Runneth Over” is a familiar expression quoted from Torah. And indeed it is true—at least for my life. All we need to do is look around and count our blessings, to see all the wonderful things G‑d has provided for us and the great opportunities we have. Lift your cup and raise a toast—L’chaim to G‑d.
Four Expressions of Redemption by Ahuva Klein

The four cups of wine we drink at the Seder correspond to the four expressions of redemption
Al Netilat Yadayim (Blessing Upon Washing Hands) by Brooke Sendele

Ink & Colored Pencil on Bristol Board
This piece represents the ritual hand-washing and the accompanying blessing“al netilat yadayim” I was inspired after searching for similar pieces and finding only instructional signs. Although many of them were beautiful and artsy, there was no art for art’s sake, and I saw a void to be filled. In creating this piece I aimed to fuse my modern, abstract and bright artistic style with a traditional subject matter to create a vibrant and exciting display of this importantmitzvah.
With Gratitude by Naomi Cohen

“Even if our mouths were filled with song as the sea [is filled with water], our tongue with melody as the roar of its waves, and our lips with praise as the breadth of the firmament; and our eyes were radiant like the sun and the moon, our hands spread out as the [wings of the] eagles of the sky, and our feet as swift as [those of] the deer—we would still be unable to thank You, L‑rd our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers . . .”—From the Passover Hagadah
Next Year in Jerusalem by Cindy Lutz Kornet

Acrylic on Canvas, Printed Letters
My poetic depiction of how Israel might feel includes a bold Magen David (Star of David) displayed with great pride. The painting has energy and movement; I hope you can feel it and more.
The Time for Redemption has Arrived by Hila Ben Itzhak

This is how I picture the Redemption.
Jewish News

A Millenia-Old Tradition of Pre-Passover Charity Is ThrivingMaot Chitim funds provide for those unable to pay for holiday necessities
With layoffs and other financial hardships hitting families in even the most affluent communities, special funds are raised every year for the express purpose of helping those in need with their Passover expenses. by Menachem Posner
For millenia in Jewish communities all over the world, special monies are raised for the express purpose of helping impoverished families with Passover expenses. Here, Jewish men, women and children in New York City take home packages of free matzahs.
On the outside, the C. family appears unremarkable. Both parents leave their modest townhouse to go to work every morning, while their four children head off to the local Jewish day school.
Yet behind closed doors, a very different story unfolds. The peeling paint and bare pantry tell of poverty that’s been slowly creeping up on the family of six. “I’ve always been a hard worker,” attests Mr. C., “but I took heavy losses on the market, and have been struggling to cover our debts while keeping our children in school and our family in our house.”
Understandably, Jewish holidays have become particularly challenging for the couple. “We always try to get something ‘new’ for the kids to wear from the local gemach,” an organization that gives gently-used clothing a second life, says Mrs. C., “but the real challenge is how to manage the food bills. Matzah, wine, meat, poultry—it’s just an expensive time, however you look at it.”
And each year for six years, they have received a check in their mailbox in the days before Passover, with a simple card wishing them a “Kosher and Happy Passover.”
In Jewish communities all over the world, special monies are raised for the express purpose of helping impoverished families with Passover expenses.
In ancient times, these funds would help families procure flour with which to bake their own matzah. That’s why they are generally known by the two Aramaic names of Maot Chitim (“wheat money”) or Kimcha DePischa (“Passover flour”).

Maot Chitim funds enable Chabad emissaries and charitable organizations to make sure that shmurah matzah and other staples are available to Jews everywhere, especially the needy, during Passover. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
An Ancient Charitable Custom
While the origins of this custom are shrouded in the veil of time, Rabbi Yossi bar Avun, who flourished in the Land of Israel in the fourth century, mentions this custom as a matter of fact in a statement recorded in the Jerusalem Talmud.
It is further strenghthened and codified in the writings of the Ashkenazihalachists of the Middle Ages.
By the 18th century, the practice remained common. Thus, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi writes: “It is a widespread custom amongst all of Israel that every single community places a tax upon its citizens for the purpose of [procuring] wheat for Passover to distribute to the members of their community.”
Even though the highly organized communal structure that governed Eastern European life has largely disappeared—and taxes are no longer levied—Jewish communities still raise millions of dollars every year for Passover essentials for those in the community struggling to acquire them.
“We make sure to give each person according to his needs,” says Rabbi Kushi Schusterman, executive director of Harford Chabad in suburban Bel Air, which lies northeast of Baltimore. “For some people, it’s a simple cash gift. Other times, it’s going the extra mile to make sure that people get invited to meals since they would be hurt to think of themselves as charity recipients.”
While he concedes that most people in his community are not in danger of starvation, Schusterman attests that people live month-to-month in every community, and that “there are people who need to make the difficult choice between a box of matzah and a pair of shoes.”
Like many other Chabad rabbis, Schusterman says his inspiration to raise and distribute these funds comes from the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—who would make it a point to encourage people to participate in the yearly collections.
In fact, merely weeks after he formally accepted the mantle of leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in the winter of 1951, the Rebbe actively solicited “wheat money.”
Longstanding efforts like those at Colel Chabad and Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters raise and distribute significant sums to the needy around the world prior to Passover.
In a letter to Chicago businessman Shlomo Palmer, the Rebbe asks him to continue the noble practice of collecting money, which the Rebbe would then disburse in response to the “many requests for help [that] are reaching me from the needy here, the needy in our Holy Land and in Europe.”

Fresh fruits and vegetables like these in Jerusalem are available to the poor at deep discounts, and sometimes for free, as a result of Maot Chitim donations.
Acknowledging the money sent by congregants of the Nusach Ari synagogue in Chicago, then led by Rabbi Solomon S. Hecht, the Rebbe wrote that “the beginning of the celebration of Pesach starts with the announcement: ‘Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are needy, come and celebrate Pesach.’ In other words, even before we begin our own seder, we tell all those who are needy that we will give them everything they need. Afterwards, we proceed to the seder.”
‘Educate the Children’
The Rebbe’s correspondence—with letters to children in the Chabad-run Achei Tmimin schools in Boston and Pittsburgh—reveals that his campaign also included day-school students.
“It’s the way we educate the children,” says Esther Ciment, who has led the school in Boston since 1952 with her husband, Rabbi Chaim Ciment. “Before you can celebrate your own Pesach, you need to make sure that others have been looked after as well.”
In many schools, children use creative means to raise funds. Just north of Chicago, each of the eight grades at the Cheder Lubavitch Hebrew Day School runs its own campaign. The third and fourth grades hold raffles; seventh-graders sell candle, spoon and feather sets to be used during the pre-Passover search for chametz;and the kids in second grade hold a “Tehillimathon,” whereby family and friends sponsor their recitation of Psalmson a Shabbat morning prior to Passover.
Rabbi Meir S. Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, says he has a number of community members who work closely with him, discreetly passing on information concerning families who couldn’t make ends meet.
“I grew up seeing my father sitting at the dining-room table quietly scheming about how to get money to people in an honorable manner,” he says about his Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, who led Lubavitch Chabad until his sudden passing in 2014. “Until today, all the money is raised and distributed locally. This is really an example of one community doing what it can to help our extended family—our Jewish brothers and sisters in need.”

Jerusalem Bus Bombing Injures 21, One Critically
First bus bombing in wave of attacks that began last October. by Yaakov Ort
Firefighters and rescue personnel at the scene of a bus bombing in Jerusalem that left at least 16 people injured. (Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Twenty one people were injured, one critically, when a bomb ripped through an empty Egged bus in Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood, spraying nails, bolts and shrapnel flying, and setting fire to a nearby bus.
Jerusalem District Commander Yoram HaLevy said the mayhem was caused by an explosive device placed in the rear of the bus.
Eight of the wounded were rushed to the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital, including a 28-year-old woman who was reported to be in serious condition. Three others were described in moderate condition—a 25-year-old man, a 40-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman—with four individuals lightly wounded, all in their 40s.
Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center is treating 10 of the people wounded in the attack, according to a hospital spokesman.
Of these 10, one is in critical condition with burns all over his body. According to some reports, police believe that the critically burned individual may be the terrorist. Two others at the medical center are moderately wounded; the rest lightly hurt. One of the wounded is currently undergoing surgery.
“We are still in the initial stages of the investigation,” said HaLevy. “We’re trying to find out primarily where the explosive device came from and who placed it on the bus,” he said, adding that it should not take police much longer to identify who planted it.
Professor Avraham Rivkind, head of the trauma unit at the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital, told Ynet news that some of the injuries were in line with those from past terror bombings in Jerusalem: “There are penetration wounds. We saw nails and bolts in the diagnostic images, and we removed them.”

Following the Legendary Matzah Trail Through Western Mass
A shmurah matzah route that stretches all the way to the White House. by Dovid Margolin

Rabbi Dovid Edelman handed out shmurah matzah in a good chunk of Massachusetts for six decades, a tradition now being carried on by his children, grandchildren and other Springfield-area rabbis. From left: granddaughter Bracha Kosofsky, son-in-law Rabbi Noach Kosofsky, grandson Rabbi Lavy Kosofsky and daughter Esther Kosofsky at their home in Longmeadow, Mass. (Photo: Pearl Gabel)
LONGMEADOW, Mass.—The modest Colonial’s garage doors roll up to reveal hundreds of pounds of handmade shmurah matzah stacked up in cardboard boxes. Rabbi Noach Kosofsky and his son, Rabbi Lavy Kosofsky, haul down a few of the bigger ones and transfer their contents into the trunk of their silver Hyundei Sonata.
It’s a week-and-a-half into their annual pre-Passover matzah distribution, and there are still hundreds of more Jewish people to visit on their list. The father-and-son team, along with two more rabbis at the Lubavitcher YeshivaAcademy in Longmeadow—a leafy suburb of Springfield—are continuing aPassover tradition that started more than six decades ago, when the late Rabbi Dovid Edelman first began delivering handmade shmurah matzah to his fellow Jews in Springfield and the wider Western Massachusetts area.
Over the course of the month, the Longmeadow-based rabbis will visit some 900 addresses—Jewish individuals, families and businesses—hand-delivering small boxes containing three shmurah matzahs for the seder.
Once regarded as a novelty item consumed only by the most religious of Jews, traditional handmade shmurah matzah has grown in popularity in the last half-century, and is now available in national stores such as Costco. Come Passover, which begins on the evening of Friday, April 22, the Longmeadow garage will be nearly empty. Like awareness and availability of the matzah itself, the operation has come a long way since Edelman—who passed away on Jan. 2, 2015 at the age of 90—first started the route in 1954, when he struggled to give out even 5 lbs. of the round unleavened bread.
A Custom Reinstituted
In 1950, a newly married Edelman and his wife, Leah, were sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—to helm the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy, at the time located in Springfield. Four years later, the Rebbe addressed a small crowd at his synagogue on 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, N.Y. It was a week before Passover, and the Rebbe told those gathered that since Passover was so innately connected to customs, it was time to revive an old rabbinical custom that had for whatever reason been discontinued.

Bracha Kosofsky distributed shmurah matzah with her grandfather a few years before his passing at age 90.
“There was once a custom among community rabbis to distribute shmurah matzah to their congregants before Passover,” said the Rebbe. “Although this custom may have been associated with the livelihood of those rabbis ... practically, all those who received this it had matzah of the highest grade of kosher ... I would like to say, that if I were able to, I would ask that the custom of distributing matzah be reinstituted and that rabbis distribute shmurah matzah to their congregants. This applies not only to rabbis, but to anyone in the position to give to another ... Thousands of Jews will benefit, and as a result of this they will have handmade kosher shmurah matzah.”
In Springfield, only 150 miles to the northeast but a world away from the religious cocoon of New York City, a young Rabbi Dovid Edelman answered the Rebbe’s call to action. Each year from that moment, the month before Passover became dedicated to distributing shmurah matzah to every single Jew he encountered. Edelman sought out Jewish shopkeepers in Springfield, but also Jewish lawyers in Lenox, Jewish farmers in Pittsfield, and Jewish judge in Stockbridge. In the process, with his warmth, humility, wise words and, of course, the shmurah matzah, Edelman touched thousands of Jews, children, parents and grandparents alike.
When President Barack Obama initiated and participated in the first White House seder in 2009, a tradition he has maintained throughout his presidency, a young aide from Springfield named Eric Lesser was tasked with bringingshmurah matzah. The source? Eric’s father, Dr. Martin Lesser, who had been receiving it from Edelman for years.
“His biggest joy was hearing from someone: ‘Rabbi, our family ate your matzah at our seder,’ says Cyrel Deitsch, Edelman’s daughter.
A Family Affair
With bigger and newer factories producing ever larger amounts of square, machine-made matzah, the 1950s were a time when most American Jews had hardly ever seen round, handmade shmurah matzah, let alone used it for their own Passover seder.
In those first years, “nobody recognized what it was,” remembers another of Edelman’s eight children, his eldest daughter Seema Goldstein. “My father would just explain what shmurah matzah was, how it was guarded and watched throughout the whole process, and then handmade in a bakery. After the first year, they knew exactly what to expect.”
“The first year,” adds Deitsch, “some of the older people in Springfield complained that the shmurah matzah hurt their teeth.”
Beginning a month before Passover, Rabbi Edelman the Jewish day-school principal became Rabbi Edelman the matzah distributor, a man on a singular mission. He’d drive down to Brooklyn, pick up matzah and make the trek back to Springfield. Yet he wasn’t the only one doing the work; his entire family was involved. The Edelman basement would transform into a matzah-packing factory, as the children took the matzah out of the large boxes it came in and repacked them into smaller cardboard boxes big enough to fit two or three matzahs.
“The biggest thing you could do was fold those boxes,” says Goldstein. “There was no such thing then as a small matzah box in those days, so my father would buy pizza boxes, and we had to assemble them. Of course, we also needed to cover the word ‘pizza’ with a big sticker.”

Rabbi Lavy Kosofsky, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Longmeadow, holds boxes of shmurah matzah in Hatfield, Mass. His father, Rabbi Noach Kosofsky, principal of the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy in Longmeadow, is by the car. (Photo: Pearl Gabel)
With boxes packed, the rabbi would load them into his car—described as a big boat of a Cadillac—and set off in search of recipients. When his children got older, they joined him, as did his grandchildren years later, many of them learning how to drive on Edelman’s treks.
“He was incredibly dedicated to his work, and he was a scholar, too,” says Springfield-based philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, a real estate magnate who, aside from supporting many Jewish charities, among them Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy, is the force behind PJ Library, which mails free Jewish books and music to young children in North America. “I always liked that he brought it,” he says, referring to the shmurah matzah.
“And there was always a little bit of Torah,” adds his wife, Diane Troderman. “There was always as much Torah as you wanted.”
A Special Flavor
The town of Deerfield in Massachusetts’ northern Pioneer Valley seems an unlikely place to find one of the last independent Jewish bookstores in the country. But there, in an old converted WPA-built firehouse sits Schoen Books. The books smell old and sweet, a quixotic mixture of aged Yiddishtexts, rabbinics and Kafka, much of it out-of-print, some 30,000 volumes in all. Surrounding the stacks are pieces of Jewish art, menorahs and an old synagogue chart splitting up the six orders of the Mishnah.
The store’s proprietor is Ken Schoen, a native of Queens, N.Y., who relocated to Western Massachusetts with his wife, Jane Trigere, and their family back in the early 1980s. Six years later, Schoen became a book dealer, which he calls his labor of love, opening his own store in 1990.
“Ken probably gives away more books than he sells,” laughs Trigere, an accomplished artist.
Similar to many of the other Jews living in the wider area, Schoen and his family moved to Deerfield to embrace a gentler, slower-paced mode of life. “Here, we’re surrounded by nature and valleys,” says Schoen. “We live in a village; it’s a different world.”
Still, there’s a tradeoff. “There are times we miss New York terribly, miss all of that Yiddishkeit. There is a lot of Yiddishkeit here, but there’s something about living in a large Jewish community. In some ways, my Jewish books have become my companions on this journey.”

Today, Edelman's family and colleagues continue his decades-old matzah route, here in Deerfield, Mass. (Photo: Pearl Gabel)
Into the peace and loneliness of the valley walked Rabbi Edelman, whose arrival on the doorstep of Schoen Books was a welcome surprise.
“It was a kind, gentle soul—a very happy person who showed up here,” recalls Schoen. “He rang the doorbell, kissed the mezuzah and wished us achag sameach.
“Here comes Rabbi Edelman, in his beat-up old Cadillac. The visit each year let me know that spring was in the air, and Pesach was coming. We’d talk. He’d always tell me not to worry, that we’d have parnassah [livelihood].”
Raised in a household where the family Passover seder was a firm family tradition, Schoen doesn’t remember seeing shmurah matzah growing up.
“We welcomed Rabbi Edelman’s matzah,” he says. “It gave a special flavor to the holiday.”
The area has a much larger Jewish presence today, and aside from Chabadat Amherst, which opened in 1974, there are additional Chabad centers in Northampton, Greenfield and Pittsfield. The couple’s daughter attends Chabad in Northampton, and it’s seeing their grandson Emmet grow up with shmurah matzah that gives them a special joy.
“I had this cloth container for the matzah, and it was round, but I always had square matzah,” says Trigere. “Then we started having round shmurah matzah, and my grandson looked at it and says ‘Oh, it’s the same shape!’
“Having this shmurah matzah delivered here,” she adds, “it’s a mitzvah that makes us feel connected out here in the boondocks.”
On a recent afternoon, as did his grandfather before him, the younger Kosofsky walked into Schoen Books with a box of shmurah matzah in hand. And on the nights of Passover, multiple generations of Schoens will eat the same handmade matzah their great-grandparents once did.

Rabbi Dovid Edelman first began visiting Ken Schoen (pictured on the left, with Rabbi Lavy Kosofsky) and Jane Trigere at their Jewish bookstore in Deerfield in the late 1990s. Shmurah matzah at their Passover seder is now a family tradition. (Photo: Pearl Gabel)
‘He Knew Every Tiny Town’
An area encompassing quintessential New England towns and the Berkshire Mountains, the country roads of Western Massachusetts are scenic, twisting and confusing. They weren’t for Edelman.
“It’s really unbelievable, but he knew every tiny town in Massachusetts,” says Deitsch. “Everyone was always shocked how he always knew exactly where to go.”
“In later years, as we helped him more, he’d direct me,” says Goldstein, who lives in Brooklyn and continues to distribute matzah to those on her father’s list who now live in New York. “A couple of years ago, he sent me out and he tells me, ‘Go to this lawyer, down a street, you’ll make a right.’ I’m telling you, you’d never find this house. But he’d say, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll see!’
“He knew every turn; no one came away without matzah.”

Rabbi Noach Kosofsky with Judge Frederic Rutberg. Edelman first began delivering shmurah matzah to Rutberg in 1985.
With each person he visited, Edelman would ask for more names, which is probably how he got to Michael Marcus.
Marcus was born to Holocaust survivors in a displaced persons camp in Munich, and following a childhood spent at Jewish schools in the Bronx and Manhattan, he moved up to the Berkshires. After studying Bizen pottery for four years in Japan, Marcus returned to the area and moved to the tiny hamlet of Monterey (population 961), outside of Great Barrington, where he built his 45-foot-long kiln.
“This had to have been in the early ‘90s,” says Marcus, who today owns a Japanese restaurant in Great Barrington. “He had such a gentle way of sharing what was such a great passion to him.”
Marcus laughs as he remembers detailing some of his more outlandish antics to the rabbi.
“He’d just sit there and go, ‘Aha, aha, aha.’ Never judgmental, just full of unlimited love.”
Always finding a common interest with whomever he visited, Edelman, an amateur painter himself, encouraged Marcus to continue with his pottery.
“He called me Betzalel, comparing what I did to the artistry in the Torah. He was always very enthusiastic about my work and look for a piece for his beloved wife. He always wanted me to do pottery after I stopped. He’d say, ‘When are you going to get back to your pottery? When are you going to get back to it?’”
Bizen is a type of unglazed Japanese pottery finished in a wood-fueled kiln fired days on end at an extremely high heat. As such, the pottery emerges containing traces of ash and other natural markings.
“I related to the shmurah matzah right away,” says Marcus. “On the box, you see the matzah being baked in the beautiful charcoal environment, so that was very resonant with my craft as well. I took care of every crumb of that matzah.”

Rabbi Dovid Edelman, left, was sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Springfield in 1950.
A Passover Tradition
Many on the rabbi’s route came to rely on the special matzah he’d bring, a tradition on the part of the giver and the recipient.
In 1984 Judge Fredric Rutberg, now retired from the Massachusetts bench where he served for two decades, formed a law partnership with another Jewish lawyer in Lenox. The following year, when Edelman showed up with matzah, he now had two lawyers to give to.
“What cemented our warm relationship was when one year he came with his grandson,” remembers Rutberg, who grew up in Philadelphia and moved to the Berkshires in 1972. “We were sitting in our library, as we always did, and I asked him why his box only had two matzahs when you need three for theseder plate.”
The rabbi looked over at his grandson. “This man knows,” he said, pointing at Rutberg. “Go to the car and bring more matzah.”
“Here I was, the most casually observant of Jews, questioning this Orthodox rabbi,” recalls Rutberg. “After that, I got three matzahs.”
When Rutberg became a judge, Edelman would drop the matzah off at his home. The last year of Edelman’s life, Rutberg, on his way to Florida, dropped by the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Longmeadow to pick up matzah to bring to his seder. The next year, Rutberg, by now retired, was at his desk in his office when he saw a car pull up with Edelman’s grandson in it. “It’s become a special part of my seder, and I’ve become reliant on it.”

The rabbi served first as principal and then as dean of the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy for 65 years. The educational institution relocated from Springfield to nearby Longmeadow in the late 1970s.
After Edelman’s passing a day after his 90th birthday, some did not expect to see his shmurah matzah again.
“Last year I went to a woman who lives in Longmeadow,” says Goldstein, “and she cried when I walked in. She told me that since her husband died, my father would drop by her house every once in a while just to see how she was doing, and before Pesach with the matzah. She was sure that would end and was so happy to see the matzah there again.”
“Matzah is, as the Holy Zohar explains, the food of healing and the food of faith,” said the Rebbe during his initial announcement of the matzah campaign. “Faith is the foundation of all the mitzvos and of Jewish life in general. When somebody fulfills this mitzvah [of eating matzah] in the best possible way, it enlivens their fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos for the entire year, which ensures they have a healthy year spiritually and therefore materially as well.”
These were the words that drove Rabbi Dovid Edelman to meet thousands of fellow Jews over the course of 60 years. Recognizing that the Jewish soul yearns to reconnect with its Creator, Edelman made it his mission to ensure that every Jew he came in contact with had handmade shmurah matzah at their Passover seder table. The matzah would do the rest.

Edelman was a universally respected figure in the Springfield Jewish community, described by those who knew him as “a gentle soul” and a “scholar,” whose non-judgmental approach endeared him to thousands.

Edelman began his matzah route in 1954, expanding it each year. Here, he stands with a box of matzah, circa the 1980s.

The matzah route continues to grow each year, in honor of the man who started it. (Photo: Pearl Gabel)

Brussels’ Jews to Celebrate Passover Publicly, Despite Terror Threat
Rabbis urge an increase in public seders, the sale of ‘chametz’ and all holiday activities. by Sam Sokol
Days after the March 22 terror attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300, participants gathered at a Purim Megillah reading and celebration in Brussels. Despite security concerns, the Jewish community is planning for full public activities on Passover.
The Jews of Brussels are primed to celebrate the Passover holiday with a series of public celebrations despite ongoing tensions related to recent terror attacks, according to community officials and rabbinic leaders.
Late last month, terrorists set off coordinated attacks at both Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a local metro station, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300, and many of the city’s Jews including Chabad-Lubavitch chose to mark the festive Purim holiday in a relatively subdued fashion as a sign of respect for those who lost their lives. But now that the official period of national mourning is over, Chabad representatives have stated that they do not intend to hide—either during Passover itself or during the days leading up to the festival.
Meeting with Belgian security officials on April 8, representatives of several Jewish organizations, including European Jewish Community Center, the American Jewish Committee and the European Jewish Association, expressed their concerns and formulated plans to protect their constituents in the coming days.
“After the recent attacks and as we plan for the upcoming Jewish holiday, safety is very much on our minds,” says Rabbi Michoel Rosenblum, a Chabad rabbi and director of the EU Jewish Building, who facilitated the meeting. “Unfortunately, this is the sad reality here in Brussels—every Jewish gathering requires a great deal of security planning.”
Interviewed on Wednesday, Rosenblum said that, as a matter of course, the Jewish community is always at a high level of alert, and that while the situation is certainly tense, “we have things in place for the most part” and “are taking all precautions.”
The Jewish community is “doing what we have to do,” he explained, adding that all events are protected by armed guards with “their fingers on the trigger.”
Asked about recent media reports of subdued Purim celebrations in the city, the rabbi replied that during the next two weeks, the pace of events is not only “not scaled down, but if anything, is scaled up. This is not a time to scale down in any way, shape or form. In these times, we must double our efforts.”

Rabbi Shimon and Yente Lasker, co-directors of Beth Chabad of Brussels, will host a seder as in previous years, which attracts English speakers in the city.
While there is concern, he conceded, the community is “resilient,” and so far, there is no indication that attendance at events will be any lower than during previous years.
Chabad will hold two educational “Model Matzah Bakery” workshops at local schools for some 350 children in the days leading up to the holiday, and hundreds are expected at three community seders across the city.
Rabbi Shmuel Pinson, director ofOhel Menachem with his wife, Shulamith, who serves as program director, will host a radio segment to discuss the significance of the holiday. “We are making a public seder on the first night and are expecting 100 people,” says Pinson, referring to the festive ceremony and meal celebrating the exodus from Egypt. “We encouraged more people to come, and I think we will have the same or more as other years.”
Rabbi Shimon and Yente Lasker, co-directors of Beth Chabad of Brussels, will be hosting a seder as in previous years, which attracts English speakers living in and visiting the multi-lingual Belgian city.
There will also be increased efforts to distribute handmade shmurah matzahs, he adds, calling them a protection against harm in a play on words, comparingshmurah (watched or guarded) to shmirah, the term used in many Jewish communities for voluntray neighborhood patrols.

Terrorists set off coordinated attacks at both Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a local metro station last month that resulted in death and destruction.
Outreach for ‘Chametz’ Sales
A special effort will encourage local Jews to sell their chametz, or leavened food items, which are forbidden to eat or even own during Passover. On Thursday evening, the rabbi says he will set up a table outside during the city’s “White Nights” street festival to explain the seder to revelers and discuss its importance.
“We are trying to do everything to encourage people to come back and feel comfortable,” he says, asserting that by boosting security and refusing to give in to fear, the Jewish community will strengthen its members and remind them that “G‑d is watching them, and that they should be strong and unafraid,” as that is the meaning of Passover.
“We are using the message of Passover to encourage and give the people strength,” he states.
In nearby Antwerp, preparations are ongoing for the annual Passover expo and “Model Matzah Bakery,” a popular 10-day Passover educational exhibition at Chabad-Lubavitch of Antwerp. The expo attracts more than 3,000 Jewish children, as well as adults from both the local community and neighboring cities as far off as Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Dusseldorf, Germany. Two separate seders will be hosted on the first two nights of Passover with 300 expected to attend. Some 350 pounds of matzah will also be distributed.
Rosenblum says that “as far as Pesach and matzah distribution go, we are looking forward to a busier season than usual.”

In May 2014, a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgium, killing four people.
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Missionary Renegade

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

"Please Open for Your Complete Passover Toolkit" Chabad Magazine for Tuesday, Nissan 11, 5776 · April 19, 2016

Sell Your Chametz Online

Use this online form to sell your chametz for Passover.

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