Passover

The seder is a place of inclusiveness because redemption requires everyone to be involved. (Click image to read more)

This is what you should teach your inner child to say: God did this for me. (Click image to read more)

What if it is the “poorest” parts of ourselves that are the doorway to redemption? On Pesach we eat lehem oni, the bread of poverty and affliction.   On Pesach, we hold up this flat meager bread and say  — this is it.  This is the portal.     We normally honor only our “good” or rich

How much do we control our own destiny? Particularly at times of uncertainty and anxiety, we hold on very tight. We try so hard to make things just right so that all will be well for ourselves, our families, our community and the world. Purim celebrates these efforts. On Purim we say what Mordecai said

Dayenu. It would have been enough for us. It would have been enough for us if You had taken us out of Egypt but not also punished the Egyptians. It would have been enough for us if You had taken us out, but not also split the Sea for us. Dayenu. It would have been enough.

Our answer to the wise child of the Haggadah is: ayn maftirin ahar haPesach afikoman. “One adds no after-dinner revelry after eating the Passover sacrifice.” Normally, after the meal, we might have another mini dessert party. But not tonight. The mitzvah is to end with the Passover lamb. [In our seders today, of course, since we

The Sefat Emet explains that when we say that matzah is lehem oni, poor person’s bread, what we mean is that matzah is the very core of bread, the bare bones dough; spiritually, it represents the essence of our inner selves, our most basic inner divine point. On Pesach we peel away all the extra layers

Pesach is a time to tell the story to our children. It is a time to speak. But perhaps it is also a time to listen. At the beginning of Magid, we are told a story about 5 rabbis who held a Seder together. What do we hear of their Seder proceedings? Only one teaching: