It is difficult to orchestrate a seder. It requires not only attention to cleaning one’s home, selling one’s chametz, preparing the seder plate and providing guests with a festive meal, but time spent in figuring out how one will impart the important learnings found in the haggadah. A Pesach seder is so much more than just a social get-together. Every year, it is important to figure out how we can make “the old new and the new holy.” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook)
The haggadah in reality is a teacher’s manual. It is a basis for knowing what important learnings are to be taught, but it is up to the leader to figure out how best to insure that all those invited to sit around the table will leave with the feeling that the lesson they learned well was also enjoyed.
Some might wonder why it is even important to continue to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt each year. Afterall, it is the same story, and there are no changes to it. Some might wonder why we don’t just cut to the chase, and eat the meal, shortening the story. Some might wonder whether or not the story happened at all.
Why continue to tell the story? A simple answer, because we are told that we must tell it to our children. It is a springboard for reliving the values which shape our lives as Jews. It allows us to transmit the message about who we are and what we stand for.
Why not just shorten the story and get to the meal as the focal point? Have you ever had a very important event in which you were participating that needed your focus? Perhaps it was running a marathon, having a job interview, burying a loved one, or getting married. Did you notice that you didn’t really feel like eating much before the “BIG” event? It wasn’t until you had completed your task that you felt like you could actually sit down to a leisurely meal. The same is true for imparting the story of the Exodus. (based on an AISH HaTorah video)
How do we know this story even happened? The further we are removed from the experience of the Exodus, the more doubts some might have. Isn’t the same true for the Holocaust? What will the world think in 1000 years, 2000 years, or 3000 years about the fact that the Nazis tried to systematically destroy us? Will the story still be told? Will the world believe that there were survivors who told us their stories of horror and survival? If there are Holocaust deniers now, will their doubts become truth? The way to insure that our important stories are shared is for every generation to pass it on to their children as part of our collective family story. The Pesach story has been shared for 3500 years in the same manner. It is one of the most important events that has shaped the Jewish people.
Each year it amazes me the parallels that one can draw from the story of the Exodus to one’s own life. Six years ago, I used the seder to talk about coming out of the narrow straights of Mitzrayim and its relationship to childbirth (I guess that’s because Abby was about ready to give birth at that time). Yet there are other parallels which are easily made. The story allows us to acknowledge that each of us is entrapped in patterns of behavior or in emotions that enslave us. We may often cease to flourish or grow, remaining stagnant, afraid to extricate ourselves from our suffering. It is only when we use our suffering to act as a springboard for action or when we actually cry out for help that constructive change can take place. Of course the story of Pesach also reminds us that there is a power in the Universe that can aid us on our journey. That power can be tapped into by listening to the “still small voice” within one’s self, or by tapping into the wisdom found in our holy texts. The Exodus story affirms that there can be transformations both for a nation as well as for an individual. By tapping into our memories, both collective and personal, we can pass the torch onto the future generations sitting at our tables.
I hope your sedarim this year, helped make the old new and the new holy. And I hope that your future sedarim, will leave you with memories that you will want to impart to those who will one day organize and plan their own sedarim.
Shabbat Shalom.
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