To prepare ourselves to receive the blessings of Passover, we must understand that not just the holiday of Passover, but this entire month of Nisan, the month of Passover is holy, and historically has been filled with miraculous events even beyond the Passover.  There is inherent power in the astrological understanding of this month, one of the reasons being that according to R. Joshua ben Hananiah in the Talmud (R.H. 10b), the Universe was actually created it on the first of Nisan.  It is a month of empowering both the people and the nation state of Israel. More about this month will be discussed later, but other blessings/miracles that occurred during this month include:

• The day the flood waters receded from the Earth

• God made the Covenant of Abraham, giving Israel to the Jewish people

• Jacob wrestled with an angel and his name was changed to Israel

• The Mishkan, the Holy Tabernacle was inaugurated

• In 701 BCE the Assyrian army of Sennacherib, which had threatened Jerusalem, was destroyed

• Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was born

• The ancient Hebrews, led by Joshua, crossed the Jordan River into Canaan

• Maimonides was born

• The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began

• Noah's Ark rested on Mount Ararat

• The Red Sea split

• Joshua won the Battle of Jericho

• In 1799 during his siege of Acre, Napoleon issued a proclamation to the Jews of Palestine promising the “reestablishment of ancient Jerusalem,” coupled with a plea for their support. This was the first promise by a modern government to establish a Jewish state.

• The holiday of Passover

• In modern times, the holiday of Yom HaShoah u’Gevurah was established

 

• The hunt for Chametz, before the Seder even begins

  • We are obligated to remove all chametz from our home prior to the day before Erev Pesach…this year that means by Sunday

  • If we are keeping any chametz in the home, we are to lock it up (or tape shut a pantry door) so that it is inaccessible during the holiday, and then we are to sell all of it to a non-Jewish friend of neighbor (and then purchase it back after the holiday).

  • We are to consciously leave 10 crumbs of chametz in the house

  • On the night prior to Erev Pesach, we are to “chametz hunt” by candlelight for the ten crumbs and collect them.  We are to collect them in a rag, and burn them all in the morning of Erev Pesach.

  • This is all symbolic of removing arrogance, remembering the power of the 10 plagues (and 10 commandments), and truly cleaning our souls prior to the holiday

  • This year, we need to have a specific kavannah (intention) when burning the 10 crumbs:  We need to focus on burning all of the evil of Hamas et al in the world, to create a new world of peace.

    • This is the alchemical process, also defined by Jungian psychologists known as “Calcinatio”…the refining and purification by fire.  As we burn the crumbs this year, we need to also focus on burning away the evil of Amalek, the evil of hate, and the evil of a world that wants to eliminate Israel.  Through the purification of fire (calcinatio), these evils can be transformed into the positive aspects of peace, respect, and an Israel that is in a long term state of peace and prosperity with her neighbors on all sides in the region.

• The five types of Maror, in order of preference are:

  • Lettuce, Chicory, Horseradish, Endives, Wormwood

  • The lettuce, which is least bitter, is most preferred.  Why?  Because it is tasteless, and is compared to the slavery of assimilation….we don’t even realize how bitter our lives have become as the we get used to it, and the bitterness of assimilation becomes impossible to notice

  • As we start to talk about the maror at the Seder; we need to discuss why the lettuce is the most preferred.  Let this lead then to a discussion about how the challenges we are having with Hamas/Hezbollah/Gaza started as lettuce, and have only become the most bitter since October 7.  We also need to realize that in 1964, when the concept of “Palestine” was created, we (the Jews and Israel) ignored the lies and propoganda, and let it build up over the years until this big lie has become an accepted truth.  Like the slaves of old, we let the bitterness become deeper and bigger rather than stopping it when it first started.

  • When eating the maror this year, do the following things:  Make the “Hillel Sandwich” of maror and charoset as you always do, but…  This year, put as many different types of bitter herbs as you can into that sandwich.  AND, put so much charoset in the sandwich that the sweetness overwhelms the bitter (yes, that means it will be a much bigger Hillel sandwich this year than in the past)

• We need to make sure to cover three topics during the night:

  • Pesach - Passover:  Evil passes over the Jewish people as long as they are true to their path.  This is IMPORTANT this year, as we need to remember that our biggest ally is God, and the best thing each of us Diaspora Jews do for the war effort right now is to be “Jewish”.  Take on one extra mitzvah during this war:  keeping kosher, lighting candles, lighting havdallah, wrapping tefillin, etc.  Passover teaches us that evil will ALWAYS pass over us if we are true to our path.

  • Matza – Time:  Time is precious.  If Matza is made in 17 minutes and 59 seconds, it is kosher for Passover.  One second more and it is considered Hametz and not fit for the Seder.  We need to encourage each other to act with alacrity as our ancestors did in getting out of Egypt.  When you see something that is Jew hating, anti-Israel, etc…. call it out IMMEDIATELY.  Do something to stop it immediately.  Time is of the essence…especially when we are hoping to achieve a goal of freedom or peace

  • Maror – Assimilation:  See above  The added practice above is one of the most powerful things you can do during Passover to help defeat the evil of Hamas et al.

                                                                                          

Some Insights from Hasidic Masters:

 

• “According to the Holy Kabala the 1st nite-the Matza is called “Food of FAITH”.  The 2nd nite is called “Food of Health”.  Don’t miss an ounce of the 2nd nite even if U R Alone.”  (From a text sent to Rabbi M. Barclay by R. Shlomo “Schwartzie” Schwartz on Thursday, April 21, 2016)

 

• Rebbe Nachman taught that we should be careful not to be so stringent in our practice that we become depressed rather than uplifted.  He was especially clear about this concept in Passover, where many people went so far in observing the many fine points of custom that they were actually depressed by the holiday.  (from Sichoth HaRan235)’

 

• The Chasam Sofer (18th century) made a habit of immediately drinking coffee as soon as the Seder finished.  He would then stay up with his children and students discussing and studying about Passover until sleep overwhelmed them.  Take this habit and adapt it to our own family.  Watch “Prince of Egypt” or discuss what it means to be free with your family members after the Seder…don’t let the conclusion of Chad Gadya end the evening.  Rather, let the Seder meal begin the deeper understanding of what freedom means.  This year, study the history of the region of Israel and the fallacy of Palestine after the Seder, as well as the Covenant of 1988 Charter of Hamas, so that you are aware and can intelligently convey the truth.  Here are some resources for you online:

Hamas Charter (especially Articles 7, 11, 13 show what they want and who they are):  https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

Some videos on the history of Israel, and why anti-Zionism is the 21st century manifestation of anti-Semitism:  https://youtu.be/MIoZvHU3wwg?si=u1MmxhSDC7FAUG5F

https://youtu.be/3UAcYn4uUbs?si=xQLTft9BIhhvEQJ4

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And here is a series of articles that I wrote when the war started about the historical realities of Palestine, Hamas, and why it is our spiritual obligation to destroy Hamas

 

• There are three things for which man has destructive appetites.  They are money, sex, and food…    Through the three festivals, these three appetites can be rectified.  Pesach is the rectification of money.  It is thus written “God gave people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.” (Ex. 12:36).  The Egyptians (their enemies) gave the Israelites gold and silver against their will, since they did not want it at all.  This is therefore a rectification for the appetite of money.  (Shavuot is the rectification for sex; and Succoth for food and greed.  We will study those passages more during those festivals)

 

• Some Modern Ideas for a Passover Plate

  • Orange

    • The “myth” is that a man said to Susannah Heschel (the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel z”l) that “a woman belongs on the pulpit like an orange belongs on a Seder Plate”.  As part of the feminist movement of the late 20th century, some families place an orange on the plate to symbolize that women do in fact belong on the pulpit.

  • Miriam’s Cup of Water

    • A glass or cup of water placed next to Elijah’s cup, this is to symbolize the importance of Miriam’s well, which kept the Hebrews nurtured throughout their journey in the desert.  Some people will hold it up at the beginning of the Telling of the story, when Miriam is mentioned for placing Moses in the water, with the following words:  Zot Kos Miryam, kos mayim hayim. Zeikher l’yitziat Mitztrayim, This is the cup of Miriam, the cup of living waters.  Let us remember the exodus from Egypt.

  • Ruth’s Cup

    • In the last three years, some very liberal communities have placed a cup of wine for Ruth on the table.  This is to symbolize inclusiveness, specifically for the LGBTQ community.  The challenge with this theologically is that it adds a 6th cup of wine (which takes away the entire balance of God’s name); and more importantly, that it separates and points out a distinct part of the community.  The story of Ruth is specifically and directly in opposition to this concept:  the story is about a stranger integrating into Judaism, not Judaism integrating and distinguishing the separate-ness of a “stranger”.  By making the LGBTQ community member distinct and a special observance, it actually precludes integration into Judaism…and stops the concept of Passover that “we were ALL strangers in a strange land”, and that we all come out together.

  • Other foods and customs:

    • Cucumber slices to serve as the “zeroah” or arm or God

    • Celery dipped in vinegar instead of parsley in salt water

    • Scallions to whip each other with during either the recitation of the 10 plagues or the singing of Dayenu

    • In Gibraltar, a small bit of actual brick dust is added to the charoset.  The Seder leader also runs 3 times around the table when the Haggadah says “we left Egypt in a hurry”, holding the Seder plate and hitting each person’s head lightly with it while passing by them

    • In Syria, there is the custom of putting matza in a knapsack and carrying it while the Haggadah story of exiting Egypt is told

    • In Hungary, people bring all their jewelry and put it on the Seder plate as a symbol of the gold and rings that were given to the Hebrews upon exiting Egypt

    • Hasidic Jews from the Polish town of Góra Kalwaria, known as Gerer Hasids, re-enact the crossing of the Red Sea on the seventh day of Passover by pouring water on the floor, lifting up their coats, and naming the towns that they would cross in their region of Poland. They raise a glass at each “town” and then thank God for helping them reach their destination.  This is a small adaptation of the Kabbalistic last night Seder that is done by our mystics as we embark on the journey of Counting the Omer, awakening our Sephirot, and choosing the freedom of the desert as opposed to the velvet prison of Egypt.

 

• Nissan:  The month of Passover

  • The Mazal (constellation) of the month of Nissan is telah, the lamb or kid  --- Sefer Yetzirah 5:9

    • This relates to the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac, who was born in Nissan

  • Nissan is the “Rosh HaShana for Kings” (Bavli, Tractate Rosh HaShana 3a)

  • Jeremiah said that “Israel is like scattered sheep” (Jer. 50:17), but in Nissan this metaphor is extended as an understanding that in this month, which has lambs as its mazal, the people of Israel gather together and unite in the nature of lambs. (Shem HaShmuel)

  • The month of Nissan corresponds to the letter Hey ה   From this letter is created all the open space, deep oceans, humans, and all other creatures according to Rashi Menachos 29b   It combines the letter dalet ד which is the letter of creation for this world, and yod י  which is the letter of the world to come.  Moreover, Sefer Yetzirah teaches that hey “was enthroned upon speech”, and is the month of Judah (from whom the kingship is descended)

    • This means that through a conscious telling (speech) of Passover Seder, we are able to access all of creation, and our sovereignty

 

• Shir HaShirim – The Song of Songs

  • It is customary to study the Biblical book Song of Songs during Passover.  This is the love sonnet between God and Israel, couched in the language of the love between a man and a woman.

  • The exodus is the great example of God choosing our people, and we need to individually experience God’s love for us during this holiday.

  • Take the time during or after the Seder, and/or throughout the holiday to express the different ways that God demonstrates His love for you as an individual.  List out the many ways, and emotionally experience for all the gifts you have.  Recognize that even painful experiences are also gifts from God:  without the suffering the ancient Hebrews would not have cried out for freedom…they would have simply assimilated into Egyptian society.  Really take an accounting of the many gifts from God over this past year. 

  • Then take time to review how you express and demonstrate your love for God.  Are you repaying God’s immense love for you with actions that are just as devoted to God? Look at the intimate language of Song of Songs.  Are you holding up your end of the relationship, and how can you personally be a better partner with God

 

• Nissan (From Reb Avraham Greenbaum of the Azamra Institute in Jerusalem  www.azamra.org)

• "This month will be for you the head of the months" (Exodus 12:2). Nissan, the month of redemption for the Children of Israel in all ages, is the first of the months. It is also called Aviv, Springtime, for in Israel the rains and clouds of winter are mostly gone, the hills are green and a flower, the fruit trees are in blossom, and the wheat and barley in the fields are reaching full ripeness.

• The mild sunny spring days are ideal for walks in the country to reconnect with nature after being closed up at home during the winter. Release and joy are the themes of the Pesach (Passover) festival that takes place on the night of the full moon of the month of Nissan. In preparation for the festival, Chassidim would go out into the woods and meadows for lengthy periods of prayer and meditation. Those who are unable to go out into nature before or during Pesach can experience the natural beauty of spring through the customary reading of Song of Songs after the Pesach Seder and on the Shabbat that falls during the festival (Shabbat Chol HaMoed).

• Because of the requirement for our homes to be free of all Chametz (leaven) during Pesach, people tend to be preoccupied with home cleaning in preparation for the festival. While the autumn Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur season of awe is associated with looking inside ourselves with introspection and self-examination, the spring-time pre-Pesach cleaning of our closets and drawers, houses and yards puts the focus on the outer home and surrounding environment. Pesach cleaning is a good opportunity to think carefully about our lifestyle how to bring it into greater harmony with God and nature.

 

• The Festival of Pesach (from Reb Avraham Greenbahm of the Azamra Institute in Jerusalem   www.Azamra.org)

• The seven day festival of Pesach is the first of the three annual pilgrim festivals. In Temple times Jews would flock to Jerusalem to enter the awesome, sacred courtyards of the Temple and offer the Pesach and other festival sacrifices, after which they would join with their families, friends and the poor and needy for ritual meals where they would eat of the sacrificial meat and joyously partake of Maaser Sheni, the special tithe of all the different kinds of produce of the land which they would bring to eat in Jerusalem in holiness and purity. The streets of Jerusalem were bedecked with produce and filled with excited crowds together with their sacrificial sheep, goats and cows.

• At present we can only imagine all this and think ourselves into the spirit of the festival using the Machzor, the Festival Prayer Book, with its many references to Temple practice. Thus on the afternoon of the fourteenth of Nissan, eve of the Pesach Seder Night, it is customary to recite passages about the Pesach sacrifice that was brought on that day. Reference has already been made to the connection between the paschal lamb and the Ram or Aries, the astrological sign of Nissan.

• In our time when we do not have the Pesach sacrifice, the main focus of the festival celebration is the Seder Night ritual, when we recite the Haggadah telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt, drink four cups of wine, and eat Matzah, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs (Maror). Sitting at our tables bedecked with the Pesach plate and its colorful greens, vegetables and the shankbone and egg symbolizing the Pesach sacrifices, our homes are once again a mini-Temple and our tables an altar.

• At the heart of the idea of redemption from Egypt is that of spiritual redemption from distorted, restrictive worldviews and mindsets. Egypt represents the ultimate in sophisticated city decadence and corruption, from which the Children of Israel had to escape in order to build a new way of life founded on a simple, pure truth that could be learned only amidst the stark natural grandeur of the wilderness. The Exodus teaches that God rules over everything. The Haggadah can be understood on a multitude of levels. For the ecologically-minded, the account of the ten ecological catastrophes or "Plagues" with which God smote the Egyptians should provide plentiful material for thought.

• In Temple times the sixteenth of Nissan was the time of the Omer, a national offering of a portion of the finest barley flour from the new crop specially harvested the previous evening and brought to the Temple together with special animal sacrifices. The weeks following Pesach are in Israel the time of the grain harvest, and the Omer offering was the first from the new grain. Before the sixteenth of Nissan it is not permitted to eat from the new crop, for man may only partake of the fruits of this world after first giving thanks and acknowledgment to God. The humble offering of barley (which is primarily an animal food) brings us into the harvest season with the proper attitude of respect and gratitude. According to the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 16a), Pesach is the time when God judges the world for grain, determining the success of the harvest. The Omer offering brought at this time of judgment has obvious ecological implications.

 

The Last Night of Passover – Let’s Have Another Seder!

 

• The second major climax of the Pesach celebrations comes on the seventh day of the festival, recalling the splitting of the Red Sea, which the Children of Israel crossed on dry land while the Egyptians were finally destroyed. The timely parting of the waters was one of the most striking historical exceptions to the normal workings of nature, showing that God is in total control of every part of creation, making and suspending the laws of nature at will. The Seventh day of Pesach is an appropriate time for reflection on God's control of natural processes and the concept of miracles. It is also a time for looking forward to the messianic redemption that we are now awaiting, hailing the restoration of the Holy Temple and bringing the world to be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the seas.
  The last night of Passover is the evening when our ancestors stood at the edge of the Sea of Reeds with the Egyptian army behind them.It is the time when that generation experienced the parting of the Sea and the total redemption from slavery as they entered into a wilderness of freedom.And it is an ancient custom from the mystical tradition of Judaism that we hold yet another Seder on that night so that we can carry the teachings of Passover with us.
  (Before going further, it is useful to understand the length of the Passover holiday.In Israel, it is seven days long, as commanded in the Torah.Because of potentially getting the date wrong in the Diaspora, Passover is eight days long here.Some Reform Jews choose to observe it seven days even in the Diaspora, and more observant Diaspora Jews observe eight days of Passover holiday.)
  The custom on the last night it is to be aware of the dangers of assimilation and slavery; and choose the freedom of an unknown wilderness filled with hope and opportunity.We do this by having a last night Seder, complete with the Seder plate of matza, maror, etc.However, instead of just re-telling the Magid (the part of the Seder where we tell of the plagues and exodus), we additionally talk about that evening at the edge of the Sea of Reeds.It is a time to discuss the fears we may have about the responsibilities that come with spiritual freedom.It is a transition time when we remember being slaves, and remind ourselves of what we are personally slaves to in our own lives today.And it is then an evening where we focus on how we want to live as free men and women.

                     

The Secret Number of Passover:  4+1

Questions, Cups of Wine, & Children​​​​