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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pesah Message 2020

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By: Rabbi Elie Abadie, M.D.ByB

“בכל דור ודור חייב אדם להראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצריים”

“In every generation one must see and demonstrates himself as though he left Egypt”.

The entire night of the Pesah Seder and when we read the Haggadah, we act in a way through different customs and actions, to demonstrate that indeed we feel as though we, ourselves, have left Egypt. In this way, we can feel, and we can and educate our children and all those accompanying us during the Seder, to experience, albeit, very briefly and in a very small magnitude, the servitude that our forefathers experienced and the freedom, that they eventually achieved.

Recently I was invited by the American Jewish Congress to speak at a function in Westchester where I was asked to recount the details of my family history in the Middle East. During my talk, I described my parent’s exodus from Syria before I was born. Having been driven out by the Arab government and population after the establishment of the State of Israel, my mother swore never to return. She had vividly described to me the burning of the Synagogue next door by the Arab mob that was fast approaching my parent’s home, and the pillaging of Jewish shops and the destruction of the Jewish neighborhood. My parents and older siblings were able to flee, and made their way to Lebanon, which eventually became my birthplace.

I remember a pleasant childhood in Lebanon, however when I was a boy of about 10 years old the feeling of uneasiness living as a Jew in a fast becoming Moslem country began to reappear. Many times our attempts to leave Lebanon were futile.

As refugees, we could not leave unless a different country would accept us. Permission from the authorities was not granted. Few years later, I remember my family receiving a telegram, Ereb Pesah, with permission to exit Lebanon, and to start a new life in Mexico. As my memory was jarred, I realized that I felt like my brethren who many generations earlier were imprisoned, enslaved and later emancipated from a life that lacked freedom in Egypt. The fact that the good news coincided with Pesah, might have been coincidental, but in actuality that was the most joyous Pesah I could remember. As my family chanted from the Haggada we all felt that duality of existence; slavery and imprisonment on the one hand, and freedom and liberty on the other. I believe that we were indeed experiencing and reliving the injunction of בכל דור ודור–In every generation… in both of its variations; as a persecuted nation and as people who imagine and demonstrate themselves as though they are being liberated from Egypt.

That Seder night in 1971, during the recitation of the Misharotam, we were asked the traditional “Mnen Jeyeh – where are you coming from”, instead of answering the traditional “MiMissrayim”, we answered “Min Beirut – from Beirut”, and when we were asked “la’when rayeh – where are you going to”, instead of answering “La Yerushalyim – to Jerusalem”, we answered “La Mexico – to Mexico. That’s how personal that Pesah Seder night was for my family.

Today in the United States we live a life of freedom and liberty. Our children are thankfully removed from the hardships that faced their grandparents, who were living as Jews in a hostile world. Although, we cherish our freedom and do not wish to return to a life of hardship, we must always remind ourselves of a life without freedom. We can never become complacent and take our freedom and status for granted. Many of our elders remember a world without a Jewish state, a life filled with insecurity, and instability, no different than our forefathers in Egypt. In order to appreciate what G-d has bestowed upon us, we must continue to acknowledge that freedom should never be taken for granted, and that we must be diligent to maintain it always.

This year, is different from previous years, and we may need to chant מה נשתנתה השנה הזאת מכל השנים, why is this year different than other years”?

Yes, our freedom, has been diminished, as most of us around the world have been confined in our homes due to the Corona Virus Pandemic. Many of us will be celebrating Pesah alone; our grandparents alone, our children alone, our singles alone. No large Sedarim, no sharing and exchanging Hidushim, explanations and interpretations, only with those that are around our table. And this year when we recite in the Haggadah, בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו והקב”ה מצילינו” מידם – In every generation they stand against us to annihilate us, and The Holy One, Gd will save us”, will have a different significance. This year it’s the COVID 19 pandemic that is attempting to annihilate us, but this year and this enemy, we share that fate with the rest of the world. The end of the statement however, is still true and the same, והקב”ה מצילינו מידם–The Holy One Gd, will save us “ . Hopefully soon, we’ll see the end of this pandemic.

As Pesah approaches I would like each of us to be thankful for all that we have, and to appreciate the freedom that our forefathers fought so hard to attain and transmit to us. It is incumbent upon us to cherish that freedom and to secure it for our children and the generations to come.

Tizku L’Shanim Rabbot and Hag Sameah.

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