The Meaning of Pesach

This Passover at the opening of our Sedarim we will be reciting the following:

This is the bread of poverty that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is famished should come and eat, anyone who is in need should come and partake of the Pesach sacrifice. Now we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves, next year we will be free people.

There are two different expressions here. For those who are hungry, we say, “kol d’khfin” — All who are hungry come eat the bread of poverty. For those who have food but don’t have the means to observe the rituals of Passover eve, we say, “kol d’tzrikh”— All who are in need come celebrate Passover.

The memory of where we came from is one of the main recurrent themes of Passover. We invite the needy to come and eat with us. The main purpose of Pesach is to pass on the story to our children — “You shall tell your child.” Teaching our children our “Master Story” is important because our Judaism stems out from this story. Feeding the hungry is not only a mitzvah during Passover but all year round. Telling is only one way to teach. Another way is by doing.

Last February 4th, we participated in the Midnight Run, like we have been doing for years. Midnight Run is a volunteer organization dedicated to finding common ground between the housed and the homeless. It coordinates over 1,000 relief missions per year, in which volunteers from churches, synagogues, schools, and other civic groups distribute food, clothing, blankets and personal care items to the homeless poor on the streets of New York City. The late-night relief efforts create a forum for trust, sharing, understanding, and affection. That human exchange, rather than the exchange of goods, is the essence of the Midnight Run mission.

I feel proud of our USYers who together with some adult volunteers, fulfilled this mitzvah in the middle of the night, just like the story of the Exodus, of feeding and clothing those less fortunate.

Being part of this year’s Midnight Run was such a privilege. I witnessed how our former b’nei mitzvah students were highly motivated and eager to interact with the people we met in New York City. They were enacting what the opening line of the Haggadah is reminding us: to make sure that those who are hungry have something to eat.

The commentary “Pe Echad” says regarding this declaration, that when man accepts the commandment that he must help the poor, a gate of mercy is opened in heaven to pour out a blessing for him before he gives.

May heaven pour out abundant blessings to those who fulfil this mitzvah, this Passover, and the rest of the year. May we be able to contemplate with gratitude what we have and to continue acting as agents of the divine, like our own teenagers did last February. May we be able to take advantage of this teaching as a way of making this celebration relevant for all the generations.

Sincerely,

Cantor Luis Cattan

Cantor Luis Cattan

Richard M. Kesselman

Certified Public Accountant

19 Bradley Street Westport, CT 06880

203-226-5970 yourtaxman@aol.com