By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
Pesach went out last night.
I don’t want to say Pesach ‘ended’.
Since I was a little child the phrase at the end of my parents black and white wedding movie has been embedded in my subconscious.
This is not the end. This is just the beginning.
Indeed, my parents may they be blessed, concluded their wedding party celebration at the end of that movie, but it was just the beginning of their future blessed lives together. I know, as I was blessed to come onto the scene as part of that new beginning thank G-d.
Pesach doesn’t end.
Click here for a short video on this topic.
After Pesach we have a new beginning, though.
When a Jewish person reenters into the ‘mundane world’ after being elevated to inner freedom after the eight day ‘festival of liberation’, it is not ‘back to square one’.
We don’t land back down at the same height as before we entered Pesach.
Rather, we BEGIN AGAIN.
From a new starting altitude.
Pesach leaving and ‘real life’ starting, provides an opportunity for a renewed liberational beginning, from a higher and more advanced starting point.
As Shluchim of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we were blessed at Chabad of Thailand to host nearly 9,500 guests at Seder tables throughout the country. (See below note). Numbers that are inspiring and even larger than our pre-Covid Seders.
Mentioning Covid…
This is indeed a moment to pause, reflect and sing our thanks and praise to the Almighty for having restored the equilibrium of the ‘microbe’ and ‘virus’ world of germs so that the trillions of trillions of cells that are all around us and inside of us are functioning seamlessly and healthily.
The ability to congregate in large groups and remain healthy is something we no longer take for granted as it stands in sharp contrast to the days of the Covid that kept us all isolated for so long. As the pandemic roared through humanity taking an all too precious toll in terms of human life and debilitating illness.
Thank you Hashem for every single breath.
Thank you Hashem for creating and guiding with Divine Providence the peaceful interaction between all of the myriads and multitudes of microbes.
The large numbers create a ‘buzz’ and an atmosphere that large crowds engender. An uplifting and euphoric feeling of ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ pride and joy in being part of Hashems special nation of Israel.
The feedback from individuals about their experiences is inspiring to no end.
Let me share two of the many anecdotes I heard over Pesach from participants at our Pesach celebrations.
A Jew, who just a few years ago didn’t know much more about Passover than the ‘matzah ball’ in the chicken soup tradition, confided to me that they had kept a kosher for Pesach diet the entire eight days of Pesach this year.
At the beginning of Pesach it is daunting to think that you cannot eat your favorite grains for eight days.
However by the end of Pesach, once successfully refraining from those prohibited foods, it is liberating to see how those things you thought you can’t do without, do not hold you hostage and do not define your life.
It may not be easy to change one’s diet for eight days, but once you have successfully done it, you realize that G-d gives you the ability to make decisions about what you will bring into your body. Regardless of your natural inclinations and cravings.
The truly liberational part of this is that when you plan your diet based on the instructions of a ‘Higher Authority’, your entire eating becomes G-dly.
Certainly, this is an ‘aha moment’ that should bring a person to a more mindful place in terms of what they ‘want to eat’ vs what they ‘ought to eat’.
This joke says it well.
A guy comes to the bakery eyeing all the calorie laden things.
The salesperson asks what would you like...
‘I would like a cheesecake and some cream puffs’, responds the customer, ‘but I will take a half loaf of wholewheat bread’.
For a Jew it is critical to eat what is healthy for body and healthy for soul.
After Pesach one can reemerge into ‘chametz’ eating with the knowledge that they can control their intake. It is within their power to choose what they put into their bodies rather than blindly following their palates and appetites.
Here are a few words from one of the participants at Phuket’s ‘supersize’ Seder.
‘My experience at the seder evening in Phuket was very emotional and meaningful. To see so many different kinds of Jewish people sitting together around the Seder table, singing, eating matzahs and celebrating our exodus from Egypt. In Israel, just a few weeks ago, our family was in the streets of Tel Aviv demonstrating, yet here we are in Phuket sitting around the same tables with those whom we disagree politically. Here we feel the unity of our nation. This is something unique that Chabad has contributed to our holiday.’
Pesach may be over, but certainly that feeling of Jewish unity, that transcends our differences and arguments should remain with us and be the starting point for reengaging with each other in a loving and respectful manner.
Lets run with the unity thing. Its our biggest, sturdiest, and most powerful weapon that we have at our disposal. It is what injects the Divine blessing into all of the intense and heroic military efforts of our courageous soldiers in the Holy Land for which we are all praying so hard.
May Hashem bless our people with peace, from the inside, and from the outside.
My friend, during this special time period immediately following Pesach, gift yourself a few minutes of meditational time to capture at least one ‘Pesach moment’ that you can incorporate into your life as you reenter the world invigorated by the Pesach spirit.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor