I am ‘high’.
I mean to say that I am uplifted from the eight days of Pesach.
So many moments of Yiddishkeit and Jewish camaraderie.
The Passover Seders were uplifting, rejuvenating (read reJEWvenating) and inspiring.
The joint Torah study and praying was meaningfully uplifting. The festive Passover holiday meals were delicious and joyous.
And now it is a post Pesach ‘regular’ Friday.
No 10am holiday prayers today. Back to 7:30 am weekday prayer schedule. After prayer and a Torah class I am back at the office. Phones are ringing. Secretaries are typing. The bank needs to be attended to. Back to the familiar hecticness of coordinating the multiple aspects of Jewish life in Thailand.
I don’t want to come down from my ‘high’.
I am sure you join me in this sentiment.
Here is the good news. We don’t have to – actually we shouldn’t - climb down from the heights.
Pesach doesn’t really end.
The experience of liberation is one that we take with us.
Here are two examples of implementable Pesach moment that you should take with you.
Something doesn’t go your way. You are about to get into a funk.
Anger is welling up.
An inner voice reminds you that anger never gets you anywhere positive, but you shush up that voice and feel you are enslaved to your nature.
Think Pesach.
Liberation.
First of all, pause. Take a deep breath. You are not enslaved to your natural reactions.
Being liberated means that you can choose in what state of mind you wish to be.
This next point I am about to make is of critical importance during these times of upheavals in the world.
Particularly as I am referring to our reactions to the ubiquitous anti-semitism that has reared its ugly poisonous head from all sides of the world.
Our enemies would like us to focus on fear. They would like to see unhappy fearful Jews who curtail their involvement in active Jewish life.
If you read all the reports from around the world that describe incidents of Jew hatred it is easy to fall into despair and panic.
Pesach empowers us to be liberated.
It is our choice about what we focus on.
We ought to focus on the incredible gift of being a Jew.
Hashem extracted us – an entire nation – from slavery – to liberation.
That was just the first part of the Supernal plan.
From Egypt we embarked on our seven-week journey to Mount Sinai.
It was there that Hashem gave us our title as his chosen nation. After we stated our complete acceptance of Hashem’s word, He gave us the most precious otherworldly G-dly gift. A gift beyond human or even angelic imagination.
G-d gave us His Torah.
His most precious ‘thing’ given to His most precious people.
You and I are the recipients of this pedigree of being the nation that G-d placed His holy name upon.
Think along the lines of ‘purveyors’ to royal courts. Having the royal emblem on a company product picks up the prestige and honor of the company.
We are the people whom G-d places his holy name upon.
The only way we have survived for more than three thousand years when so many other nations have faded and disappeared as independent nations, is by G-d’s miracles.
For reasons known only to Him, Hashem chose to take us through the harrowing and challenging roller coaster of exile and persecution and performs miracles of all types, shapes and sizes to save us, time and time again.
When you make that switch in your mind to focus on the fact that we belong to a nation who G-d constantly protects with miracles you breathe more calmly.
You and I are children of the illustrious Avraham, Yitschak and Yaakov. Hashems special ‘forces’ whom He redeemed from Egypt with a 'mighty hand and an outstretched arm’. A people who Hashem continues to shepherd and protect, nurture and love.
That is a reason to rejoice. To sing and to dance.
Even more important than your own rejoicing about your Judaism is educating your children, students and those you have an influence on to also rejoice and relish their heritage.
Over this Pesach I heard from various people about the special and joyous Jewish moments that they experienced as children. It is critical that we transmit the beauty and inspiration of Judaism, community and family in a joyous way.
This means making it fun for the children. Adapting the methods of injecting joy and enjoyment to be age-appropriate. Don’t expect your little kids to get excited about a deep spiritual epiphany that you have had as an adult. On the other hand, as a mature thinking adult, don’t get stuck at having a relationship with G-d only about the Jewish culinary traditions. Latkes are sufganiyot are nice and bring back warm memories but as a sophisticated adult you could be engaging with the beatify and depth of the Torah.
Jump into a deeper Jewish experience. Study something meaningful from the Torah and converse daily with G-d in prayer.
This is liberation.
Whatever may be going on outside in the world, you and I have the choice to create our own liberated space in our minds and hearts. This will spill over into our homes and communities.
So, as you and I emerge from the heights and giddiness of eight days of Pesach, let us reengage with the nitty gritty of everyday life in a challenged world, with a new energy and inspiration.
To refine, elevate and change the world by living in a more elevated space.
As we get closer to the coming of Mashiach the Rebbe encouraged us to learn more about this topic. Moreover, we can try living in a mindset reminiscent of the changes that the world will undergo in its redeemed state, after Mashiach’s coming.
Mashiach will usher in a new world order of peace and harmony. There will be no jealousy, no unfair competition. Good things will be readily available to all, and we won’t live with a scarcity mindset that causes us to hoard,
When Mashiach comes G-d’s presence will be openly manifest so that we will desire to do what is right rather than what is convenient. Our choices will be obvious. Humanity at large will do what is G-d centered not what is ‘me’ centered.
Doing the right thing will come naturally. Just as one doesn’t put their finger into fire as they don’t want to get burned, we will all naturally do what G-d has prescribed as it will be a no-brainer.
Sounds utopic?
It is.
Sounds challenging.
It is.
Enjoy the challenge while we still have it.
Ironically, the one thing we will wistfully and nostalgically remember after Mashiach comes is the great challenge of doing the right thing even when it is difficult.
Pesach, in which we remember our first liberation through Moshe and yearn for our final liberation with Mashiach, empowers us to live a liberated and Mashiach oriented way of life.
It’s a two-pronged personal exercise.
On the one hand we have our personal Egypt to struggle with, overcome, and exit from.
On the other hand, we can uplift, develop and evolve into living life in a transformed mode. We can choose to live in an uplifted and inspirational mindset of wealth and abundance that allows us to be kind, giving and sharing.
In reality we are still in deeply uncertain times.
And openly miraculous times.
Simultaneously.
Our minds and hearts were focused on Israel where the barrage of rockets and missiles was unabating during Pesach. Even while at the same time we recognize the incredible miracles that are happening in Israel all the time.
Impossibly exhausting for those going through the unimaginable reality of missiles being shot incessantly into populated civilian areas.
Impossible as well not to see the miracles that G-d is performing as time and time again near calamities are averted.
We seem to be a nation that is called upon to live with competing emotions.
On the one hand we are acutely aware that we are a nation that faces enemies who wish to annihilate us in every generation. The names and characters change but their agenda of destruction is the same.
On the other hand we have Hashem’s promise to us that keeps us enduring, resilient and thriving.
May Hashem give us the ability to have strong faith and continue to follow G-d with love and joy till He takes us out of this state of exile to bring us Mashiach and the ultimate and consummate redemption.
After which there will be no further exile.
No suffering. No war. No jealously.
Eternal peace, harmony, blissful connection to G-d.
We can’t wait!
We want Mashiach NOW.
Rabbi Yosef Kantor