Passover Greetings From Jerusalem

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I would like to share a brief teaching about the seder.

Most of us are not actors or actresses.

Nevertheless, our tradition sometimes urges us to  "play a role," or to "act a part."  The goal is to develop understanding and empathy that might otherwise not be accessible to us.  The best example of this is the Passover seder.

On the night of the seder, we are called upon to act as though we ourselves came out of Egypt.  It isn’t enough merely to read the Haggadah.  It isn’t enough simply to understand intellectually what happened to other people in some distant era.  

We have to try to feel that we were liberated.  We declare that we (not “they”) were slaves, and that we (not “they”) have been freed. 

In order to say that with conviction, we have to feel it.  But how can we feel it, if we ourselves weren't really slaves, and weren't really freed?  

And so the Mishnah (the early rabbinic text that first describes how a seder should be conducted) instructs us how to prepare to “play our role.”   It tells us:  “On the afternoon of Erev Pesach (i.e., the afternoon just prior to the seder), no one should eat before it gets dark.  And even the poor shouldn’t eat before reclining.” 

Note that there are two separate conditions:  we shouldn’t eat before dark, and we shouldn’t eat before reclining. (Incidentally, it’s been my experience that, while most people are aware of the second condition, they may never have heard of the first one.)

I have studied this passage many times, but I hadn’t fully understood its subtlety until the other day, when I attended a shiur (study session) conducted by a colleague of mine, Rabbi Joel Levy, at the Conservative Yeshiva.  

Rabbi Levy pointed out an obvious fact:  most of the time, most of us are not hungry.  If anything, we struggle with overeating more than with malnutrition.  It’s an effort for us to play the role of the hungry, oppressed slave.  How then can we prepare for it?  

One simple thing we can do is to refrain from eating on the afternoon of the seder.  Now, this may seem trivial, even ridiculous:  after all, can one possibly gain empathy for hungry people simply by going without an afternoon snack?  And yet, there is something to this:  after all, the rabbis say that when we eat the matzah at the very beginning of our festive meal, we have to have an appetite.  It’s hard to act as though you have an appetite if you’re really full. And so the least we can do is to refrain from eating on the afternoon of the seder.

But some of us are, indeed, hungry.  If we don't know where our next meal is coming from, we don’t have to be told to fast on the afternoon before the seder:  we may not have any alternative. 

If we fit this description, we have a different challenge:  to experience the transition to liberation even when we don’t feel free. 

If that’s the case, then we too have some preparation to do.  We have to be sure to recline, just like everyone else, before we eat and drink. Otherwise, our reenactment will not be complete.

*     *     *     *     *

This passage from the Mishnah teaches us that, whatever our station in life, we have to stretch a bit on the eve of Pesach. We have to prepare ourselves, and then we have to be willing to act differently from the way we would ordinarily act.  The purpose is to develop understanding and empathy. For by doing things differently, deep insights may arise.

(For example, note in this photograph the power of doing things differently to concretize values.  How often do we dip our fingers into our cups at a fancy dinner?  And yet, by doing so on this night, we are reminded not to rejoice unduly at the downfall of our enemies.)

I hope  that each and every one of us will gather with family and/or friends to celebrate our people's transition to freedom.  I hope that we’ll properly prepare for our role, review the seder's "script," follow its "stage instructions," and make use of all of its "props." 

I hope that by doing so, we will develop a true commitment to learn the lessons of our history, and that this will inspire us to work for the liberation of all oppressed peoples.  May that geulah, that redemption, come soon, speedily and in our days.

From the beautiful city of Jerusalem, Elana and I want to wish all of you a healthy, happy and kosher Pesach!

!חג פסח כשר ושמח

Sincerely,

Rabbi Carl M. Perkins

P.S.  One last piece of advice: don't rush your seder.  As you can see from the following video, it is possible to fit everything into one minute -- but it just won't be the same: