SAN DIEGO — Tonight, we will begin celebrating Passover. Many of us will have the opportunity to sit around a Seder table with family and friends, sharing a festive meal, while we tell the story of the ancient Israelites’ journey from servitude towards redemption. It is a dramatic story. There are heroes, and villains, there is murder and suspense, and just when we think all hope is lost, divine intervention paves a path towards freedom.
It is a story for the ages, and over the course of the holiday, we will tell it in many different ways. We will use symbolic food, songs, questions, conversations, and ancient traditions to tell it. Recognizing that we all tell the story in different ways, please join us at Tifereth Israel Synagogue this Shabbat morning. Everyone will be given the opportunity to share some of the unique ways that the story was told at their first night’s Passover Seder, inspiring new ways to share the Passover story during the second night Seder as well.
When we sit down at the Seder table, we will say “BeChol Dor VaDor ChaYav Adam Lirot Et Atzmo KeIlu Who Yatzah MiMitzrayim” that “every generation needs to see themselves as if we were slaves in Egypt.” We recognize that we have a lot to be thankful for. We live in a society where as Jews, we have more freedom than we have ever had at any point in history. But we also know we cannot take that freedom for granted. Not only do we live in a world where there are many marginalized people in search of their own modern day miracles and exodus, we also recognize that our freedom is a gift. If we do not continue to talk about it and share it with others, if we do not continue to pursue it, and foster it, it is a gift that could get lost, as we try and pass it down from one generation to the next.
Which is why it is my hope and prayer for all of us, as we prepare to celebrate Passover, the holiday of our freedom, that we can not only appreciate the gift of our freedom, but ensure that we continue to share that gift with the world around us and for generations to come so that the bells of freedom will always ring.
Wishing you and your families a meaningful and festive Passover.
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Rabbi Dorsch is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted via joshua.dorsh@sdjewishworld.com
