By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. in El Cajon, California
A good, peaceful week, a sweet and healthy week, and a zissen Pesach to all!
As the first stars appear and Shabbat takes leave, we step together into a week unlike any other, the week that carries us to the shores of the sea, to the moment our people first breathed the air of freedom.
This week, you won’t find my weekly D’var Torah in your inbox. Not because the Torah has gone quiet, she never does, but because Pesach itself is the D’var Torah. Every element on our Seder plate speaks. Every drop of wine we spill teaches us something. The matzah in our hands, the bitter herbs on our tongues, the salt water that tastes like memory, these are not illustrations of the story. They are the story, and we are invited to step inside it once more.
So this week, rather than reading words about redemption, we are called to live them, to sit at the table, to ask questions, to sing until our voices give out, to taste both the bitterness and the sweetness without flinching from either. We are given the opportunity to flourish knowing miracles that we don’t always see will take place, and to grow in our trust in Hashem’s timing and path. What a gift this holiday offers us.
My D’var Torah will return after the Chag, IY”H, refreshed and renewed, much like us.
Until then: clean out the chametz from your home and from your heart. Make room. Something new is trying to get in.
Chag Pesach Sameach. May your Passover be joyful, and full of meaning.
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun