What's Nu? B'Nai Abraham Chabad

‫ב׳׳ה‬

what's nu?

SPRING 2020 / PASSOVER 5780

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VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 2

A LITTLE NOSH FOR THE SOUL

ECIAL

N

S

DIC I S AS CH ADER RE

EDITIO

HOW TO PASSOVER

BY YOURSELF

APRIL 8-16

UNSTUCK & UNLEASHED PASSOVER INSPIRATION

THE PHILOSOPHY THAT CHANGED THE WORLD FULL PASSOVER GUIDE INSIDE

THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB

THE DEEPER MEANING OF PASSOVER

{FROM THE RABBI’S DESK} Dear Friends,

I learned a timely Pesach lesson from the coronavirus experience that I’d like to share with you.

The first mitzvah given to the Jewish people before they even left Egypt was to sanctify the new moon and keep a calendar. In the words of the Torah (Exodus 12:2) "This month (Nissan) shall be for you the beginning of the months."

Until this point in history, Tishrei, the month of creation when we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, was the first month of the year. Thereafter, although YEARS continued to be counted from Tishrei, MONTHS would be counted from Nissan.

DEDICATED TO THE LOVE AND INSPIRATION OF THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE

We were about to experience the dramatic Exodus from Egypt when our ancestors, an entire nation of slaves, would be released from bondage under the world’s superpower ruled by the mighty Pharaoh. This liberation would set the tone for our people’s future survival throughout history, where we would not be bound to the laws of nature. The name Nissan means miracle and so, most appropriately, the “miracle-month” became the first and primary month of the new Jewish calendar.

But why was this seemingly “technical” commandment so important that counting months by the lunar cycle was the very first Mitzvah we received as a people?

A fascinating insight was taught to us by Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno, the 16th century Italian rabbi, Biblical commentator, philosopher and physician.

Dedicated in honor of

MICHAEL HOREN by his friends Howard Jonas, Golan Ben-Oni, & Dr. Judah Schorr

WHAT’S NU? is published by B’nai Abraham Chabad 527 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 (215)238-2100 www.phillyshul.com Spring 2020, Volume 4, Issue 2 Printed 4 times yearly Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall.

EDITOR: Rabbi Shmuel Marcus DESIGN: Carasmatic Design

Commenting on this Mitzvah, he says that now, G-d is telling the Jewish nation, “these will become YOUR months – you will become masters of your own time.”

During the years of Egyptian bondage, you were slaves and your time was not your own. But you are about to taste real freedom.

This is when our true beginning – freedom of choice – actually started. Freedom of choice is directly related to Mitzvahs. When we do a Mitzvah, it’s because we CHOOSE to do so. This is why there is a concept of reward for when we choose correctly to follow the Divine instructions.

As we prepare for Pesach 2020, we find ourselves quarantined inside our homes.

Although we are not enslaved in actual bondage, we can relate to the notion of losing mastery over our time and our calendars. We are used to being able to choose how to fill our schedules of the days, weeks and months ahead. We plan how to use our personal time slots in ways that we feel are most productive. Each of us has been forced to adjust those plans as we live through a global crisis that is beyond our control. Like our ancestors in Egypt, we realize that we are no longer masters of our own time and calendars.

As we sit at our seder tables this year, it will likely be a different kind of seder than the one we had planned and envisioned. We will ask G-d to liberate us and allow us to once again be masters of our own time and calendars, as a sign of true freedom. But let’s not settle for simply going to back to our routines. Let’s ask G-d to bring about wonders and miracles this Nissan similar to the ones He showed our ancestors in Egypt. Let us pray for a world that is transformed into a place of healing, peace, freedom and redemption with the arrival of Moshiach, our righteous redeemer.

Leah and our children join me in wishing you and your loved ones a joyous, kosher and meaningful holiday filled with overflowing blessings of health and happiness!

A Zees’n Pesach!

Rabbi Yochonon Goldman

COVER ARTWORK: Yitzchok Moully

WHAT WILL YOUR LEGACY BE?

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HOW TO PASSOVER

BY YOURSELF Step-by-Step Guide to a Seder while in Quarantine 1. KADESH (Sanctify) The seder begins with a blessing over the first cup of wine. This is when we declare that this is “The Season of Our Freedom.” To stress this point, we recline to the left when drinking, as only free people did in ancient times.

2. URCHATZ (Wash) Wash the hands (in the ritual manner but without reciting a blessing). We will be touching a wet vegetable in the next step and rabbinic law requires washing of the hands. The Kabbalah teaches that hands represent expressions and attributes, while water epitomizes intellect and purity. Washing refines our attributes with intellect, enabling restrictions to turn into benevolence, hate into love, and personal slavery into freedom. The observance, one of many during the Seder intended to pique the interest of children, awakens the innocence within each of us.

3. KARPAS (Vegetables) Recite the appropriate blessing for vegetables, then dip the karpas vegetable in saltwater before eating it. In the saltwater, we can taste the tears of anguish and despair our ancestors shed as their spirits were crushed in Egypt. When rearranged, the letters of karpas ‫ כרפס‬allude to the word perech ‫פרך‬, or “crushing labor.” Our people were forced to perform senseless tasks in Egypt, endless drudgery without meaning, purpose or goal. Why, some 3,000 years later, do mindless routines and habits, or careers driven by the need for status, still dominate our lives so often?

4. YACHATZ (Breaking) The middle matzah (of the 3) is broken in two pieces. The larger piece, designated as the afikoman, is wrapped and hidden away for the children to discover. The smaller broken piece, the “bread of poverty,” takes center stage while retelling the story of the exodus. It personifies the spiritual and material destitution our people endured in Egypt

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

once they no longer grasped the meaning of true freedom. By relating to their plight, we feel what is broken in our own humanity. At the same time, when the children hide the afikoman we sense the larger dimension of our being, the part of our soul never touched by slavery that waits to be discovered.

5. MAGGID (Telling) “Tell your children G-d took you out of Egypt.” Fill the second cup of wine, then retell the story of our rise from the depths of bondage to the heights of redemption. Maggid begins with the children asking, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The question can put us in touch with the innocence of children as we contemplate the dynamics of liberation. Are we eating the matzah out of habit, or because we are ready to embrace its significance? Are we observing these rituals to assuage guilt, or to actualize the desire to live a more meaningful life? When we allow the events in maggid to touch us to the core, we reveal the candor that children hold dear.

At the conclusion of maggid, we savor the second glass.

6. RACHTZA (Washing) Wash the hands and recite the blessing, Al Netilat Yadayim (on the lifting of the hands). We prepare to internalize the humble nature of matzah by uplifting our extremities and expressions. In its literal sense, the word netila means to move something from one place to another. With this blessing, we remove the physicality and vulgarity that may dwell in and around the hands, raising them up for what is to follow.

7. MOTZI (Blessing Over Bread) Hold the broken half-matzah and two whole ones while reciting the appropriate blessing for bread, Hamotzie Leh-Chem Min Ha-Aretz.

The word lechem (bread) contains the same letters as lochem (war).

Food is raw energy that holds the potential for either good or evil.

Thus, a spiritual battle ensues every time it is consumed. If the purpose in eating is solely to gratify physical cravings, evil prevails. However, when eating to gain energy with which to better serve G-d, good prevails.

8. MATZAH (Blessing Over Matzah) Return the bottom matzah to the Seder plate. Holding the remaining one and one-half matzot, recite the blessing for eating matzah, Al Ah-Chilat Matzah.

Our ancestors fled Egypt with inconceivable haste, leaving no time for the dough that would nourish them to rise. Once free, their first taste was the “bread of poverty,” matzah. From a mystical viewpoint, matzah exemplifies a selfless ego. It was with this trait, rather than arrogance, that they accepted G-d-given freedom. Humility allowed them to appreciate the gifts of life. After the blessing, recline to the left and eat at least one ounce of matzah.

9. MAROR (Bitter Herbs) Take at least 3/4 ounce of bitter herbs and dip it in the charoset, shake off the excess, and recite the blessing Al Ah-Chilat Maror before eating. Having meditated on the bitterness of exile during maggid, we now physically experience its force. The impact further clarifies the significance of our exile. Before we can experience true freedom we have to internalize the might of our hardship – and accept that when we make the right choices, hardship exists only to make us stronger.

10. KORECH (Sandwich) Break off two pieces of the bottom matzah (at least one ounce). Take 3/4 ounce of maror, dip it in charoset and shake off the excess. Place the maror between the two pieces of matzah and say, “Thus did Hillel do in the time of the Holy Temple...” Recline while eating. Maror alludes to the wicked, while matzah refers to the righteous. Hillel, the great Jewish sage known for his compassion, instructed the righteous to reach out and draw the wicked closer. Likewise, now that we have felt what it means to break free of slavery on a personal level, it is our obligation to share the experience with others.

11. SHULCHAN ORECH (Festive Meal) Traditionally, the meal begins by dipping the hardboiled egg from the Seder plate in saltwater to symbolize our constant mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temple, and to allude to G-d’s desire to redeem His people. “Ess, mein khind!” Across the community and throughout the world, we are together at the Seder table. The wise, the wicked, the simple and the innocent, all equal in the eyes of each other and the eyes of G-d. And we remember the fifth son – he who has not yet experienced the freedom of Passover. We are united as one in the common goal of redemption.

the house and, holding a lit candle, recite the passage inviting the Prophet Elijah to appear. Imagine all of creation in a state of spiritual and material freedom. Think about a world free of pain and suffering, war and struggles. Imagine all of existence at this level. Imagine yourself, the light of a single candle, ushering in the era of our redemption.

14. HALLEL (Songs of Praise) We offer praise to G-d for his mercy and compassion in redeeming our people from Egypt, and in anticipation of our own ultimate redemption. Why does G-d need us to praise Him? He doesn’t; we do. As the Kabbalah explains, when we praise His kindness we reveal His compassion. When praying for our needs, we evoke His desire to give.

15. NIRTZAH (Accepted) The Seder concludes with the wish, L’shana Ha- baah Bi-Yerushalayim. We hope for each other that which our forefathers prayed for while enslaved in Egypt, “Next Year in Jerusalem!” Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi omitted the passage, “The order of Passover is concluded,” from his Haggadah because the Seder’s message remains timeless. Every day, one leaves Egypt by transcending his or her limitations, to reach higher levels of holiness. l

12. TZAFUN (Hidden) At the conclusion of the Passover meal, children return the afikoman. Eat at least one ounce of this matzah. Nothing else except the remaining two cups of wine is consumed thereafter. It was necessary to partake in every step, every ritual, every taste and every thought before the afikoman is revealed; then, we can become one with its Divine potential. We eat it only when completely satiated because it fulfills a need higher than the hunger for freedom, and we eat nothing afterward so that its taste remains with us. In the Seder, as with everyday life, there are no shortcuts to the greater dimension. Yet we are always aware that it is present and yearns to reveal itself when we seek with a pure heart.

13. BEIRACH (Grace After Meals) Recite Grace After Meals. Then say the blessing over the third cup of wine, and drink while reclining. In anticipation of our ultimate Redemption, we now fill a special goblet, the Cup of Elijah. We then open the door to Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

From Pesach through Shavuot Be informed and inspired by these acclaimed works of Jewish verse and thought

by Rabbi Yosef Marcus

“The most comprehensive and spiritually rich commentary in English that I have ever run across.”

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“An invaluable addition to the library of Jewish scholarship.”

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“A tribute to the publisher of this excellent volume.”

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More in this series J Megillat Esther J Tehillim

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

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How to Plate Your

SEDER PLATE MAROR BEITZAH A hard-boiled egg to commemorate the chagiga-holiday sacrifice.

Prep: Boil one egg per Seder plate, and possibly more for use during the shulchan orech meal.

Use: The egg is dipped into saltwater and eaten right before the meal starts.

Maror or bitter herbs to remind us of the slavery. Most use fresh grated horseradish on romaine lettuce.

Prep: Buy fresh horseradish root and grate it.

Use: During the blessing over the bitter herbs hold the maror and then dip it lightly into the charoset before eating it. See Seder step 9.

ZROAH Shank Bone to commemorate the Pesach sacrifice. Many use a roasted chicken neck.

Prep: Roast the neck over an open flame. Afterwards, remove most of the meat to reveal the bone.

Use: The shank bone is symbolic and not eaten.

You can re-use it the following Seder night.

See Seder step 11.

3

1 2

6

4

5 KARPAS Karpas vegetable for dipping. The traditional potato or onion is dipped into saltwater at step 3 in the seder to provoke questions.

Prep: Peel an onion or boiled potato and place slice on seder plate. Also prepare a small bowl of saltwater.

Use: At karpas the vegetable is dipped into saltwater, the Borei Peri Ha’adama blessing is recited, before it is eaten. See Seder step 3.

CHAROSET

CHAZERET Used with the maror that reminds us of the slavery.

Prep: Wash romaine lettuce and check for bugs. Pat dry.

Use: During the korech sandwich of matzah and maror use these bitter herbs. Dip it lightly into the charoset before using it. See Seder step 10.

Charoset (the apple, nut, wine puree) to remind us of the mortar and brick made by our ancestors in Egypt.

Prep: Shell walnuts and peel apples and chop finely, mix well and add red wine for color.

Use: The charoset is used as a symbolic dip. Before eating the maror, dip it lightly into the charoset. See Seder steps 9 & 10.

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

m o d e e fr

30 DAYS OF sunday

mo n day

t u e s day

WHAT IS CHOMETZ? ORDER SHMURAH MATZAH Traditional handmade shmurah matzah is recommended for seder use.

Include handmade shmurah matzah at your seder table and share this sacred tradition with your friends and family. Call your local Chabad rabbi to order your very own shmurah matzah for the seder.

Chometz is "leaven" — any food that's made of grain and water that have been allowed to ferment and "rise." Bread, cereal, cake, cookies, pizza, pasta, and beer are blatant examples of chometz; but any food that contains grain or grain derivatives can be, and often is, chometz. Practically speaking, any processed food that is not certified "Kosher for Passover" may potentially include chometz ingredients.

APRIL 5 | NISSAN 11

APRIL 6 | NISSAN 12

APRIL 7 | NISSAN 13

The Rebbe's Birthday After nightfall: Search for chometz

On the agenda this week:  Clean for Passover  Shop for Passover foods  Prepare Kitchen for Passover  Invite guests  Sell chometz

APRIL 12 | NISSAN 18 Chol Hamoed*

APRIL 13 | NISSAN 19 Chol Hamoed*

APRIL 14 | NISSAN 20 Chol Hamoed*

No tefillin No tefillin

No tefillin

Enjoy a glass of wine

Enjoy a glass of wine

Enjoy a glass of wine

At night count the Omer: Day 4

At night count the Omer: Day 5

Girls and women light candles 18 minutes before sunset.

APRIL 19 | NISSAN 25

APRIL 20 | NISSAN 26

At night count the Omer: Day 6

APRIL 21 | NISSAN 27

Passing of Joshua, the leader of the Jewish people after Moses (1245 BCE).

At night count the Omer: Day 11

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

At night count the Omer: Day 12

At night count the Omer: Day 13

If leavened bread symbolizes ego then this is the month when we go on a major ego diet. For the next 30 days we deploy the search and destroy team to find and get rid of our bad habits. Get ready to eat bread of faith and healing and experience true freedom. we d n esd ay

thursday

SELL YOUR CHOMETZ Since it is prohibited to possess chometz on Passover, any chometz left undisposed must be sold to a non-Jew. All such chometz, as well as all chometz utensils that were not thoroughly cleaned, should be stored away. The storage area should be locked or taped shut for the duration of the holiday.

Since there are many legal intricacies involved in this sale, a rabbi acts as our agent both to sell the chometz to the non-Jew on the morning before Passover, and also to buy it back the evening after Passover ends. Sell your chometz to your local Rabbi or go online to Passover.org.

APRIL 8 | NISSAN 14 Eve of Passover

APRIL 9 | NISSAN 15 First Day of Passover

fr i day

s h ab b at

APRIL 3 | NISSAN 9

APRIL 4 | NISSAN 10 Shabbat Hagadol (The Great Shabbat) Yartzeit of Miriam, the sister of Moses, in the year 2487 from creation (1274 BCE).

Torah Portion: Tzav Shabbat Kiddush

Girls and women light candles 18 minutes before sunset.

Havdalah after nightfall

APRIL 10 | NISSAN 16 Second Day of Passover

APRIL 11 | NISSAN 17 Shabbat Chol Hamoed

Stop eating chometz.

Burn your chometz.

Fast of the firstborn.

Girls and women light candles 18 minutes before sunset.

Tonight: The First Seder

APRIL 15 | NISSAN 21 Seventh Day of Passover The Red Sea split on this day in the year 2448 (1313 BCE).

On this day G-d spoke to Moses at the burning bush (a year before the Exodus) Girls and women light candles after nightfall.

Tonight: The Second Seder At night count the Omer: Day 1

APRIL 16 | NISSAN 22 Last Day of Passover Yizkor service

Yizkor is a special memorial prayer for the departed, recited in the synagogue following the Torah reading.

Girls and women light candles after nightfall.

Havdalah after nightfall.

At night count the Omer: Day 7

At night count the Omer: Day 8

APRIL 22 | NISSAN 28

APRIL 23 | NISSAN 29

Girls and women light candles after nightfall.

At night count the Omer: Day 2

At night count the Omer: Day 3

APRIL 17 | NISSAN 23

APRIL 18 | NISSAN 24

Be sure to put away your Kosher for Passover dishes before you enjoy that bagel.

After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the first Shabbat was observed on this date.

Torah Portion: Shemini Shabbat Kiddush

Girls and women light candles 18 minutes before sunset.

Havdalah after nightfall

At night count the Omer: Day 9

At night count the Omer: Day 10

*CHOL HAMOED is a Hebrew phrase meaning "weekdays [of ] the festival" and it refers to the intermediate days of Passover and Sukkot. We are permitted to work, yet the holiday prayers of Hallel and Yaleh v’Yavo are recited and a cup of wine is to be enjoyed (without the ceremonial Kiddush).

At night count the Omer: Day 14

At night count the Omer: Day 15

 Visit www.Passover.org for complete calendar of events and how-to guides.

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

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HELP WANT

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ay! We left Egypt in the world-famous Exodus and forty-nine days later we were camped at the foot of a mountain. We all heard the thunder and lighting, but what exactly happened at Mount Sinai? Didn’t Abraham, Isaac and Jacob already communicate with the Divine?

Moses had been talking to G-d for months, so what was the great revelation? To answer this question Tzvi Freeman of Chabad.org explains the Chassidic view of the great revelation at Sinai: The Midrash explains that before the experience at Mount Sinai, there was earth and there was heaven. If you wanted one, you were obliged to abandon the other.

At Mount Sinai, the boundaries of heaven and earth were broken, and Man was empowered to fuse the two: To

raise the earthly into the realm of the spirit, and to bring heaven down to earth.

Before the experience of Mount Sinai, the coarse material of which the world is made could not be elevated. It could be used as a medium, an aid in achieving enlightenment, but it itself could not be enlightened.

Jacob used sticks for meditation, Isaac dug wells. But neither the sticks nor the wells became imbued with G‑dliness.

All that changed at Mount Sinai. When you take a piece of leather and write upon it a Torah scroll, you have transformed the material into spiritual. And the same with flour used for matzah for Passover night, and branches used to cover a sukkah, and even the earnings which you tithe for good causes. And so you may do in every aspect of your life.

Our forefather’s task was to enlighten the souls of men.

Ours is to transform the material darkness into light.

THE MYSTICAL SIDE: People think the Torah is all about laws and customs and quaint stories, but there's a mystical side as well.

The experience of our people at Mount Sinai was a mystical one. The biblical account says they saw the thunder. They saw that which is normally heard, and they heard that which is normally seen. The spiritual became their reality, and the earthly became an ethereal inference, an intellectual fancy.

The soul of the Torah - its mystical experience - came first. Torah without its inner meaning is a body without a soul. l

THe Original JOB POSTING

By Shira Gold

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

A Model for

SUCCESS

ON THE JOB WITH JOSEPH

By Rabbi Yossy Goldman

W

e read that Moses himself was occupied with a special mission as the Jews were leaving Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Over a hundred years before the great Exodus, Joseph made the Children of Israel swear that they would take him along when they would eventually leave Egypt.

As viceroy of Egypt, Joseph could not hope to be buried in Israel when he died, as his father Jacob was. The Egyptians would never tolerate their political leader being buried in a foreign land. But he did make his brethren give him their solemn undertaking that when the time would come, and all the Israelites would depart, they would take his remains along with them.

And so it was that while everyone else was busy packing up, loading their donkeys, and getting ready for the Great Trek into the Wilderness, Moses himself was busy with this mission, fulfilling the sacred promise made to Joseph generations ago.

Now Joseph was not the only one to be re-interred in the holy land. His brothers, too, were accorded the very same honor and last respects. Yet, it is only Joseph whom the Torah finds it necessary to mention explicitly. Why? The answer is that Joseph was unique. While his brothers were simple shepherds tending to their flocks, Joseph was running the affairs of state of the mightiest superpower of the day. To be a practicing Jew while blissfully strolling through the meadows is not that complicated. Alone in the fields, communing with nature, and away from the hustle and bustle of city life, one can more easily be a man of faith. But to run a massive government infrastructure as the most high-profile statesman in the land and still remain faithful to one's traditions — this is not only a novelty, this is absolute inspiration.

Thrust as he was from the simple life of a young shepherd boy into the hub of the nation's capital to juggle the roles of viceroy and Jew, Joseph represented tradition amidst transition. It was possible, he taught the world, to be a contemporary traditionalist.

One could successfully straddle both worlds.

Now that they were about to leave Egypt, the Jews were facing a new world order. Gone were slavery and oppression, and in their place were freedom and liberty. During this time of transition, only Joseph could be their role model. They would need his example to show them the way forward into uncharted territory, the new frontier.

That is why the Torah mentions only Joseph as the one whose remains went along with the people. They needed to take Joseph with them so that, like him, they too would make their own transition successfully.

Ever since leaving Egypt, we've been wandering. And every move has brought with it its own challenges. Whether from Poland to America or Lithuania to South Africa, every transition has come with culture shocks to our spiritual psyche. How do you make a living and still keep the Shabbat you kept in the shtetl when the factory boss says "Cohen, if you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother coming in on Monday either!" It was a test of faith that wasn't at all easy. Many succumbed. But many others stood fast and survived, even flourished. It was the test of transition — and those who modeled themselves on Joseph were able to make the transition while remaining committed to tradition.

Democracy and a human-rights culture have made that part of Jewish life somewhat easier, but challenges still abound. In all our own transitions today, may we continue to learn from Joseph. l Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

Relationship tips

Divinely Ins pired

Relationship Tips

By Shira Gold

Looking for a Heavenly relationship?

Are you ready to supercharge that spark and inner connection you have with your Creator?

The challenge: Relationships are always a challenge, especially when it comes to our relationship with an infinite G-d.

How can we have a meaningful interaction with the Omnipotent? How can we relate to the unrelateable?

The answer: You're right, jumping and screaming on a mountain top won't impress the Master of the universe. It's only because G-d Himself initiated a relationship with us that makes any of this possible. Lucky for us, He told Moses exactly what we can do to impress Him.

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

Be Nice

Take Vacations

Acts of affection will enhance any relationship, as

Between the hectic juggling of meetings, deadlines

long as you know what the other person likes. The

and carpool you may find it hard to focus on what's

revelation at Sinai was G-d letting us know what

really important. That's where spiritual vacations

He needs from us in this Heavenly relationship.

come in. The weekly Shabbat is the essential "time-

Knowing what's needed from you is the first step in

out" that everyone needs to reconnect. You could go

any relationship. For example, G-d let us know that

gourmet or keep it simple with just some candles and

our celebrating Shabbat makes Him happy and our

wine—the important thing is to do it weekly!

eating pork does not.

Show You Care

The Breakup You can't watch a graceful sunset if you're looking

Did you know that 93 percent of communication

in the mirror, and to achieve a wonderful Heavenly

is non-verbal? It's not only what you say but how

relationship you'll need to first break up with your

you say it. Prayers are a wonderful space for some

self-centered mindset. If you're hyper-focused

meaningful one-on-one communcation, so be sincere

on your reward or what you're getting out of this

and show real appreciation.

relationship, then aren't you really just dating yourself? Spend some time each day thinking about what G-d wants out of this relationship and what

Smile Are you happy to be in this relationship? If yes, then

you can do for Him.

Do you look at your obligations as burdens, or do you

Read About It

feel lucky to be chosen for the job? The foundation

Relationships aren't always easy, and the relationship

for a great relationship is happiness and joy.

between man and Creator is complicated. The good

show it! The Psalmist urges us to "Serve G-d with joy."

news is there are books you can read that will walk you through the relationship process step-by-step.

Little Gifts

In fact, G-d loves it when you read His books and

What can you buy the Al-Mighty? What can you gift

connection that happens through the mind. So, study

the One who has it all?

His laws and enjoy that mindful connection while

Luckily, G-d sees charity to the poor as the perfect

know what He's thinking. There's a deep and unique

gaining knowledge about the relationship itself. l

gift you can surprise Him with anytime. Our sages say that giving daily charity, even in small amounts, can have a profound impact on the poor and your personal relationship with G-d.

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

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Unstuck & Unleashed Passover Inspiration

"In every generation one must look upon himself as if he personally had gone out of Egypt."

"This feeling of leaving Egypt is not merely something to be felt once a year on Passover—but every day."

-TALMUD, PESACHIM 116B

-THE ALTER REBBE, TANYA CHAPTER 47

Y

ou can’t celebrate Passover without talking a whole lot about a country in the Middle East famous for pyramids and mummies. It’s not that Jews are fascinated with history or geography, it’s that we learn today how to deal with our own personal spiritual issues from the Exodus.

Chabad philosophy, known as Chabad Chasidut, is the deeper dimension of Torah. Its biblical commentary seeks to illuminate the “soul” of every aspect of your Judaism and daily life. By shedding new light on basic words like “Egypt” and “Exodus” the Chassidic teachings compel us to experience Passover in a profound and practical way. The following Chassidic idea intends to enhance our personal daily

transition from slavery to freedom.

In Reccurring Exodus, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, discusses different boundaries or constraints that may be holding us back from our full potential and how to avoid them.

To start we need to explore the name and meaning of Egypt.

The word for Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, sharing the same consonants as the word meitzarim—boundaries. This is by no means coincidental. Mitzrayim is not just a geographical region; it is also an idea.

Mitzrayim represents any boundary that limits our ability to be our real selves and reach our true potential. Each day, as we strive to break free of our own limitations, we relive the Exodus from Egypt.

We each possess a unique temperament with its inherent advantages and disadvantages. One person is an introvert, preferring to study for hours rather than interact with others. Another more extroverted person happily reaches out to offer inspiration to friends but has little patience to delve into the Torah texts or to reflect on the words of the prayers. While it is proper for a person to harness his or her talents in the service of G-d, this should not come at the expense of avoiding areas to which one does not feel particularly drawn.

“Leaving Egypt” in this context means to break free of our natural tendencies and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into doing the right thing, whether or not it comes easy to us. In other words, Matzah should Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

These two groups of creatures reflect remind you to leave your comfort zone and make that phone call. It sounds two types of realities. There is the reality as we know it, in which we are “separate” easier than it is.

The Rebbe addresses one of the in- from our Divine source of life and do herent “problems” with inspiration in not feel that we are dependent upon it. that while it results in momentary ex- Then there is a higher reality, in which citement, it often fades quickly without created beings are “submerged” within bringing about any change. On Passover, their source of life and are fully aware we are motivated to free ourselves of our that they cannot survive without it. In limitations and serve G-d without re- short, “sea” and “dry land” reflect awarestraint. Yet if we want these feelings to ness and ignorance of our Divine source, endure, we also need to think about how respectively.

NEVER STUCK

“

I once found myself with 20 other ladies waiting to board our flight home—where my husband and the

other ladies’ husbands were anxiously

waiting—and hearing that the flight

Each day, as we strive to break free of our own limitations, we relive the Exodus from Egypt.

was canceled. There was a snowstorm, and nothing was flying.

Of course, we all rushed to a payphone—this was before cell phones, remember—and we called the Chabad headquarters in New York to ask the Rebbe what to do. The leader of the group, Mrs. Miriam Popack, spoke with the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Binyomin Klein, and told him that we were stuck in Detroit. He put us on hold, and a minute later came back on the line: “The Rebbe doesn’t understand the word ‘stuck.’”

Mrs. Popack then tried to explain what “stuck” means—all the while plugging more quarters into the payphone so the line wouldn’t go dead—to which Rabbi Klein replied, “The Rebbe knows what stuck means. The Rebbe says that a Jew is never stuck.”

“

There was a reason to be there, so

we got to work looking for Jewish

travelers and, in the end, made some lifelong connections.

-Mrs. Miryam Swerdlov

To “split the sea” means to blur the to channel these sentiments so that they lines that differentiate sea and land, so will endure throughout the year.

The secret is held in the mystical di- that dry land can exist within the bormension of Kriat Yam Suf, the splitting ders of the ocean. This represents bringof the Sea of Reeds, which occurred on ing an awareness of G-d even into those areas where it had previously been conthe seventh day of Passover.

Our Sages describe the splitting of cealed.

This is a “difficult” feat for G-d, so the sea as a “difficult” miracle. What does this mean? To a human, the small- to speak, entailing a change in the norest miracle is difficult—or, better said, mal way of how Creation is supposed impossible. To G-d, miracles and na- to function. The Divine revelations of ture are equally within His ability. What Kriat Yam Suf served as a preparation for the Giving of the Torah, when the hidmakes a miracle “difficult”?

Recurring Exodus addresses these den depths of G-dliness were revealed. questions by providing us with a deeper As Passover concludes, this is the mesperspective on Kriat Yam Suf. The mira- sage we must take with us throughout cle had a spiritual purpose; it was part the year. We must take the immersive of a process, a step in the Jews’ spiritual connection to G-d we experienced at the journey, which began when they left Seder—the “sea,” and channel it into our Egypt and culminated at the Giving of daily lives—the “dry land,” thus reliving both the Exodus itself and the splitting the Torah on Mount Sinai.

To explain this, the Rebbe points to of the sea. l the difference between terrestrial and >>Recurring Exodus is part of the Chassidic aquatic animals. The former were cre- Heritage Series produced by ated and receive their life from the earth, Kehot Publications Society.

The original discourses while the latter are dependent upon wa- were delivered by the ter. While the majority of land animals Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Menachem M. Schneerson, do not live within the earth, fish do and of blessed memory, on 11 must live within their source of life, the Nissan and Achron Shel Pesach, 5734 (1974). The water. book is sold online at www.Kehot.com.

This page was co-sponsored by the Handicap Ski Association. Logo created by SRDesigns Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

THE PHILOSOPHY THAT

CHANGED THE WORLD

By Rabbis Shmuel Marcus and Eliyahu Soble

I

n a quiet neighborhood of Cancun Mexico, a few days before Passover, a young Rabbi and his wife ring the doorbell of total strangers. They present a gift of hand-made shmurah matzah. I think you can guess who sent them.

Every year, millions of hand-made shmurah matzahs, with holiday guides in 17 different

languages, are distributed by Chabad to friends and strangers all over the world. Vast amounts of wine and potatoes will be consumed at thousands of public Passover seders. From Paris to Panama, Chabad will host total strangers just like family coming home for the holidays. What line of thought motivates these activities? What can we learn from them? How did it all come to be?

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

What is Chassidic thought?

The answer starts with a true love story of how a small group of Chasidic immigrants (in just 70 years) became one of the largest Jewish global networks in history.

"Chasidic thought isn’t some old dusty

THE THREE BIG LOVES

timeless window into reality — the reality

Chabad philosophy teaches that the three big loves (Thy G-d, His Torah, and Thy neighbor) are inseparably one. To love G-d, is to love His Torah and His children. So, in 1951 the Rebbe made a statement and call to action as he assumed leadership of the movement: The deepest relationship with G-d necessitates a deep love for His people.

Sure, Jews have always known that we are obligated to love G-d, His Torah, and each other, but the Rebbe was saying that there's one love that most exhibits the other two. The gateway to the pinnacle in our relationship with G-d and His Torah is primarily through the love of His children.

Philosophically this can be explained in there being a personal limit to prayer and study when done in solitude. It's specifically when we love, engage, and teach others that we enter into a new vista of Divine relationship with G-d and His Torah.

The “otherness” is what allows us to venture beyond our own limits.

"Excuse me, are you Jewish?" a phrase many people may associate with Chabad. The key word here is "you." Because celebrating Passover alone won't do it for Chabad. This approach expresses that the gateway to the deepest Divine relationship is specifically through loving thy neighbor. Through making sure he or she has the tools and ability to connect to G-d and our heritage.

of the world, and your place within it."

CHABAD’S UNIQUE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD MITZVAH What can one actually do to have the greatest impact on the world? According to Chabad, it’s a mitzvah! You see, most Jews would translate the word mitzvah as commandment or law, and some use the term mitzvah for anything that is a good deed. However, Chabad sees a distinct translation of the word mitzvah that gives it an entirely new perspective and motivation.

The word “mitzvah” shares the same root as the Hebrew word “Tzavtah” to “connect”. Meaning, a mitzvah is the singular unique activity, which G-d Himself provided us, to connect and literally bond with the infinite Creator of heaven and earth.

The action of a Mitzvah itself is the gateway which bridges and fuses together the finite and infinite.

Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

Jewish stuff. It’s beyond modern, it’s a

—PETER HIMMELMAN, AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN AND AUTHOR

The founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1813), explains the cryptic words of the sages that “the greatest reward for a mitzvah is the “mitzvah” itself.” How is eating matzah or keeping kosher the reward itself, isn’t there a paradise waiting for those who keep His laws?

Now that you know the deeper meaning of the word mitzvah it all makes sense. Creator and creation were connected in a moment that will last forever.

THE ULTIMATE PAYOFF AND PURPOSE That’s not all though, what if we can trace that matzah interaction in Cancun all the way back to the start of time? Follow me.

Why are we here? What’s the purpose of creation?

The Torah gives a few reasons why the world was created.

Some Jewish teachings assert that G-d created the world in order to give man reward.

However, Chabad philosophy highlights a Midrash that states that the purpose of creation is to transform a world that seems distinct and independent into a world in which G-d’s infinite presence is fully embedded and ultimately revealed in the finite experience. in other words, He wanted a dwelling in the lower worlds, in Chabad it’s called “dirah b’tachtonim.”

This basis of Judaism is a shift, a reorientation of its direction and purpose. Clearly, G-d would not withhold reward from any creature and G-d rewards us for our work, but the reward is secondary. The reward is not the true reason for G-d's gift of life. The creation of a Divine dwelling in the physical world through these “Mitzvah connections and fusions,'' that itself is the Divine payoff and goal of our entire creation.

Pass the matzah please! l >>To learn more about Chassidic thought, contact your local Chabad Center or visit www.Chabad.org.

Purim 2020

IN PHOTOS

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Spring 2020 / Passover 5780

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