A Message From Ran Ukashi Executive Director

The story of Pesach is undoubtedly the most famous and spectacular episode of the Jewish People recounted in the Torah, as it recalls the dramatic series of events that forged us into the Nation of Israel. It was the beginning of our redemption from slavery towards receiving the Torah itself at Sinai, ultimately culminating in entering the Holy Land of Israel as a Nation consecrated to God. It is, in another sense, a story that imbues within it the very values of Judaism that we observe to this very day—values of remembrance, humility, and service to each other, humanity, and to God.

For instance, as we eat maror or bitter herbs on Pesach, we are taught to do so not only out of remembrance of the bitter suffering of our ancestors in Egypt, but also to remember the suffering of those in our time. However, we are also commanded to eat the maror together with the the Korban Pesach—the sacrificial Paschal Lamb offering we observed in biblical times (Sefer Shemot 12:8), such that even in our most joyous moments, we reflect on the suffering of others and orient our hearts towards them.

While we recline like royalty during the Passover Seder, we do so to celebrate that we are now free, unlike when we were slaves and forced to stand or serve other masters. After all, Pesach is referred to as

Zman Heruteinu, “the time of our freedom,” so it is only right that we celebrate that freedom as such. But even then, we are commanded to eat matzah in memory of that haste in which our ancestors had to bake their bread and flee the encroaching Egyptian forces who wanted to recapture and strip the Jewish People of that same freedom. Thus, it is only fitting that while we repose like royalty, we do so while dining on the “bread of affliction,” a bread of humility, to remind us to always be humble and grateful for what we have in this world. Nothing is too be taken for granted—most importantly our freedom.

And of course, we have the message of “Pesach,” itself—the very word hides the most important meaning in plain sight. The word “Pesach” comes from the Hebrew word “Pasach,” or the verb “to pass over,” in reference to how the Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Jewish People, who were commanded to mark their doorposts with the blood of the lambs they sacrificed to spare them of the calamity that befell Egypt when the Angel was tasked with carrying out the final and most terrible of the Ten Plagues—the smiting of the firstborn sons (Sefer Shemot 12:1-28).

So why name the Holiday after the mere passing over of the Angel of Death? Of all the events in the episode of the Exodus from Egypt, what was it about this particular scene that left such an indelible impact so that we remember the Holiday by this verb?

The reason lies not so much with the literal “passing over” of the Angel of Death, but another possible understanding of the word “Pesach,” which means to “protect.” By having the Angel of Death “pass over” the homes of the Jewish People, God spared the Jewish People from this plague, which was the final blow to Pharoah causing him to yield his tyranny—even if only temporarily—and allow the Jewish People to secure their freedom.

That is the true message of Pesach—no matter how bleak the situation, or how impossible circumstances may seem, God has not—and will not—forsake the Jewish People. This promise was made vivid in the story of Pesach, but reiterated time and again in our Torah and throughout history. As we learn in Sefer Devarim (31:6), “Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; for it is indeed your God who marches with you: God will not fail you or forsake you.”

Chag Pesach Sameach, ran@szwinnipeg.ca

Pesach Day 7

Wed, Apr 12

Pesach Day 8 (YIZKOR)

Thu, Apr 13

Yom HaShoah

Tue, Apr 18

Yom HaZikaron

Tue, Apr 25

Yom Ha'atzmaut

Wed, Apr 26

Victoria Day (CDN)

Mon, May 22

Erev Shavuot

Thu, May 25

Shavuot Day 1

Fri, May 26

Shavuot Day 2 (Yizkor)

Sat, May 27