Discovering our place and purpose in the world.

Good news everybody! High Holiday Cantor, Cantor Scott Eckers and I are working together so that we can share the Kabbalat service with you via the miracle of the Internet this Friday night at 5:30 PM. if I don’t have your email address and you send it to me, in a few days I’ll send you the zoom platform link that will allow you to join our virtual congregation.

Now to our regularly scheduled devar Haggadah.

 The night before Seder there is a ritual called Bedikat Hametz, searching for the hametz (any leaven food or drink). After the house is cleaned and ready for Passover, we place a piece of bread in each of our rooms. We search for these pieces of bread with a candle, feather, and wooden spoon. We gather up all those pieces and place them in an envelope. In the morning of Passover there is a ritual of burning this hametz and annulling any other hametz that you own. My family calls this our search and destroy mission. All traditional Haggadot will contain instructions and the appropriate blessings to be said. Now for today’s commentary from one of my favorite Haggadot, The Night That Unites: Teachings, Stories, and Questions from Rabbi Kook, Rabbi Soloveitchick and Rabbi Carlebach by Aaron Goldscheider.

Searching with a candle

Reb Shlomo Carlebach cherished a particular love for the teachings of the great Ishbitz Hasidic rabbis. Reb Yaakov Leiner (1814-1878) of Ishbitz asks why the search for leaven has to take place at night. Why not the more obvious time to search for something-during the day? He also asked why we were instructed to use a candle or lamp?

For the Rebbe of Ishbitz, we are really doing more than just searching for hametz. We are searching for our place, our purpose in this world. In the state of exile, galut, that we are in, we often feel that we are in the dark and we cannot easily find our way. But in the future, the time will come when it will be revealed the even when it appeared dark and must we were really being guided by God.

In seeking out Leven with the candle at night, we are, both literally and figuratively providing a glimmer of light amidst the darkness for ourselves. The light reminds us that we have direction and that we have the candle.

It is during the holiday of Passover that person can discover more about who he or she is, and what his or her place is in the world. This is what brings us to experience the great joy of the festival. (page 34)

Our Passover Seder reminds us that to let our inner light to shine forth during these dark times of the pandemic coronavirus. We can share this light by helping other people. Sometimes it only takes a phone call. With God’s help, we can find our way out of all the challenges that face us and discover our place and purpose in the world.