Tonight begins Pesach, the festival of freedom. After finishing all the cleaning, after we have eaten the last leavened bread, after the cooking is done, the table is set, the silver shines and the house fills with guests, we remember the exodus from Egypt.
Avadim hayinu, ata b'nai chorin --Once we were slaves, now we are free.
Let all who are hungry come and eat.
And my favorite:
Bechol dor vador chayav adam lirot et atzmo k'ilu hu yatza mi'Mitzrayim.
In every generation each person should imagine as though he himself left slavery in Egypt.
Use your imagination this year and put yourself into the footsteps of those slaves. What must it have been like to leave with only the food you could carry, a few possessions, and go off into the unknown?
It's a path Jews have been forced to follow over and over again for thousands of years. Small wonder we hold firmly to the reborn land of Israel, so that we will never have to wander homeless again.
Next year in Jerusalem!
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