seder table message

    As we process an elderly man shouting "Heil Hitler" and asking people if they are Jewish before he shot them, we need to remember above all else that the messiah is not yet here. We put out that cup for Elijah in the hope he will actually show up this year to announce the imminent arrival of the Messianic era.  Until then, as we sit around the seder table, let's recall  the words of the haggadah "In very generation someone arises who seeks to destroy" and "it is each of our responsibility to feel as though we personally left Egypt" The salt water for the parsley shall remind us of the tears of the losses 3200 years ago as well as yesterday, the maror, of the bitterness of the reality of a horrible combination of much anti Jewish Muslim hatred as well as never ending hatred from some Christian quarters.
     The good news is, as the song chad gadya at the end of the seder hints, we are still here, having survived the efforts of Pharoah, the Amalekites, Assyrians, Babylonains, Persians, Greeks, Romans, early Christians etc to destroy us. Today Israel stands strong and there has never been as successful or free Jewish community anywhere, anytime, as USA Jews today. let's use our freedom to deepen our learning, our observance of the mitzvote, our defense of Israel and fighting anti Semitism, and be a light to the nations.


posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg