Pesach

 

Hey there Junior Shluchim,
Oh boy am I tired. All that eating matza and drinking wine really does tire me out. You know, sometimes I wonder why we give the little kinderlach nuts to play with on Seder night. I know that it is supposed to be to keep them awake, but at every Seder I’ve ever been at, ever since I was a little kid - and that is quite a few - I’ve never seen anyone under the age of 14 or 15 falling asleep at the table. Certainly not before the Afikoman anyway!
So that got me wondering - if all the kids are too busy recreating kriyas Yam Suf by spilling a Yam of wine across the table to fall asleep, what is the whole idea of the nuts? Were kids that different in the times of the Shulchan Oruch? I mean I know my Mommy always used to say to me, ‘when I was young, little children used to be seen and not heard,’ and similar things, but I’m sure they never really meant it. After all, I said the same thing to my children, and recently I heard  my own Shneur Getzelovitch telling it to his little Yankele! And let me tell you that my Shneur was heard loud and clear when he was young. Especially at one o’clock in the morning when I was trying to sleep!
So if children are so active and excited about the Pesach Seder, and they've all taken a nap on Erev Pesach - like every Jewish child does - then why the nuts? Actually, maybe the answer is the naps. I mean we all know that no one actually naps on Erev Pesach because they are too excited about the Seder to nap. Oh, but if they are too excited about the Seder to even nap, why do we think they will fall asleep during the Seder?!
Do you get the feeling that we are going around and around in a circle without even knowing that we are in a circle, and certainly without realizing that we are going around in one? Well I certainly had that feeling. In fact I was actually starting to feel dizzy I was going around in that circle so fast. So in the end I did what I do every time I have a tough question - I called my mashpia.
Ever since the Rebbe told us to have a mashpia, I’ve had one, and BH it has saved me from some real problems over the years. Occasionally I’ve forgotten who my mashpia was, but BH I always find a new one, who normally turns out to be the same mashpia that I originally had. But hey, it’s all good.
So I called my mashpia, Reb Zalman, and asked him why the Alter Rebbe says that we should give nuts to the children to keep them awake by the Seder. I explained all my questions, trying not to get Reb Zalman lost in the same circle I was lost in.
Well, I could almost hear Reb Zalman stroking his beard down the telephone as he answered my question. ‘There are two possible answers, Dr Getzel,’ he said. ‘Either we are still worried the children will fall asleep, even though they are very excited about the Seder, so we give them nuts to play with, or we make the adults give the nuts to the children so that way the adults themselves will stay awake, because they will be busy giving the nuts out.’
Enjoy the rest of Pesach, and I hope to see you all at the Moshiach Seuda, with Moshiach!

Dr Getz

 

י"ח ניסן

הרב לוי יצחק Schneerson was born on י“ח ניסן תרל“ח (1878) in the town of Podrovnah (near Gomel) to his parents, ר‘ ברוך שניאור and רביצין זעלדא רחל Schneerson; his great-great grandfather was the צמח צדק .

In 1900 ר‘ לויק married רביצין חנה , whose father, ר‘ מאיר שלמה Yanovski, was the רב of the Russian city of Nikolaiyev. In 1902, their eldest son, מנחם מענדל , who would later become our Rebbe, was born. ר‘ לויק lived in Nikolaiyev until 1909, when he became the רב of Yekatrinoslav (nowadays called Dnepropetrovsk). In 1939 he was arrested by the communists for fighting against their efforts to wipe out אידישקייט and תורה learning in the Soviet Union. After more than a year of torture and interrogations in the terrible Russian prisons, he was sentenced to exile in Alma Ata, deep inside Russia, where he passed away in 1944.
Today in Alma Ata there is a Jewish school, a חב“ד House and שלוחים , and אידן openly celebrate ימים טובים like פסח .

 

שביעי של פסח was when the ים סוף split. On that occasion the simplest of אידן saw revelations that even the נביאים , ישעי‘ and יחזקאל , didn't see: They ALL saw ה‘ and said "זה קלי ואנביהו " - “This is my G-d and I will praise Him. All the אידן  could point to Hashem with their finger and say ‘this is Hashem.’

This is something like what it will be in the days of משיח . That's why חסידות , the teachings of the בעל שם טוב , especially as they are explained in the writings of the Rebbe, is a preparation for משיח because it teaches us to recognize and get excited about ה‘ .
But nevertheless אחרון של פסח is higher and then is when the בעל שם טוב said to make a משיח סעודה .

Because in the splitting of the sea, the sea and the land still remained separate. But, as the נביא tells us in ישעי‘ , משיח will cause the WHOLE WORLD to be filled with the knowledge of ה‘ as the waters cover the sea.

 

A few years ago a young bochur was invited by a חב“ד House in Russia to make a פסח סדר in a nearby town.

The young man, who had recently gotten סמיכה , arrived several weeks before the יום טוב . He went, together with the שליח that invited him, to the Mayor of that town to look for a suitable place to hold the סדר . They were expecting several hundred people and needed a big hall.

After a few minutes the Mayor decided that the only place in his town that would serve their purposes was the Communist meeting hall. When the Communists were in power, they made sure that the biggest building in every town in Russia would be their party meeting hall. The Rabbis and the Mayor went and had a look, and sure enough the place was perfect.

Posters were put up, people were invited personally, and food was brought and prepared. All the pots and dishes had to be new, all the meat had to be strictly כשר , the cooking had to be supervised constantly so that no one would bring חמץ into the kitchen, and the building had to be completely cleaned, kashered and decorated.

All the work paid off. Some three hundred people arrived! Young and old, men and women, all dressed in their nicest clothes and with shining faces. Some came because they remembered celebrating פסח when they were young, some from curiosity, some for a good time. But everyone, whether they knew it or not, came because they were אידן and tonight was פסח .

It took a while to get everyone seated and settled. The Rabbi made a short welcoming speech telling them what to expect. For some of them it was their first סדר in fifty years, and for many the first in their lives. הגדות translated into Russian were handed out, cups were filled with wine, מצות were distributed, and the evening began.

Everyone did what they were told with joy, and listened to the Rabbi's explanations with great interest. They all read aloud from their הגדות   about how ה‘ did great ניסים thousands of years ago, and how He took the אידן out of מצרים . They all ate the מצה , drank four cups of wine, finished their יום טוב meal, sang, and even danced at the proper times.

Everything went smoothly until the כוס של אליהו . This extra cup of wine is poured at the end of the meal to remind us of the imminent arrival of משיח . The bochur explained with enthusiasm how this fifth cup stood for משיח who will arrive any moment to gather all the אידן and make a beautiful new world with the revelation of ה‘ everywhere etc.

Suddenly one of the older men stood up, tapped on the table and said in a booming voice, "Young man! Excuse me please young Rabbi!"

The place went silent and just as they all had listened to the bochur, they now turned to the new speaker. He waited a few seconds and continued.

"We are very grateful to you for this beautiful evening with the wonderful food and wine. Everything is very nice. Very beautiful and very tasty." Everyone in the room turned to one another, nodded their heads in agreement and wondered what he was getting at.

"Everything you said is also very interesting and nice." The man continued. "Beautiful stories; ה‘ took the אידן from מצרים , made miracles...very nice Bible stories. We all love stories.

But what you said about some משיח coming and making a wonderful new world, building a בית המקדש and all this. Please Rabbi, we are grown up people. We are not little children that we believe such nonsense! You are a very nice man and we are very grateful, but please save such foolish stories for your children, not for intelligent grown-ups. Please understand us, dear Rabbi, nothing personal but you are a naive person. You have been locked up in ישיבה and we live in the real world"

Everyone again nodded their heads in agreement. They looked at the Rabbi as though to say "We are sorry, but he's right."

The young rabbi however did not get upset. He waited a few minutes and before the man sat down he replied.

"My friend" he said with a warm smile, "My friends!" he opened his arms and looked around the room.

"Do you realize where we are? Do you realize what we are doing? Do you realize what you are saying!?

If someone would have told you fifteen years ago that you would make a פסח סדר in the COMMUNIST MEETING HALL, would you believe them?

Why, fifteen years ago there was nothing more powerful and secure than Communism, and nothing weaker than אידישקייט ! Communism was the complete opposite and biggest enemy of ה‘ and everyone in Russia was sure that Communism was right.

But here we are! The impossible has happened! Communism has not only fallen, it is becoming transformed to אידישקייט ! So is it really so far-fetched that משיח can change the entire world?"

The man looked at the crowd then back at the young rabbi, straightened up, smiled broadly and said..."BRAVO!!". And the entire crowd broke into applause

 

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