Pesach

My wife started cooking last night, and out of all the people, my oldest son wanted to join her and help.  The reason, he explained, was that he remembers every year, since he was younger, working and making special Pesach food with her.

Last year, I once asked the kids that if they had a choice to stay at home for Pesach or go to a hotel, what would they choose?  They all agreed that they would want to stay at home.

My wife noticed that despite all the stress and yelling that occurs shortly before Pesach, if one really puts their physical and emotional power into making the Yom Tov meaningful; the childen will still remember only the good and look forward to it with excitement.

I heard a wonderful talk from Rav Breitowitz a few days ago.  He made some very nice points about the Seder and I thought to share one of them with you.

As we know, Pesach is not only about the birth and freedom of one nation from another, but it also is a time where one has more “mazal” to free himself from the shackles of the Yetzer Horah.  Pesach is not just a national time, but also a personal one as well.

The main part of the Seder is the explanation of the Korban Pesach, the Matzah and Marror.  Rav Breitowitz explained these three things as steps to inner growth, however, he explained them in reverse order.

“First” is the marror, which we all know represents bitterness.  The first step to any form of self-improvement is the most bitter step: the soul-searching and admitting one's shortcomings.  Actually acknowledging that you actually have what to work on and admitting exactly what that issue is.

Second comes the matzah.  What’s the difference between matzah and chametz?  Simply ... action.  If one mixes flour and water and leaves it be, it will become chametz.  However, if immediately one begins to work with the dough and get it into the oven as soon as possible, it will become matzah.

Similarly, if a person, even if he knows what his problem is, doesn’t start working on himself immediately, he will never move forward.  His laziness will continue to keep him down, making him unable to move forward.

Finally is the Korban Pesach.  Halachically speaking, one should eat the Korban Pesach in a group.  Another key component to successful growth is being part of a group.  It could be one's spouse, one’s immediate family, one’s group of friends, or even a community.  If one is part of something that is bigger than he is, quantitatively and spiritually, they will help him and provide him with the inertia to continue upwards.

Rav Breitowitz than asked, this order seems so logical, why does the Hagaddah say Korban Pesach first and Marror last?  He answers that first, one needs to be part of something bigger than himself to help him along.  Afterwards, comes the matzah.  A person who is willing to admit his ways are wrong, but is unwilling to do something about it, will not move anywhere.  First, he needs to have the desire and the will to take action.  Only then, will he be able to start with Marror and start looking into which character traits he needs to improve.

As we see, Pesach is not only about our national birth and rebirth, but is a very proper time for one to start his life anew.

Have a wonderful and meaningful Pesach! 

My apologies for the repeat Dvar Torah sent this past week.  Technical issue.

I hope everybody is enjoying their Pesach.  After a year of lockdowns, Israel is seeing its biggest traffic issue in history.  Every possible place is full of people and the roads are jammed.

Thankfully, I was able to rent a seven-seater privately from somebody (I named it "The Millennium Falcon" … that's how old and cranky it is), and more thankfully, I've been fortunate to find hiking trails within a 20-minute radius from where I live, that nobody knows about.  Yesterday, we did an 8-km hike in the forest, and today a 3.5-km hike around a Jewish village.  We’re having a nice time, enjoying the weather and scenery in Northern Israel.  It's hard to get better than that.

While the hikes were very enjoyable and relaxing, the first hike was … different.  After 20 minutes or so, the kids spotted three horses further up on the trail.  They were really excited.  REAL horses!  However, the excitement quickly changed as we got closer and they realized: the horses were not moving out of the way.

There was a father horse, a mother horse, and a baby horse.  And, for those women who complain that their husbands are lazy sacks of meat … well … the baby horse was following us around; the mother horse was guarding over the baby horse, and the father horse was oblivious to everything and was off to the side eating.  So, it's in our nature.

We were able to pet the horses and get past them, at least my wife and I, since the rest of the kids were shivering in fear.  The hike was scrubbed.

Oh well ….

There is a story of the Arizal who once told his talmidim to get ready to go to Yerushaliyim via Kabbalistic channels.  Some of those talmidim, though, wanted first to go to their homes and tell their wives.  Immediately, the Arizal broke down crying and said "Oy! that you did not agree to go immediately, for we could have gone to Yerushaliyim and brought the Redemption!"  Rav Pincus asked the obvious question: What's wrong with what they did?  Going to tell their wives is basic derech eretz!  But it's obvious that even the Arizal knew that, and if he said that they need to go immediately, one should have enough trust in his rav to know that there is a good reason that "basic derech eretz" is overridden.

What did they do wrong?  Rav Pincus answers that It's comparable to a yeshiva bochur about to go to yeshiva for the first time.  He knows that his life is now changing and there are a few things that he will not be able to do any more.  Not because they are forbidden, but because it's not "age-appropriate." So, before he goes to yeshivah, he does these things one last time.

When a person makes upward changes in his life, he knows that there are certain things that will no longer be appropriate for him.  However, it's hard for him to give them up.  That's natural.  However, if one truly desires what he is going for, he will forgo those things from his past.

When we say, "Next Year in Yerushaliyim," our desire is so great that we don't care for all the things in our past.  We will happily forgo those "fun things" for the spiritual pleasure that we will receive when Moshiach comes.

This is what the Arizal saw in his talmidim.  Yes, they wanted Yerushaliyim and the Redemption, but they did not want it badly enough.  They still felt a connection with their "normal lives" and wanted to go home "one last time."  If we truly want Moshiach and feel that it's more important than anything in the world, then we will truly see it.

Well, our fourth elections in two years are done!  Can't wait for the fifth….

It turns out that the timing of the elections were perfect.  Instead of getting in the way of Pesach cleaning, the kids went out from (local) party headquarters to party headquarters collecting shirts, hats, posters, etc. from all the different parties.  We even have a few "Lieberman" t-shirts (probably the most anti-religious Knesset member of recent times).  They were out most of the day.  The downside is … we now have tons of election junk, and my youngest has declared that we will be holding elections in the house today. I wonder who's going to be running for "Abba. " I'm not; I need a vacation.

The climax of the Seder night is Hallel, the praises we sing to Hashem near the end.  It's a culmination of the realization of the good that Hashem has done for us on a national level and on a personal level.  Had Hashem not taken us out of Egypt…. Whether that be the national "Egypt" or the personal "Egypt," we have what to be thankful for.

The whole point of the Seder is to arrive at Hallel in an emotional state, to want to give thanks to Hashem for everything that He has given us.

The Gemara (Shabbos 118b) recalls a statement by Rebbe Yosi, who said, "May my portion be like those who recite Hallel every day."  The Gemara questions this, because we have another teaching that states clearly that somebody who recites Hallel every day is like somebody who curses Hashem!  The Gemara answers that Rebbe Yosi was speaking about Pesukei Dzimra, which is recited every morning and contains elements of Hallel, while the Gemara was speaking of Hallel itself.

How can we explain this?

I'll give a small example.  Unfortunately, or fortunately (depends on who you are), for a few years now, my wife and I, in general, do not give our tzedakah to bigger organizations, unless we have a personal connection to them.  We prefer to give to smaller places that we know or individuals.  Why?  It's not because we're against them or what they do, but unfortunately, once you are on their list, they call you far more often, and use the line, "…but last time you gave X amount…." On top of that, they end up sharing your number with other organizations, and the next thing you know, you can't answer your phone, since you have no idea if it's somebody else trying to get money from you.  In the end, you don't exactly have the fondest feelings for the organization.

This is what happens when a person recites Hallel every day.

Hallel, the height of the Seder, is reserved for very special times, where we have a clear recognition of all the good that Hashem has given us.  It usually is reserved for times of miracles.  For us to say it every day, would not only cheapen Hallel itself, but also cheapen our relationship with Hashem.

On the other hand, we DO need to recognize Hashem's greatness every day, or we wouldn't have a relationship with Him at all!  So, for this, we have Pesukei Dzimra, with which we open our davening, every morning.

What many people don't know (or don't care to remember), is that Pesukei Dzimra is something of great importance.  The Beis Yosef writes that one should be careful to come to shul on time and to say it properly and in order; for if it's said out of order, the "spiritual pipelines" that connect a person to Heaven get "messed up."  The Mishna Brurah writes that one should say each word carefully, as if he were counting money, and that saying Pesukei Dzimra properly can destroy certain spiritual blemishes.  I also remembering seeing somewhere, though I cannot remember exactly, that one of the things a person is judged on in the World to Come is if he said Pesukei Dzimra properly.

Who would have thought that something that is treated so lightly by the public is so important?

This is a nice project one can work on this Pesach.  The first is the Hallel we say at the Seder, which is based on the recognition of what Hashem has done and continues to do on a national and personal level.  Then, starting the next morning, when the Yetzer Horah has extra power, due to the late night before, we can try to come to shul on time or even a few minutes earlier, to say Pesukei Dzimra properly, showing that even when we're exhausted, we recognize the goodness that Hashem gives us each and every day.

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the L-rd, our G‑d, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children and our children's children would have remained enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.”

It’s a famous question.  If Hashem didn’t take us out of Egypt, would we REALLY be slaves to Pharaoh today?  After all, Egypt, along with every other empire since, has been destroyed and, at most, remembered in the history books.

I saw an interesting way of answering this question from a sefer of Rav Pinto.  What’s interesting is, it helps me understand why the following section was put in the Haggadah, and specifically right after the section mentioned above:

“Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah said: "I am like a man of seventy years old, yet I did not succeed in proving that the exodus from Egypt must be mentioned at night-until Ben Zoma explained it: "It is said, `That you may remember the day you left Egypt all the days of your life;' now `the days of your life' refers to the days, [and the additional word] `all' indicates the inclusion of the nights!"”

So…what’s the connection between the first and second quote?

The Gemara (Berachos 9a) writes, “Rebbe Abba says that everybody agrees that the Jewish nation was REDEEMED at night, as the pasuk says, ‘Hashem took you out of Egypt at night’ (Devarim 16:1), and that they LEFT during the day, as the pasuk says, ‘on the day following the Passover sacrifice, the children of Israel left triumphantly before the eyes of all the Egyptians’"(Bamidbar 33:3). 

It was at night where Pharaoh "released" the Jewish people from slavery.  Hence, our redemption was at night.  However, it was during the day that we actually left.  During that brief period, from the middle of the night to the day, we were spiritually free, yet we were still physically in Egypt.   

Therefore, there were two "redemption," the spiritual and the physical.  Many nations have rose, shone bright, and collapsed.  No empire has lasted forever.  However, the spiritual redemption does last forever, and so does spiritual deterioration (as we see with intermarriage).  That is what the Hagaddah is speaking about.  If we were not spiritually redeemed, we would still be spiritual slaves and lost forever.

Now, the Torah makes it a point that Hashem took us out Himself and not through a messenger or an angel.  Yet, at the same time, one can easily argue that Moshe was His messenger.

With the answer above, we can apply the same thing.  Hashem Himself took us spiritually out of Egypt, while Moshe, His messenger, took us out physically.

But, it gets even deeper.  Anything that man does, on a physical level, does not last forever.  However, anything that Hashem does, or man does spiritually, does last forever.  That is why, time and time again, we have been exiled physically, yet time and time again, we have lasted spiritually.  Our physical status, as a nation and as individuals, can change.  But our spiritual situation is something that we ALWAYS have the ability to change.  We have been and remain spiritually free!  We can choose to put ourselves in a spiritual exile or we can choose to come closer to Hashem.  While our physical status is always up in the air, our spiritual status is entirely up to us.

We are about to go into Shabbos HaGadol, the Shabbos before Pesach.  It is on this day we commemorate how we designated a sheep, one of the Egyptian gods, to be used for our Korban Pesach.  Shortly after this designation, Hashem destroyed everything left in Egypt, man or god.  Everything they believed and trusted in, was completed destroyed.

We are currently watching a complete overturn of everything that WE believe in.  Money, healthcare, science, entertainment, big-business, government…ourselves.  Everything!  When has the world seen such a thing on such a level?  This is what causes governments and societies to collapse.

Let us be honest with ourselves.  How much energy have we invested in these things in our lives?  And I’m not talking about the times where we are using them properly (such as working for a living, or taking a simple vacation to unwind), I’m talking about our focus in lives.  We’re all guilty of it.  We have all put tons of time, money, and discussion investing in such important things such as politics, sports, news, investments, television, internet, etc., which are not worth much in the end.

We spent hundreds of years in Egypt and we were affected by it.  We began to think like Egyptians and prioritize what was important like the Egyptians.  And we’re no different.  We’ve been living in America, England, Israel, etc., all in exile.  It’s only natural that we too are affected by our surroundings, and to focus on what our host nations focus on.  However, those surroundings are collapsing around us and on top of us.

The time we were given our freedom by Pharaoh and the time we physically left, was simply one night.  One night of pure terror around Egypt.  Every Jew was in his home with his family, hearing the screams around him.  But, the Jew remained in his home, focused on Hashem and his eventual freedom.

This is all undoubtedly a wake-up message for us all.  Perhaps we should use this auspicious time properly, from now, Shabbos HaGadol to at least the end of Pesach, to not only physically be in our homes (which we have no choice about) but to also be spiritually in our homes.  Perhaps we need to follow the footsteps of our fathers shortly before their redemption, by focusing less on what’s going on in the outside world, less news, less blogs, less entertainment, etc., and adding on a bit more spirituality to our lives, in some way, each on their own level, and hopefully, we too will be given our own Pesach with the coming of Moshiach.

I was on the bus a few weeks ago, on a Friday morning, when a 16 year-old boy earrings and all, got on, and as he walked past me, he said “Shabbat Shalom."  I naturally turned and responded likewise to him.  However, I started to wonder if he was being honest, or he was trying to make fun of me.  Obviously, it’s best to “err” on the safe side and assume he was being honest, but still…

Within a minute, he returned to my seat and said, “May I ask the rav a question?”  (I love living in a secular city--I’m always “a rav” and people will speak to me in third person).  He continued with a question he had about how he put on tefillin this morning.  He then explained that he’s working slowly on become a ba’al tshuvah and how he’s going about it. (p.s. Thankfully 'the rav' knew the answer to his question)

I was pleasantly surprised, naturally, and I thought, this is an “Only-In-Israel” moment. It’s not the first time I’ve seen things like this.  Many times, I’ve seen people with their arms full of tattoos, putting on tefillin every day, even if just to say Shema.  When looking at a person, you really don’t know who you’re looking at.

Okay, on to Pesach.

I was listening to a talk given by Rav Zisha Salomon, the Moshgiach of Toras Simcha.  Actually, like many of his talks, I’ve listened to it several times.  He asked a very interesting question, which, quite frankly, I never thought of, despite being a glaring question.

We know that Hashem took us out of Egypt “in a hurry," because of the low spiritual level we were in.  Had we remained there any longer, we would not have been redeemable.  Not only that, but Hashem specifically gave us two mitzvos, Bris Milah and Korban Pesach, in order to give us some merit to “allow” Him to bring us out.  You would think that this is a bit strange.  After all, did the Jewish people not witness firsthand the awesome miracles that Hashem did? And given that the whole “Miracle Season” lasted an entire year, you would think that the spiritual level of the nation would only go up, yet we see that, if anything, it continued to drop.

The answer lies in a person’s education and subsequent outlook in life.  For over 200 years, the Jewish people served Pharaoh.  He was the undisputed leader of the world.  He was even considered a god.  And this was a simple “fact of life."  And when we are raised with such things, there is very little that can be done to undo it.  He cited a friend of his who is heavily involved with Jewish outreach and was once speaking to a board of directors of a (more modern) Jewish school.  The head of the board made his point on something, and this rav quoted a Mishnah from Pirkei Avos to the contrary.  The head of the board shook his head and said, “That’s a very un-Jewish thought--VERY un-Jewish!”  How could somebody, a head of a Jewish school for that matter, say that a Mishna in Pirkei Avos is “Un-Jewish”?  Simple, because what he considered “Jewish” is different to what the Torah considers Jewish.  And anything that goes against what he believes simply cannot be Jewish.

This is what happened in Egypt.  And this is specifically why the mitzvos of Bris MIlah and Korban Pesach were chosen to be the merit to bring them out.  When the Jewish people started to grow, they stopped doing Bris Millah.  After all, they wanted to be like the Egyptians.  So, Hashem was giving them the ability to correct that fault and become “Jewish” again.  And so too with taking the lamb, one of the Egyptian gods, and slaughtering it in front of their eyes.  This was to rectify that idol worship and the non-Jewish ideas and thoughts that they allowed into their homes.

And from this we see why a year’s worth of miracles did not help inspire the Jewish nation to higher levels.  When a person has these ideas ingrained in them, even seeing miracle after miracle will not make a dent.  And that is why it is nonsense when people say, “If G-d does a miracle for me and I see it with my own eyes, I’ll believe in him."  It’s not true, because when a person does not want to believe something (such as a Mishnah not being Jewish), nothing will change his mind.  And even if he IS open to other ideas, which we can assume the Jewish people were, inspiration means nothing without being followed by immediate action.  A person can be inspired by a chazzon on Rosh HaShanah, but after the davening, is he a better person?  No, of course not.  Unless, he uses that inspiration immediately, and translates it into action.  In fact, inspiration without action is not only NOT neutral, but in fact, negative.  For when one gets inspired and does not follow up on the inspiration, he becomes a bit “colder” to future inspiring moments.

This is why the Jewish people did not attain higher levels throughout the ten plagues.  They saw a lot, they were certainly inspired a lot, but they did not yet have the mitzvos to take that inspiration and make a permanent change in their lives.

Perhaps this Pesach we can take the inspiration of the birth of the Jewish people, and make it stick with some sort of action plan.

Have a great Pesach!

I sent my oldest daughter to the store to buy a few beets.  She came home with eggplant.

Mental note:  When asking Israeli children to buy things, speak to them in Hebrew.

Right after Dayeinu, the Haggadah goes over all the levels one more time and ends with thanking Hashem for building the Beis HaMikdash in order to atone for our sins.  The Malbim asks, why do we need to mention “in order to atone for our sins”?  We’re at the Pesach Seder, we’re not discussing sin, nor is it really the most appropriate time to bring it up!

He answers his own question with the following:  In Dayeinu, we are thanking Hashem for individual things that He has given to us, each one greater than the other.  Had He given us Level 1, it would have been worthy of great thanks.  But, not only did He give us Level 1, He also gave us Level 2!  How much more so should we be thankful!  Not only did He give us Level 2, but He ALSO gave us Level 3!!!...  This continues until the building of the Beis HaMikdash.

The Malbim explains that the more and more that Hashem chooses to give us, the more we are obligated to be thankful for such things. This is after all, one of the major points of Pesach night, to show gratitude for what Hashem did for us.  However, if we fail to show proper gratitude, we are, in an essence, taking a gift from Hashem without any recognition and this is in itself a sin.  Therefore, the last stage is the Beis Hamikdash which was built to help atone for our sins.  Perhaps, we have not been careful to recognize the good that He gave us, and therefore, we need to rectify that particular blemish.

May we use this year’s Pesach night appropriately and finish it with true feelings of thanks and gratitude that Hashem not only did for our forefathers, but for us as well.

Have a great Shabbos and Pesach!

My wife and I had a . . . discussion on whether or not we should clean certain toys or if checking them for chametz is good enough. I’ll let you figure out who the non-Jew was in this argument . . . I mean . . . discussion.

So, we agreed to call the rav and see what he says. I posed the question to him and he answered, “It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, checking it is fine. You won’t find enough of anything to be considered chametz. If you ask my wife however, she will tell you that OF COURSE you have to clean it, because the kids have dirty hands with chametz, chew gum, etc. etc. . . . So, in the end . . . do what you want.”

So, when I told my wife, I thought what he said was pretty clear and she held that he was in doubt on what we should do.

I’m beginning to understand how we have so many arguments in Gemara and halacha. Two different people hear the words of one person and come up with two different answers.

Needless to say . . . we locked those toys up in the end.

Women.

Okay, on to Torah!
I heard a wonderful piece from Rav Yaakov Leonard this past week. It was one of many, but this particular piece stood above.

We know that Pesach is a time of tshuvah, repentance. However, it’s missing all the elements that are associated with tshuvah. We don’t wake up early to say slichos. We don’t fast. We don’t say viduy. In fact, it’s a time of joy! We don’t say tachnun the entire month!

We can bring in the case of two different people.

The first person grew up in a very religious home. Went to the best yeshivos and has proven to be a Ben Torah. However, he made a mistake, and ended up doing a big sin. After realizing what he did, he went to his rav and spoke it over with him. The rav told him to say viduy and gave him a program to help him complete his tshuvah and to see that he doesn’t fall in that particular area again.

The second person was raised by the mafia. All he has known his whole life is stealing and swindling. One day he wakes up and realizes that he needs to change his life around. So, he goes to his local rav. What does the rav do? Does his tell him to say viduy? Does he give him some “12-step program”? No! For this particular person, he needs an entire change in his outlook in life. He requires a complete rewiring of his life and his mentality. Viduy won’t do a thing!

Everybody who grew up non-religious and changed his life completely around can understand where the second person is coming from. Things that used to be funny, now sicken him. Things that bothered him, no longer do. It’s not that he has kept his outlook in life, but now keeps Shabbos and kosher, it’s more than that. He’s a completely different person!

My wife and I once came to the conclusion that if we both remained where we were going in life, we would have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Nothing. But what we were is not who we are now.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the time for the first person. It’s a time we focus on our sins and try to clean them up, and see that they don’t happen again.

Pesach on the other hand, is the time for the second person. We’re not focusing on sins. We’re focusing on our entire essence. When we were taken out of Egypt, we went from one spiritual plane of existence, to a completely different plane of existence that we didn’t even know about. THAT is the repentance of Pesach. On Pesach, especially Seder night, we have the ability to jump from one level to another level. We need to obviously learn and focus on what we want to become in our lives, but this is the time to help change things around.

On Pesach night, we can decide and begin the process of going where we want to be in life, of changing ourselves. We then have seven weeks to Shavuous, to work on that change and ingrain that change into our souls.

Have a wonderful and meaningful Pesach!

Michael Winner

Do you know why women can’t become rabbis? It’s very simple. They have complete "control" over a few aspects in life, where their word is THE word. One of them is, of course, cleaning for Pesach. And we know that if the Shulcan Oruch says we should clean like this, and your wife responds, “Why is he so lenient? Is he even Jewish?” we follow the opinion of The Wife. Can you imagine if they were in charge of everything?? If people complain that rabbanim today are too stringent . . .

Okay, on to Torah!
I saw an interesting question on the Haggadah Talelei Oros, “Our current exile—the last one before the Final Redemption—is very different from the exile we endured in Egypt. Pharaoh made us into slaves. We were impoverished and severely afflicted. Looking around today, however, many countries give Jews equal rights and complete freedom, and most of us are quite comfortable and well off. One needs to wonder, 'Why has the Holy One arranged things this way for our generation, as we near the promised end?'"

Of course . . . he brings an answer (from the Malbim) and of course . . . it’s a parable . . . and of course . . . it’s about a king and his son!! What’s a Pesach story (or any Jewish story for that matter) without one of those!

Our king had a son . . . of course, an only son, who tended to not really care about the concept of good behavior. Finally, after spending thousands of dollars on therapists, psychologist, hypnotists, army drill sergeants, and the like, the father decided to send his son away where he was forced to do hard labor.

Naturally, within a short while, the father started receiving letters from his son, begging him to take him back, promising him that he will be a better person. The father, feeling his son’s pain, brought him home.

Within a short while, the son was back at it again, and the father sent him away once again. Not long after that, the father started receiving the same letters as before, with the same promises.

This time the king was doubtful: "Maybe he regrets his sinful behavior only because he is suffering. But when he will be ridded of his suffering, he probably will return to evil."

So, the king sent a messenger to free his son, but it was kept a secret that the money came from the king. If after being free he would continue to be allowed back home, it’s a sign that he really repented. However, if he continued on with his life, showing no interest in coming home . . .

The Malbim concludes, "In the same way, we say at the seder, 'This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in Egypt.' These days (mid- to late-1800s when being written, but certainly applicable today), thanks to Hashem, our situation is considerably better than it was in Egypt. We are well off and comfortable, so we are even able to invite others into our homes to share our blessings. We ask, nevertheless, 'Next year in the Land of Israel,' for in our exile, we cannot fulfill the mitzvos that are dependent upon living in the Holy Land. Although we are comfortable, we want to come home! We yearn to be free to do everything that the King wants – every mitzvah of the Torah! Yes, we have been sent from the 'palace' because of our sins, but we truly want to return!'"

I’m not sure what next week will bring, so if we don’t speak then, I would like to wish you all a wonderful Pesach and a great Shabbos, and we’ll see each other in a few weeks' time!

Michael Winner

The morning after we switched over the kitchen, my son came down and in complete disbelief cried out, "Mommy! Somebody came and took out all the Pesach stuff!" Later in the day, I took out all the kids to contemplate my suicide, and allow my wife to cook. When we returned, he cried out, "Mommy! Somebody made a HUGE mess!" The next morning, after my wife spent hours cleaning up, he came down and saw it was all clean and cried out, "Mommy! Somebody cleaned up the huge mess!"

Getting tired of witnessing proof that she failed to pass down her "brain genes", she asked, "Who do you think cleaned it up?"

After giving it some thought, he answered, "Oh! Abba must have!"

I guess it's better than "the Pesach elves"...

I saw a very powerful minute and a half video of Sir Nicholas George Winton, a person responsible for saving 669 Jewish children from the Nazis, by bringing them to England before the war began. It was a clip from a show in the 1980s, where he was sitting in the front row of the audience and the host was speaking of his accomplishments. She then pointed out that they found one of the Jewish children and told him that she is now sitting next to him in the audience. Obviously, it was quite an emotional ‘reunion’. The video skips ahead to further on in the show and the host asks, “In fact, is there anybody else in the audience who owes their life directly to Sir Winton?” Several rows of people surrounding him slowly stood up in silence. He looked to both sides of him, stood up, turned around, saw the amount of people that he saved, and realized the enormity of what he accomplished. He then silently turned back around, sat down, and wiped the tears from his eyes. Not only did he save 669 children, but countless of their future descendants.

My wife recently heard a talk given by Rav Zev Leff. He said that we all know that in the game of “Telephone”, the final message is most likely going to be quite different than the original message given. Especially as the “line” grows longer. He then pointed out what it would be like if you had 600,000 people in a row, and each of those 600,000 people was a head of its own “Telephone Line”. Undoubtedly, by the time the message got to just the 10th person in each row, you would have 600,000 different messages.

Yet, Judaism doesn’t seem to be that way. We have a solid mesorah (transmission) on what happened in Egypt, the Red Sea, and at Sinai. We don’t have 600,000 different versions; we have one! And no, you cannot say, “What about the Reform or Conservative versions?” because they have no “versions”. They have no mesorah for what happened. They simply have “re-interpreted” the story in order to fit it to their social beliefs of the day.

Every Pesach for 3300 years, each Jewish family has sat down and transmitted the history of the birth of the Jewish nation. Those who have changed the history or “re-interpreted” it only ended up with their “line” cut while others have seen their lines branch out and grow.

After seeing the above-mentioned clip, I was thinking about a friend of mine with ten children, and several grand-children (only the first four are married so far). True, my friend didn’t “save” any children in the traditional sense, yet, he has created Jewish children who are carrying on the transmissions, and who knows? Possibly 100 grandchildren who will come into this world continuing this ONE version of the original story as a result!

By sitting down at the Seder table and properly transmitting over the birth of the Jewish people, you are in essence, saving who-knows how many Jewish children from a spiritual demise. You are also participating in the ongoing miracle of “Torah Telephone”, transmitting the Torah from one generation into the next. THAT, says Rav Leff, is how we fulfill our obligation to feel as if we personally left Egypt. By transmitting the same details as the original witnesses testified, we are in essence reliving what they once witnessed.

Have a great Pesach and Shabbos!

* Please note that the Frum.org staff will be taking off all of Pesach and will hopefully be returning shortly after. I’m also not planning to be around checking my email during Pesach at all, so if you write and don’t hear back from me, you now know why.

“These are the times that try men’s souls…”

It is quite obvious to me that Thomas Paine was speaking about Pesach cleaning when the children are off of school. It came to a point when I wanted to yell out, “Who wants to be executed?!?!?!?” and knowing them and their lack of English for any word that’s more than two syllables, they would all yell, “I do!!!!!” and then start fighting over who was going to go first….

At least the end is near.

This year, with what little time I had, I was able to listen to a talk from Rav Shimshon Pincus on Pesach.

He spoke about the importance of Pesach in one’s personal development. It’s no coincidence that Pesach is mentioned in the Torah as a holiday that is to fall out in the spring. Just as spring is a time of birth and growth in the natural sense, so is Pesach in the spiritual sense. It is a time when the Jewish people were born, and each individual has the power to transform himself for the upcoming year.

The Seder, says Rav Pincus, is our way of recreating Man. What is man? Science writes that we are mere animals with intelligence. However, the Torah says that man is a being which has the power to connect to Hashem. Without that connection, science is right; we are merely animals with intelligence.

The Gemara says that there are three partners in creating a person. A man, a woman, and Hashem. The man provides that “whites” of the body, such as the bones. The woman provides the “reds” of the body, such as the blood, and Hashem provides the neshama, or soul.

The matzah which we eat, represents the “white,” or the bones. It’s the skeletal structure which gives man the basic form. The matzah is also referred to as the “bread of faith.” It’s when a person eats food he can feel closest to Hashem (which is a whole different talk). He can feel the difference in his body as he eats, as if he is moving away from death (hunger) to life (energy). From this simple act of eating, a person can grasp the basic fundamentals of emunah, faith, in Hashem. It is Hashem Who created his body to act in such a way, and it is Hashem Who has given him food to sustain him.

The wine, which preferably should be red, is the blood of a person. Wine provides energy and excitement. That is why wine is drunk four times throughout the Seder. The entire Seder, like all mitzvos, should be done with excitement and love, and wine helps bring a person to that stage.

And the telling of our freedom from Egypt is the soul, which Hashem provided.

Now, we have an additional understanding of why Matzah is a Torah obligation and wine is Rabbinic. Emunah, the basic belief in Hashem’s involvement in our lives, is the basic, minimum, obligation. However, the excitement in a mitzvah is something that cannot be commanded. It has to come from the heart (like blood), and must be produced by the individual himself, each on his own level.

Rav Pincus continued to speak about Karpas, the eating of the vegetable after Kiddush. Nowhere in the Beis HaMikdash do we see vegetables being offered as an offering. We see meat, wine, and water, but no vegetables. There’s no “importance” to them. The Gemara itself asks, why do we eat a vegetable at the Seder? It answers, to prompt the children to ask why are we doing something so different. So, the entire point of the vegetable is to prompt the child to ask questions.

There are two levels of understanding Hashem. One is the very basic understanding, and one is a deeper understanding. I was trying to think of a good comparison that everybody would understand. I don’t know why, but the American national anthem came to mind. You have a very basic understanding of the anthem, even if you don’t understand all the words: “There was an overnight battle. The American fort held on, and its flag continued to fly at the end.” Great. You don’t need to understand exactly what a “rampart” is, or even know what war it was, or where it was. All you know is some bad people came, tried to kill the Americans, and the Americans held firm. Yeah!

On the other hand, when you understand that it was written by an American lawyer who was on an English warship at Fort McHenry, at the wrong time in the War of 1812, and the Americans were flying a super-large “in-your-face” flag on top of the fort to taunt the British, and things, at the time, were not going well for the Americans, then you have a greater and deeper appreciation for the words.

That being said… our understanding of Hashem and his Torah have two different levels. There’s the lower level, which a “child” understands; there IS Hashem in this world and He took us out of Egypt. And then there are deeper understandings of all the mitzvos and Jewish concepts. The karpas represents the lower level. It’s to prompt the “child” within us to ask basic questions and gain basic understandings of our relationship with Hashem.

If so, why do we not start the Seder with Karpas? Why do we start with Kiddish, which is deeper? Rav Pincus answers that sometimes, such as Seder night, we need to “skip levels.” Sometimes, we don’t, nor should we, wait for the “basics.” Sometimes, we need to act on a deeper level, even though we might not be holding there at this time. Of course, this is on condition that we eventually go back to the karpas, and understand everything on a basic level. One can, temporarily, skip levels, but one must always make sure he has a fundamental understanding of the basics.

From here Rav Pincus urges us never to give in to the temptation to say about the Pesach Seder, “Who am I to get excited about these things? I’m not on the appropriate level to be acting all religious and fanatical. I’ll do my basic obligations and that’s it.”

Pesach is a time of immense spiritual overflow. He gives us a spiritual “high” on the first day of Pesach, which nobody is fit for, even the greatest tzaddikim. The next day, He brings us back down to our regular level and gives us 49 days to bring ourselves up, so by Shavous we would be fit to receive the Torah.

May we use this Pesach appropriately, and truly grow in our relationship with Hashem.

Have a wonderful Pesach and we’ll see each other again for Parshas Kedoshim.

Michael Winner

Wow... the whirlwind of Pesach...

I'm thankful that we have access to the outside. For years, we lived in apartment buildings, with no access to any gardens. Now, we have a small private garden, which has served as Chametz Central over the past few days, relieving us of too much worry with a Pesach-clean home. Right now, I'm sitting outside with the kids, after burning the chametz, while my wife finishes up the cooking. We're going to start the bath cycle soon, followed by lunch and an obligatory nap for everybody. I'm hoping for a good seder this year.

Okay, on to Torah!


In kiddish on Shabbos and Yom Tov, we say "... Who chose us from all other nations..."

The Bircas Avraham (Rav Avraham Erlinger) asks, why is it only in kiddish and the brachos on the Torah we say every morning, do we mention that we are different from every other nation, while every other bracha we make, we only say, "Who sanctifies us with his mitzvos"?

He answers that there are some things that the Jewish nation and the other nations have in common. We have a "day of rest", they have a day of rest. We have holidays, and they have holidays. But what's the difference?

When Christians, for example, have Sunday, it's a day of rest. Perhaps they go to church for a bit in the morning, but that's about it. The rest of the day is "theirs". On the other hand, we don't have a day of rest; we have Shabbos. It's a day that we use to put "a stop" on life, and to refocus our energies towards Hashem.

When they have their holidays, it's usually a commemoration of something. It's a day on the calander that has no kedusha, holiness, to it. However, for us, we don't "commemorate". We re-live. The day in the Jewish calander has a kedusha to it that no other day has. Pesach night, for example, is a moment of extreme closeness between Hashem and the Jewish nation. It's not a mere commemoration of our exodus, or our freedom, it is a night where we re-live the exodus and the spiritual forces at work are similar, or perhaps even the same, as those at work 3300 years ago.

THAT is the reason for the change in text in our kiddish. Because, we ARE different in how we relate to our "day of rest" and our holidays. For the rest of the world, it's a day off, a day to relax. For us, each Shabbos, each holiday, each Pesach, is a special day full of special kedusha that, if used appropriately, can lift a person to new spiritual heights.

Have a wonderful Pesach!

I’ve learned a few lessons over the years on how to successfully clean for Pesach without resulting in a divorce. Thankfully, my wife and I work well as a team and have both followed some basic rules to keep things as friendly as possible.

1. Have a competent rav who a) knows halacha well b) knows the various customs of the community c) knows you well d) is somebody both you and your wife trust. I, for example, had a whole slew of different questions this year; since we’re in a different location and a different kitchen (we have KOSHER SINKS!!!). One morning, I called my rav. He picked up the phone and grumpily said, “I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to waste these precious moments I have with my coffee with you. I’ll call you back in five minutes”. Five minutes later, he called me back; sounding a little more chipper (he’s addicted).

2. Have a vacuum. We never did until this year, since we don’t have carpeting. It seems that vacuums can be used for non-carpeting materials. What a time-saver!

3. Be organized and start cleaning early (duh!)

4. Make sure your wife is friends with somebody whose husband is a lazy bum and doesn’t help a bit. You’ll earn points right there.

5. Never answer your wife’s requests with a salute and a “Yavul, mon fuehrer!” Trust me on this one.

With these simple rules, Pesach is much easier.

In terms of our Pesach schedule, Frum.org will be taking a break next Shabbos. One, is because on Chol HaMoed I don’t have to work. Therefore, I have no interest in touching my computer, unless I need to. Also, since next Shabbos, is just a regular Shabbos for us in Eretz Yisroel and it’s the last day of Pesach for those outside of the Eretz; for the next few weeks, we’ll be one parsha ahead of you guys. So, it will give me an extra week to prepare something good, since I’ll follow the non-Eretz Yisroel calendar in this case.

Okay, on to Torah!

I heard an interesting shiur this year from Rav Barclay from Neve Yaakov (Jerusalem). He explained that the center of the Haggadah is not necessarily the story or the questions. It’s Hallel. It’s the song of praise and thanks that we give Hashem, right after we eat the meal. It’s unfortunately, also something we tend to speed through.

He said in the name of Rav Shlomo Brevda, that while strengthening our emunah, faith, in Hashem is a big part of the Seder, it is not the main point. Rather, the main point is to thank Hashem and to show our hakaras hatov (appreciation) for everything he did for us.

This explains (at least) two things about the setup of the Hagaddah.

The first is concerning what is going on for most of the Hagaddah between the Four Questions and the Matzah. The Haggadah takes the verses from the Torah concerning Bikkurim, and elaborates on each of the verses. These verses were said by a farmer when he bought his Bikkurim (first fruits) to the Beis HaMikdash. There, he read these verses which explain a brief ‘history’ of the Jewish people from the time of Avraham to our exodus from Egypt.

If we were to write the Hagaddah, we would focus on what actually happened in Egypt, going through all the parshos that dealt with the story. Why are we using Bikkurim as the main focus? Because, these verses were said in gratitude to Hashem by the farmer for everything Hashem gave him. The whole point of Bikkurim was to allow the farmer to show his appreciation.

We also see, shortly before we begin the first part of Hallel, the famous ‘song’ of Dayeinu. Why is Dayeinu placed here? Because, before we can praise Hashem for everything He has done for us, we need to enumerate all the things He has done for us. Only AFTER that, can we properly sing praises!

This year, let’s try to focus on our appreciation for everything Hashem has given us. He took us from the depths of Egypt and brought us to Eretz Yisroel. And even though we have been in exile for 2000 years, we are free today to live as Jews and to learn as Jews. We are living amongst material wealth that our ancestors have never seen. We are free to sit and learn Torah without persecution. We have homes, families, jobs, etc… we all have different levels of brachos, which we can count. This year, let us SING Hallel in full appreciation for everything He has given us.

Have a great Shabbos/Pesach!