Usually, on Passover, we ask “How is this night different from all other nights?”. This year, many of us are asking, “How does this Passover resemble any we’ve ever experienced?”
While social distancing has seemingly changed everything, Passover is still about telling the story of going from oppression to freedom. Though the modes of connecting may change, it’s still about retelling the story with family and friends. Rabbi Michael Strassfeld teaches that the plague of darkness, the ninth plague, was not only about the incapacity to see each other physically but also empathically, it was a turning inward and away from other people’s pain, other people’s needs.
I share this Passover video message for us all to find our reserves of compassion and to truly see the needs of others in our household and those beyond our physical reach. As I say in my message, may you find connection. May the Jews not crash the internet. May your matzah balls be perfect. May we all be liberated soon. May we make the most of that liberation and work for a world that is safe and just and equitable. Hag Sameach.