Shabbat Parashat Tzav - Shabbat HaGadol

Let Other People Go! 

Pesah is the festival during which we celebrate the Israelite/Jewish people's first experience of freedom and independence. After four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, during which we grew from a family of seventy individuals into a nation of hundreds of thousands, the multitudes of the children of Jacob were taken out from bondage by God's hand and outstretched arm. Each year, Jews gather around seder tables to retell the story of how God conquered the mighty Pharaoh and established God's presence as the One and only God. It is a time of feasting, joy, and celebration for Jews around the world, particularly those of us who live in North America and benefit from the unique freedom that its society provides. However, even in our greatest times of joy, it is critical that we not forget that there are yet those in the world who are in despair and suffering, either forcibly so or by matter of circumstance.

Before the advent of the professional Rabbi (i.e. an individual who made his living as the Rabbi of a synagogue or Yeshiva), Shabbat HaGadol/"The Great Shabbat" (the Shabbat that falls directly before the festival of Pesah) was one of two Shabbatot on which he preached from the pulpit. Congregants gathered from far and wide to hear the Rabbi teach about the preparations needed for the festival so that one could be sure to be in absolute adherence with the laws' stringencies. In the spirit of this tradition, pulpit Rabbis in this generation typically will select a topic of extreme importance as the subject for his or her sermon. This Pesah, our celebration of liberation from slavery must be tempered or counter-balanced with a resolution to learn about and act in response to the many realities of oppression (be it slavery or other forms of social injustice) in our world.

During our seder we recall that in almost every generation of our existence, there have been empires or nations who have tried to destroy us and in each case we have survived and continued to thrive. We must use the gift of freedom that we were given over three thousand years ago to take action to assist other people who are like what we once were. Not to do so would be to dishonor the privilege that we have. As a people, we have the opportunity to move the world toward giving this same gift to others.

In advance of your seder this year, do some research, read newspaper, and then bring what you have learned to your table. Yes, we must celebrate or redemption, but we must also not rest until others who suffer like we once did are freed from their bondage as well.

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Kasheir v'Samei'ah