LIVE: Haggadah for Addicts in Recovery

[snorts] >> All right, welcome. We are live. Hey there. Uh this is a uh live presentation of the Four Cups Recovery Haggadah. >> [sighs] >> I want to talk to you about getting ready for Pesach as a spiritual experience, especially for those who have a recovery background. Doesn't [snorts] matter recovery from what. That's really If you know anything about recovery, it's not about the addiction. It's about the common solution. And the common solution for uh I'm not here to tell you what your solution should be, but for many, many, many people is a spiritual awakening. And the theme of God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. That is really the main theme of Passover. Is something that many people in recovery relate to. So, I wanted to share with you a few choice nuggets from this book. If you want to order this in time to have it at your Seder, I'll put a link in the chat right now. And uh maybe someone could help me also to put that same link as a comment below. Meaning not in the chat, but in the comments below so that people will see it. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Here's the YouTube um or here's the Amazon link I'm putting in the YouTube chat. Too long. I have to cut the link down a little bit. >> [snorts] >> Uh uh Here. Bam. Works. [snorts] Great. Okay. So, I'm not going to go through the whole Haggadah, but just uh some of the highlights. Again, [snorts] if you want to have the actual Haggadah at your Seder, remember this year Pesach starts Wednesday night. First Seder is Wednesday night, second Seder Thursday night. So, if you order this now, you'll have it in time. Someone's writing in the chat that uh shalom, I got your book God of Our Understanding. Yes, God of Understanding is the book that I wrote on uh well, the subtitle's called Jewish spirituality and recovery from addiction. And it's a overview of the 12-step program in language that is I would say friendly to those who practice Judaism. But you know, the cool thing is that I found out, book came out about 15 years ago. I think most of the people who bought the book are not Jewish. >> [snorts] >> In fact, I heard a lot of people who are Jewish who got the book from non-Jewish people they met in the program. That I've heard that dozens of times. Pretty cool. Okay. So, I'm going to share with you a few choice nuggets from the Four Cups Haggadah. One of the things I'll start with, you know, we have a custom the night before Pesach. So, like this year, Tuesday night, we do a search. We search for the chametz, the leaven. We'll talk a little bit later about what that represents specifically. But uh the basic idea is the puffiness of the bread represents the inflated ego, which of course, that's the source of all of our problems. That's why we're in Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim is the biblical word for for Egypt, but it also etymologically is related to the word metzodim, which means strictures. A tight place, being stuck. >> [snorts] >> So, the ego gets big. It uh becomes dysfunctional. And we end up being stuck, and then we can't get out until God literally removes us. We can't get ourselves out, but God can't. And anyway, we're looking for the the chametz, the leaven the night before the Seder starts. So, I'll just read to you something from here. Talks about the search. The search for chametz. And has like a little insight right here. Revealing our defects of character. Okay. On the night before Passover, we're obligated to search for the chametz in our homes. Traditionally, the search for chametz is performed with a feather, a wooden spoon, and a candle. The following day, on the morning before the festival, we make a fire and burn the chametz we have found along with the feather, the spoon, and the candle. It's easy to understand why we burn the feather that was used to sweep the chametz, as well as why we burn the spoon into which the chametz was swept. But why do we burn the candle? After all, it did not come in contact with chametz at all. Following, if you're not familiar with this ritual, we go around search for the crumbs and stuff in our houses. We have this little kit. It's a traditional kit. Feather, spoon, candle. So, you sweep the the the crumbs into the spoon with the feather. Candle's just there to to shed light, literally, to to light up the cracks and crevices of your house so that you can see if you have any breadcrumbs. So, the next day in the the next morning, we take the the whole kit and we throw it into the fire along with the chametz that we're trying to burn. But why We understand why why we burn the spoon because it touched the chametz. We understand why we burnt the feather. It also touched the chametz. Why do we burn the candle? Candle didn't touch the chametz. >> [snorts] >> One explanation is that the candle was needed to help us find the chametz. But after it serves its purpose, we must get rid of it as well because it was involved in shedding light upon that which is undesirable. Meaning we needed to find the chametz so we could get rid of it, but now it's done. And we don't want to dwell on the negativity. Now, listen to this. There's a man who sponsors many alcoholics. Following the tradition that was handed down to him by his sponsor, he has his sponsees burn their written fourth-step inventories after he takes their fifth step. Fourth step is a written inventory. Fifth step is sharing the findings of that inventory with another human being. It's not a confessional. People misunderstand that a lot. It's a moment of truth, of being honest. And again, I emphasize the word findings. It's not going through every single column of that fourth step. It's a it's a the the big book describes it as being written in columns. Uh who who hurt you and who how how did they hurt you and what part of yourself was was threatened. But the point of it is at the very end, the last column are the character defects. Because basically what we find are all the times that we got in trouble, even if it wasn't our fault. Even if really someone else was the one starting with us. There were character defects at play in us that made us keep coming back for that mistreatment. Even again, if it even if it wasn't our fault. It was the other person's fault, but that's not the point here isn't blame. The point is insight. So, at the end of this inventory, the fourth-step inventory, you have all of these this clear pattern basically about, "Oh, this is how I keep getting hurt cuz I'm self-seeking, because I'm fearful." You know, different character defects. So, you share that in your fifth step. Doesn't have to be your sponsor, but many people share it with their sponsor. So, this person, what he does is after they share their fourth step, uh he has them burn it. He has them burn it. It's interesting. Some people keep it. Some people look at it years later. >> [snorts] >> His tradition that he got from his sponsor whose sponsor's sponsor told him to do that. He burns it. He explained that the purpose of the inventory is to reveal, quote, "the exact nature of our wrongs." That's what says in the steps. The exact nature of our wrongs. After it serves its purpose, we don't need to go back and look at it. We need to move forward and allow God to replace our character defects with the traits that he finds useful. Okay. So, that's just uh interesting thought. >> [sighs] >> You know, just to add a little commentary. A lot of people think that people in recovery are constantly beating up on themselves and they're constantly down on themselves and they're constantly identifying as broken people. I I don't think that's the reality. The reality is that you have to be honest about your journey and your your your your past isn't all beautiful moments or you wouldn't, you know, be in this predicament. But but what person has a perfect life? You know, we all have our struggles. And by being honest about those struggles, that actually gives us an opportunity to become new people. So, I I like that that idea of that. I mean, not all sponsors do this, but I heard from one sponsor that that was something he did and I thought that was kind of an interesting concept. I heard another sponsor say about the fourth step inventory. He says uh a lot of sponsees get obsessed with like self-flagellation. They want to find all their faults and take themselves to task, and it becomes like this act of like real violence against themselves, emotional violence. And so he said, "It's called a moral inventory, not an immoral inventory." >> [laughter] >> Like the point of it is not to paint yourself as a bad person. The point of it is to figure out what can be improved. Yeah. Oh, good day from Australia. That's very nice with a little kangaroo emoji. Okay, what time is it in Australia? It's probably um it's the next day. It's Friday. What is it? Like it's Friday morning? It's Friday morning. No, it must be Friday afternoon already. You let me know. Okay. Mhm. So, here you have like this the steps of the Seder, not the steps like the 12 steps, the steps like the steps of the Seder. There are 15 steps of the Seder. Kadesh, Urchatz, Karpas, Yachatz, Maggid, Rachtzah, Motzi Matzah, Maror, Korech, Shulchan Orech, Tzafun, Berach, Hallel, Nirtzah. I just so you understand, this is a real Haggadah. The four cups Haggadah is a functional Haggadah that you can actually use at your Seder, but you know, different Haggadahs have different commentaries. So, this the commentaries like on the bottom of the page, the commentaries are all like recovery related. I know that we're live streaming. You want to be YouTube famous, just walk in front of the camera. Okay. All right. So, here here's another one. Goes through the steps steps of the Seder, all the different steps, 15 steps. We begin the Seder by enumerating the precise steps that we'll be taking in our journey to freedom. We realize that in the past many of us have resisted being confined by lists or being given orders to follow. You know, Okay. I'll I'll save my commentary till the end. However, in sobriety many of us have come to cherish the freedom that we gain through taking direction. Indeed, the word Seder, you know, the meal that we have on the night of Passover, it's called the Seder. The word Seder itself literally means order in Hebrew. Is it ironic that a night that celebrates freedom is observed by following an order? Many of us have heard in the rooms that God, the word God, G O D, can be thought of as an acronym for good orderly direction. Therefore, we are happy to know that the system has been laid out for us and that the 15 steps of our liberation are set up clearly in advance. Okay. Yeah, just you know, a commentary. The night of Passover, we have this meal called a Seder, which like it said here is literally means order. >> [sighs and gasps] >> There are a lot of different rituals and customs that we perform at that meal. And it can get pretty confusing, especially if you're not used to it. I mean, personally I've led public Seders, meaning I've organized for groups of people the Seder observance many many many times. So, for me I'm I've I've I've done it so many times I'm I'm pretty good at the rhythm of it. I I know when different things happen. Um but it from for most people, even people who are fairly observant Jews, it's very hard to remember everything unless you have a guide. So, first of all, this Haggadah functions as that guide. I mean, you can use any Haggadah. You don't You don't have to use my Haggadah. You could use the Maxwell House. You could use whatever you have. But specifically as a recovery concept, I love that idea of >> [snorts] >> structure and order because a lot of people bristle at that. You know, they they resist that. Like, don't tell me what to do. Right? But that is freedom. Freedom is not wild abandon where you can just get blown along with the wind and figure out what you're doing after you've already done it. That's not freedom. That's that's torture. >> [snorts] >> Freedom is when we do have direction and we have direction from a power greater than ourselves, and therefore we're able to live in in alignment with our purpose. So, that's a very important theme in life, and it's really the theme of the way we celebrate Passover. Okay, I'll share another idea with you. I'm just looking here in the chat. I'm not Jewish, but wished I could find a rabbi teacher like yourself here in Melbourne, Australia. Well, you know, through the modern miracles of technology, you're here with me right now, so virtually, you know, we're we're together. Okay. Um let's do this part. Tell the story, right? Tell the Exodus story. That's called That's called Maggid. Maggid literally means telling. All right. So, >> [sighs and snorts] >> telling our story, Maggid, which has the same Hebrew root as Haggadah, the word Haggadah, which is the name of the book that you use to follow to that step, Maggid. It's the same etymological root. It means telling the story. In our own recovery, we've experienced the healing power of telling our personal stories and hearing others tell theirs. We realize that in telling our story, things that seemed unbearable at the time, things that we thought we could not live through, take on a completely new meaning in retrospect. There is no event, no experience that cannot be redeemed and elevated when framed as a story. Notably, it is in telling our story that we also make ourselves useful to others. We know that the very first 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous, began when one drunk told his personal story to another. Bill W. did not try to talk to Dr. Bob about the latter's drinking. Instead, he spoke about his own experience with drinking and the solution he had found. Therefore, when the two of them went to AA number three, they did not sermonize or exhort him. They simply told them told him their own personal stories. We heal ourselves and others when we tell our story. And the whole point of the Haggadah is we're telling our collective story. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. God took us out with a with a mighty arm. Um you know, you might think, why are we telling this again? We told this last year. Or especially on the second night, second Seder, we told this last night. Why are we doing this again? But there's that healing power in telling the story. >> [gasps] >> When we remember where we were and what happened and what it was like, you know, people talk about keeping it green, right? Hanging around newcomers. Sometimes the most important person for you to be next to is not the old-timer who's got great sobriety, but to sit next to the newcomer who's fresh and his pain is still very very raw, and there but for the grace of God go I, and you know, it's a it's an important reminder, and that's why we we tell the story over and over and over again. Yeah. Yeah, and as someone's mentioning in the chat, you know, there there there are still some slaves today. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Let's uh Oh, I like this. Okay. Let's do this one. All right. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. And you see you have the Hebrew here. Avadim hayinu l'Pharaoh b'Mitzrayim. Okay. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. >> [cough] >> Our story [clears throat] begins. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. That much we know already. But it is the following line that may surprise us. Quote, "If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our ancestors out of Egypt, then we, our children, and our children's children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt." This is a startling revelation. Yeah, yeah, you understand what I'm saying? Like, not only historically, thousands of years, we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but if God had not taken us out, we would still be there. Okay. Not only were we unable to extricate ourselves from Egypt, but what we're being told here is that we would never have been able to do so even if given centuries or millennia. It was simply impossible. No human power could have ever removed us from Egypt. Therefore, if God himself had not removed us, we would still be slaves there to this day. And that's an important concept, you know, when we talk about spiritual awakening, higher power. It's not that well, you know, if I would just work a little bit harder, you know, I could I could do this on my own. I could I could nail this thing and get it done. You know, I have to take a little more seriously. You know, maybe spend a little extra time and you know, I'll get there. I I'll take care of it on my own. I don't need God. We're talking about something against which human power is of no avail. If you're really really talking about being stuck, like we said before, Egypt is mitzrayim, which is related to the word metzardom, which means being stuck. Being stuck doesn't mean, well, if I would just work harder, I would get out of here. No, no, that's not being stuck. Being stuck is not only working hard doesn't get me out of here, but it's actually counterproductive. The harder I work, the more stuck I am. That's what stuck means. Stuck means the more I work, the more stuck I am. The harder I try to make things better, the more it blows up in my face and creates more drama and more craziness. Okay, that's what it means to really really really be stuck. And in such a case, >> [snorts] >> what are you supposed to do? Your efforts are not only unproductive, they're counterproductive. Someone's writing in the chat, I tried on my own, it didn't work. Right. Right. So, what? You should have tried another time? Another thousand times? You get to a point where you realize it's not about I haven't figured it out yet, it's that no, I have figured it out and this is something that a human being cannot do. And not just one human being can't do it. You get all my friends and family together, they're all trying to help me and I can't do it, right? Okay, so it comes to a point where you realize this is something only God can do. So, that's that's the idea that if if God had not taken us out of Egypt, we would still be there. Meaning to say, on its own, it was a situation that had no resolution. There was no way out. You couldn't outlast it. You can even if you would wait thousands of years, it wouldn't go away. It was never going to go away on its own. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Let's uh continue a little bit. >> [sighs] >> How about the uh four sons? Yeah, let's do that one. The four sons. So, we have this idea about the four sons, the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, the child who doesn't know how to ask. I always kind of struggle with the wicked child. I remember when I was a kid at my uh own family's seder, meaning my parents' seder growing up, and I always used to be sort of annoyed that one of the kids was called the wicked child. Like, what's what's what's with that? Like, why are you calling him wicked? Okay. So, why do we refer to So, I'm just going to read from here. It's a little commentary here from Four Cups of Goda. Why do we refer to any of the four children disparagingly as wicked? It's important to understand that the so-called wicked child is only wicked by their own estimation. From the wording of the Haggadah, from the wording of the question of the {quote} wicked child in the Haggadah, and the description the Haggadah gives, {quote} what is this ritual service to you, to you, but not to himself, this child removes himself from the community. It is clear that their real problem is seeing themselves as completely disconnected from what is going on. In other words, their wickedness is not a label that we use to condemn them, God forbid, rather the Haggadah is telling us something quite different. It's telling us that the feeling of being terminally unique, like {quote} my case is different, no one understands. That is the sin that is impossible to recover from. We may then ask why the response to this person is seemingly so harsh. The Haggadah says we blunt his teeth. That's what it says, we blunt his teeth. To understand this, we must realize the Haggadah was originally written in Hebrew and that its particular style of Hebrew is filled with codes. Every Hebrew letter has a numerical value. The numerical value See here? The numerical value of the word for wicked, a rasha, that's top word here, rasha. is 570. Right, the resh is 200, the shin is 300, the ayin is 70, so that's 570. If we subtract the value of the Hebrew word for shinav his teeth, the shin nun yud vav, which is 366, so you take 570 minus 366, we get the Hebrew word tzadik. We get the numerical value of tzadik, which means righteous. So, the encoded hidden message is that we don't throw the wicked out, we don't throw the wicked one out, even though they feel there's nothing for them to gain at this gathering. We respond to them in a way that may seem harsh, but really all we're trying to do is to reveal to them their inner righteous person. We do not coddle them, but we remove from them this feeling of being terminal terminally unique, thereby revealing the righteousness hidden within them all along. >> [sighs] >> Okay, how about this? This is a good one. All right. An easier, softer way. All right. The Haggadah tells us that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews with crushing labor. What was uniquely crushing about the labor the Jews were forced to engage in? Our tradition tells us that the cities the Jewish people were forced to build were built upon swampland. Every day they would toil their utmost and the next morning they would return to the work site only to find that everything they had built the previous day had sunk into the ground. Therefore, what was so crushing was not the degree of hard work, but its inherent pointlessness. No matter how hard they work, their work was ultimately unproductive. Is a life of sobriety any less work than a life of active addiction? Many of us have said that however hard you worked on feeding your addiction is how hard you have to work on maintaining your sobriety. So, sobriety does not excuse us from hard work. The difference is that we're now working toward goals that actually pay off. In the past, we frittered away untold time and energy chasing the elusive dream that something artificial and outside of ourselves could make us feel okay. That was like building on swampland. The results never remained for long. Now, in contrast, we invest our efforts into being of service to our maker and to others. We find that every bit of work we expend toward the goal is well worth the trouble. Therefore, the difference between slavery and freedom is not the degree of hard work, but the product but the productivity [clears throat] of the work itself. We work hard in recovery, but the work is infinitely rewarding. Right, freedom doesn't mean that you don't work anymore. It means that your work is actually productive. It means you're working toward something meaningful. Slavery isn't hard work and freedom is no work. They're both hard work. The question is, what is your work accomplishing? Okay. Let's keep going here. I'm uh skipping a lot cuz I just want to give you a taste of it. Okay. This is a nice one. All right. You may have noticed that in this commentary, meaning the commentary of the of this book, the Four Cups of Goda. You may have noticed that in this commentary, we interchangeably speak about the Exodus as a historical event that happened long ago and as a personal experience that is happening to each of us. This is the meaning of the words in every generation. When we tell the story of the Exodus, we're not commemorating or even reenacting something that happened to other people. We're living it right now. The Exodus is happening now. Every attendee at the seder is obligated to feel this. For those of us who have experienced the miracles of recovery, we're grateful that it is easier to maintain that mindset. Meaning to say, everybody is supposed to Everyone at the seder is supposed to feel that they have been personally redeemed by God from slavery. Not everybody's able to relate to that, but a recovery person generally can. At this point, we encourage you to speak up and tell those with whom you are seated right now that you can personally attest to the fact that the Exodus is something that has happened in your lifetime and is even happening right now. Right here. I I didn't write everything in the commentary. This is See, I'm the credited as the editor. So, we had different people submit these thoughts, these insights. And I compiled it all and put and put it into one like cohesive form and one uniform voice. But I thought about it, you know, like I was trying to imagine who's going to use this Haggadah. And I I you know, I personally have conducted >> [snorts] >> seders that were for all recovery people. Um sometimes people you know, especially like early sobriety, they don't want to be at the seder cuz it's four cups of wine. Although I explain, you know, the whole Haggadah is called the four cups cuz I explain why the four cups is something that we don't have to be afraid of. Meaning, obviously don't drink the wine, but but the idea of four cups. >> [snorts] >> Um but at any rate, so sometimes I there there are seders that are just for people who are in recovery and I've I've actually led such events. But I was imagining like who's going to be using this Haggadah? And and I imagined that like probably most people using this Haggadah are like a family gathering or they're with friends. And maybe they're the only one there who's in recovery. And maybe they brought this Haggadah with them. And other people are using different Haggadahs. You know, Maxwell House or whatever. And I wanted to give them this ability like at that moment where I write this line where it says, you know, turn to the person next to you and share with them the you know, to testify to them that God does do miracles. Um because I was thinking to myself like you know, the original version of step did not say carry this message to other alcoholics. It's It's Bill W had written carry this message to others and that was his original vision of it. That the 12 step didn't have to be just an alcoholic to an alcoholic. It was really a general message of spiritual awakening that could be applicable to all types of people battling all types of issues. So, you know, I I thought about that idea like how how cool it would be if you're sitting at a seder and somebody and they don't have to make a whole spectacle of it, but that's why I said like tell the person next to you. And they don't have to do it obviously, but you know, to to turn to the person next to you and just say, you know, this thing that we're reading about about God getting involved in our lives and and and doing things for us that we can't do for ourselves. Yeah, it's true. And they don't have to explain how they know it's true. They don't have to say, you know, their whole story and you know, that's not really even necessary, but just to say I know that it's true. Yeah. Okay, let me do a couple more of these and I'm going to wrap it up. >> [snorts] >> Okay. So, here's an important part. This is when you actually eat the matzah. Okay, so you finish telling the whole story. Now you're eating the matzah. So far this evening, we've been performing the mitzvah of telling the story of our liberation. We're now about to perform the other major mitzvah of the night, which is eating the matzah. We're reminded that words without action are not enough. As inspiring as the insights of the Haggadah are, the seder is not complete until we actually consume the matzah. We don't just talk about matzah, we eat it. It is a physical experience. At this point, whether we're ready or not, whether we have fully attained insights into its meaning or not, we take action. We get up from our seats. We wash our hands. We say the blessings. And we eat the required amount of matzah. To some this may seem overly technical. They may question the importance of such a seemingly mundane act as eating a portion of matzah. However, we understand very well the power of and necessity for simple action. There's another powerful symbolism related to the fact that we are actually ingesting matzah. Not only is this a physical act, but it is one that causes a physical change in ourselves. The food we eat becomes part of our bodies. The lesson here is that ideas are well and good, but we need to see physical tangible results in our service of God. And that can only happen when we take physical action. Important point there. >> [snorts] >> And I can't tell you how many times I've seen it that somebody comes to a seder and they read and they sing and they get inspired and then they leave without eating the matzah. It's like you were inspired, but inspired to do what? Like the eating the matzah is the that's the action item. That's the order of the day. You know, that's what it comes down to. Okay, other one more here. >> [sighs] >> Just do one more. >> [snorts] >> Um What should I do for my last one? Oh, this is a good one. Okay, this is a good one. This is a really good one. So, you know, when we open the door for Elijah, Elijah the prophet, you know, at the end of the seder, we uh right right after the third cup, we open the door for Elijah the prophet. Okay. Here I'm going to finish off with this one. This is a good one. A Jew once went to the Holy Baal Shem Tov and said, "Rebbe, I want to experience the revelation of Elijah the prophet." Baal Shem Tov replied, "Fill a box with food and other and another box with children's clothing. Then before Rosh Hashanah, travel to the city of Minsk. On the outskirts of town at the edge of the forest, you'll find an old dilapidated shack. Don't knock on the door. Rather, stand there and listen. Then shortly before candle lighting, knock and ask whoever answers to let you in." The Jew went to uh went home and told his wife what the Baal Shem Tov had told him. When she asked how he could give up spending Rosh Hashanah with his family, he replied, "How can I give up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a revelation of Elijah the prophet?" Right? The Baal Shem Tov told him, "You go follow these instructions, you're going to have a revelation of Elijah the prophet." Like that's like, you know, like the the ultimate experience. You see Elijah appear to you, right? Okay. After discussing it further, his wife finally agreed that he could not pass up this opportunity. He carried out the Baal Shem Tov's instructions and he traveled to Minsk. He found the house and as instructed, he waited outside for some time before knocking on the door. He heard voices from within. A child was crying, "Mommy, we're hungry. The festival is coming. We don't have food to eat. We don't have clothing to wear." He then heard the mother's voice reply, "Children, trust in God. God will take care of us." The Jew then knocked on the door. When the woman opened it, he asked if he could be their guest for the festival. "How can we host you when we don't have any food?" she asked. "Don't worry," he said, "I brought enough food for all of us and I even have new clothing for your children." The children opened the boxes and tried on the clothing with delight and they ate the food that the man had brought. As for him, he waited with bated breath for the moment when he would catch a glimpse of Elijah the prophet as a reward for following the Baal Shem Tov's instructions. However, Rosh Hashanah came and went and he did not have a revelation of Elijah the prophet. Disappointed, he returned to the Baal Shem Tov and he lamented, "Rebbe, I did exactly as you instructed, but I did not see Elijah the prophet." "Did you do exactly as I instructed?" the Baal Shem Tov asked. "Yes, yes, I did." "And you sure you did not see Elijah the prophet?" "No, I did not see Elijah the prophet." "Okay, in that case," the Baal Shem Tov said, "go back there before Yom Kippur." He went there the first time for Rosh Hashanah. "Now go back there before Yom Kippur and bring another box of food and another box of clothing. Make sure to arrive an hour before sunset and don't knock immediately. Just stand outside and listen." The Jew went back to his wife and told her he'd be away for Yom Kippur as well. He simply could not pass up the opportunity to see Elijah the prophet. His wife agreed that it was an opportunity too great to pass up. He went back to Minsk and on the day before Yom Kippur, he returned to the house. He stood outside. He heard voices from inside. One of the children said, "Mommy, we're hungry. We haven't eaten all day. How can we fast on Yom Kippur?" "Children," the mother replied, "don't you remember how just days ago, right before Rosh Hashanah, you cried that you had no food or clothing and I told you to trust in God? Well, I'm telling you the same thing now. Just as God sent us Elijah the prophet before Rosh Hashanah, he will surely send us Elijah again today." At that moment, the man understood very well what it meant to behold the revelation of Elijah the prophet. And this is a lesson for us as well. Sometimes the greatest way to see Elijah the prophet is to be Elijah the prophet. As we've come to learn, when it comes to experiencing new spiritual heights, there's no path as tried and true as service to others. >> [sighs and gasps] >> And really at the end of the day, that's that's the pinnacle of holiness. It's It's about what you can do for the next person. Yeah. Okay. Anyways, [snorts] this is Four Cups Recovery Haggadah. I put the link in the chat. Hopefully someone also put it in the comments below. If not, I will put it in the comments below. If you order it now, you'll get it uh from Amazon, you'll get it in time for your uh Seder. And uh keep in touch. Come back to the comments over here. Let [laughter] us know how your Seder went. And uh have a kosher and happy Passover.