Make Your Seder 5785 (a Year of Many Miracles) Sense-ational! with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz

Heat. Heat. [Music] He [Music] burn everyone. We are um now on the Monday before Pes as we are preparing. I'm sure everybody's frantically preparing or not frantically hopefully um of course for this unique pesak we we as we mentioned last time because it's a mat shaba seder Saturday night seder will include um a number of unusual things which include yakaz kesh abdullah man kdish abdah emerged for the first cup all preparations need to be done before shabas and uh essentially you want to move to the seder as quickly as possible on Mot Chabas. Some a practical tip is that they're they sell these two wick candles, little candles, little tea lightss that you can use for havdulla because you're not allowed to obviously strike a new fire from a for for the seder. So you have to use an existing flame leaving a large short side candle for example. They do have this double wick little tealight that you can light from an existing flame which will satisfy the the idea that you have to have a double wick at least a double wick for havdala. They're very cute. I suggest you get them. So havdala is all about this year. It's different. It's unique. It's a special pesak. So I want to speak to how to make this year's seder sensational sense using senses and uh both common sense and all of our five senses. just to uh distinguish to be mauved between this seder and other sedorum that we've had in our life. As I mentioned previous this is the last time in 20 years and as my friend Rabbi Ari Khan called me to point out of course Msiah could come and that could change. So uh we could go back to the system of in which theoretically impossible there's a possibility of Shabbat coming out uh Arapes once again. But if we are if we are on the track of the Jewish calendar uh that's where it it will be. So we have to say and we should not have to wait 20 years for the seder duly noted. But um it is unique. It is special. You must rise to the occasion and everybody who leads a seder or participates in a seder they have an obligation that's different than what you think. So let me outline first what the general obligation is and and then apply it to this year and how we can enhance our seder using some of the special tools and props that are available this year for halal for hodah for inspiration and for thanking hashem for everything that has transpired in the favor of kal since last pes especially so let's begin first of all the ram says teaches that the seder the mitzvah of which is the teaching of the seder night is different than the weekday and uh every all year round we're supposed to remember all the time every time we say we say so you have to remember to do the mitzvah that's every day every all year around 365 twice a day. So what is unique and special about this night? So Dan pointed out and we have we have a to go from an intellectual understanding of the events a memory what we would call is individualized memory. It's stored within the individual brain and mind. There's short-term memory, there's long-term memory. We keep hammering away at it, which is which is a key to making sure that it enters our long-term memory. Anything you repeat seven times will enter your long-term memory. And since we repeat it constantly, it's it's embedded in our brains in our in our neurons. This this concept of that a Jew functions uh always and all the time each and every day in the context of cement shrine which itself needs an explanation. This was a historical event. This happened so many years ago. Yes, it's the forming foundation of the Jewish people as we mentioned the previous year. The two major mitzvah says there are two mitzvah that coincide with the carbon pes brisa and itself which which override chabas and uh and if you fail to perform them one would get cures which means their souls cut off their children could be cut off in their own lifetimes. Sham cures is a very severe severe punishment for not doing a mitz. I mean we don't take a lulv on on shabas which falls out you know first day of of sukus when we don't have a curries attached to it but carbon pes does failure to bring carbon pes failure to perform brisk meal in your lifetime will cause uh will trigger a not only an iss but also a which is serious serious business. So it is um the core of of Jewish mentality. Of course the carbon pesa essentially represents uh our our vilification of aodora. We we chef we destroy the the symbol of the avodara the constellation Aries and as our says say was worshiped in Egypt and that represented Egypt. It's actually this time of year, Aries, which is a uh spring uh constellation that appears in the sky as the first constellation rising in the evening. That's why this month is called is is associated with um with the masle of Aries or the ram. We take that very same concept of that sheep or goat actually ram being a male sheep and we she it. So we have slaughtered a vodor of the world. We have we have demonstrated our full faith faith in Hashem because they would tie the carbon fit. They tied to the bed posts even though the average mitzy might want to kill them for doing such an act for humiliating and debasing their god. However, it destroys our concept of aora and linked with the matzah. It leads us towards uh uh humility towards simplicity towards simple imun. Then you have uh the other mitzvah bismila which is the co the Abrahamic covenant and it is is first given to Abrainu of course and there are some descendants of Abram that are not Jewish or still obligated like the Ben Beura. This is why we see a reflection of that in in the Muslim tribes that associate themselves very much with Abrainu that they perform empty sort of brisa incomplete. It's a mila without priya. They don't do it the proper way. They don't get to the they don't do a per a perfect ma. they do a rather empty and meaningless mila um which is only really can be done in a perfect fashion on the eighth day both biologically and spiritually. So if there are a descendant of Abraham Ben Catura who it can be identified as such they actually have a mitzvah to perform a bris on the eighth day even if they're not Jewish. It's an it's an incredible thing. But the bris essentially means that man's power in this world, his lusts, his drives, his interests, his uh his interest in achieving and establishing himself in this world in our short lifetimes is subservient to a higher set of ethics and morals which is Hashem. And that is what Armainu told the world. That's what Jews keep telling the world in so many ways. aroma and we'll get to some of that. So, so those basic mitzos they are os and uh Jews can't leave live without them and to such an point such a point that they would both theoretically hope they do override chabas as we find only in this year and again once for 20 years. So this a very significant seder because this seder is uh most dramatic. It's dramatic in the fashion that it comes out on Shabas and therefore we have to understand, digest and communicate its special significance that it is important enough to override the holy shabas which is a mindboggling thing as we've as we have explained. So the difference between a regular mitzvah of remembering and a highlevel mitzvah which would be bringing the carbon pes for example or carbon in general and brisma. The difference is is that one goes from memory to misa to action and the vehicle of of giving over the information changes. In other words, we cannot have an intellectual experience at the seder. That's not what we're here for. That's absolutely what we're not here for. If you can't break into the emotions, then we essentially have failed the task at hand because as the as Rah points out, this is written up in all the briskets form there are differences. For example, on Seda, you have to tell a story. Now, stories are wrap you up in emotion. Somebody told me, my friend said to me, "What's unique about a story is that every element of it is important because otherwise it wouldn't appear in the story. There's never anything irrelevant to the story. Even if it seems disjointed or not connected, the weather, this that, the leaf blew this way, the leaf blew that way, that I happened to meet this person or I happened to glance at that person or or they they found me." Every single detail of any story that's told by any human being is significant. And that's the point. We need storytelling. We don't want intellectual analysis only. That's part of the seder say go out and learn. There's a portion of the seder in which we darian sukim. We we use our our mental capacity although it's all laid out for us to analyze words. But analyzing words is not the vehicle of it's about storytelling. So we need stories for our seder. Number one. Number two, we use props. And props here include the karosess, for example, which resembles tit or bloodshed, the wine that goes in it, or the shir hashir fruits that Israel is compared to um among the nations, the apples, the the um the the nuts, etc., the dates, uh pomegranate, whatever it might be. These symbolic um symbolic tools are used to show show a story. You can't you have to tell a story but you have to use props. That's very unusual. That is is what isn't storytelling enough? No. No. Storytelling is not enough. So it's brought down that even putting the monsters on your shoulders and walking around right after which all the Spartans do is everybody should do it. And I suggest that this year we put it on our shoulders and walk around the table. Okay? And you have to make the props of the seder come alive. And that can be done by putting it relevant to someone's own experience. There sometimes you hear a story from long ago, but when you hear a story that's really about you, your experience and your lifetime, it's it tends to be more impactful. This is something that just happened. Okay. So linking stories of what actually happened to the seder I think is of incredible importance. As the as the Rambam pointed out, you need you have to pose questions. This is the Socratic method. Ask questions, answer. That's not a lecture. You cannot lecture at your seder. You have to evoke response. You have to pose questions. Number two, you have to use your props. The karosas, the matzah, the mo are props. Use them to trigger discussions about what is the nature of moa? What is the nature of matzah? What does it mean? What does it symbolize? Why is it important? Why am I putting it in a sandwich? What's the point of it all? Why? Ask the questions. The uh the job of the leader of the seder would be then to evoke a socratic response. You have to I I recommend a hagada that's they have these hagas where it's question answer question answer about all kinds of points use it that's a way to go get up around the table and march around we had we have a kind of a minute in our family that at some point during the seder we grab suitcases and run out in the street that Mashiah has already come and we start running to greet him in we get out we get out of the house we're running down the street. We're putting kids inside suitcases and wheeling them down down down. You have to come alive. It has to reach the emotional level. If you can't do, it's kind of like a therapy session. If you can't break through to the emotions, there's not going to be change. And the change that Hashem wants to affect is on the nephesh level, the lowest of our souls, the part of us that basically craves food and comfort and fun. So we need to connect to fun. We need to connect to excitement. We need to get everybody going. Humor props. Now this year just to give you an example of this I mean hopefully people won't take this in the right way but when when we had the various miracles that happened for us this year I'm going to outline them so you can use them at your savior but one of the biggest ones was the beeper attack that happened which essentially destroyed our most fearsome enemy Hezbollah and and made a broken man out of its leader Hassan Israeli Makma Zikro who himself was eliminated about 10 days later. It reminds me about Noval Nval who was uh impudent to David Aamelik. His wife Abigail eventually becomes David's wife. He refused to share with David rewards of David's protection uh you know physical protection of his of his herds of his flocks. And when it was the day of the she of the shearing of the sheep, which is the payout day, you give people wool and money and and food and and it's it's a time payday. It's an annual payday or at least a seasonal payday. He rookked David Amelik's people who came and asked for for for sustenance and he gave them 10 little drinks of water and that day was rasha and then the 10th 10th drop of water gave him 10 days to live and that was till yum kiper and he dies on yum kipper and and uh you know naval refused to listen refused to be part of things I'm he didn't check in. But there were 10 days that Nasala survived between the beeper attack and his murder. And you know what they said? He was a broken man for 10 days. Completely which is my why he might have not cared to take security precautions that would have saved his life. Went to a meeting in the headquarters. He was already the man was literally dead already. He was dead. He saw all of his colleagues and his bodyguards blown up in front of him. He he lasted like naval for 10 days. I don't know what supposed he had to last for 10 days, but I think it was more to how allow him to suffer and see the consequences. Well, I made an association between beeping beeping beeping and which maka which is all about noise and beeping and disturbances? Verdea. Va means to collect information. Safar, right? Convey information. That's what a beeper is. Lets you know there's a signal, there's a message, there's something you need to be aware of. All right. Time to gather the information from wherever it's coming from. The beeper lets you know that. And I think we should have a little I hate to say it this way. I'm not being disrespectful of human life, but it might be an idea to speak about the makasarda in context of the beeping beepers that we had. Maybe you want to, you know, have a little game with the beepers and the frogs and and portray what happened to the enemies of Israel. Like, play it out. Play it out. That might be fun. I plan to do it. Don't tell anybody my seder. My wife will say don't do it. But okay, it's fun. Let's have some fun. Uh even if it's it's kind of like os haman, you know, it's not that we don't respect the humanity of Hammon. We do, but you know, there's a time for it. And if there is a time, say night might be that time. So integrating real experiences, inspiring stories. Okay. But first of all, first of all, if the requirement is question answer, if the requirement is props, if the requirement is drussia, you have to have some lemud of text, make sure people aren't aren't asleep by the time you get to that or or so hungry that they passed out. When when you get to that part of the seder just before you're eating and you've got to convey right the drussi why are we learning about love we need to learn about lavan why bk love and locker are cult why is love relevant here and why is it associated with carbon pest all these things are drushes that we learn we have to make sure that people are awake to enjoy them and that's our job as a leader of a seder it's not a simple thing it's not a simple task So let's just go through and and then there's the part of what we have to do as as enumerates is goss now here is a key lesson about the first two questions and it demonstrates this idea of we start with the negative and we end with the positive. Why? Because that's dramatic. You know, every good story there starts with a big problem, a big problem and then there's a victory and a solution and good overcomes evil. Hooray. And that is a human. We're humans are programmed that way. And you have to go with the human programming. You have to understand how people work. So the insight of the seder is tell them the story how bad it was, how challenging it was, how terrible it was. Tell them about the events in our history that we've had to survive, including October 7th. Tell them about that. Think about the dangers that we we we uh we experienced. We experienced the danger of annihilation on October 7th. It was only through miracles that the attack was not coordinated by the Palestinian by Gazim withah with Iran and with the Houthis all together. They had a plan. They had a plan to take over Eric Israel. Don't think that there was anything less. They weren't aiming for uh tormenting and and torturing and killing people at a music festival. That wasn't the g that wasn't the objective. In their stupidity, they ended up there. And in their evil nature, they they got hung up there and that gave enough time for some individuals and and and heroes to rally and save what might have been a catastrophe. Somebody showed a map that they had a plan to cut Erat Israel right in the middle north south and would in a pinser movement and we would have been in a situation where much of Israel would be controlled in the hands of terrorists and and and the inability to respond. That was a miracle. An incredible miracle tell how dangerous it really was. Tell children about a holocaust on a sader night. Tell people what we came through. Tell people what happened the last time there was a 20-year gap between Sedar Knight and and Seder Knight of Shab of Mat Shabas that there were three Israeli wars 56 67 73. Our kids don't know anything about it. If they even heard of the war, it's and 99% never heard of the 56 Suez Canal thing. We need to teach history. We need to teach the story of the Jewish people. That's a that's a tell the story. Tell the stories. Come to your seder. The holocaust story with an October 7th miracle story here. Omar Shento and Shabbat. Let's read this story. Omar Shtov was 505 days in the Gaza captivity, kidnapped from the music festival, Nova Music Festival. He was 22 years old. him and it rev who was a friend of his were among the first released in November of 2023. Upon his return he told it told Omar's parents Shelley and Mali that Omare had begun observing Shabas in captivity. Though Shamto family did not observe Shabbat fully, they always had a Shabbat dinner on Friday night where Omar would always make kdish. While in Gaza, it spoke about how much they missed Friday nights at home. Soon afterwards, this is an incredible story. The terrorists that that held them brought them a bottle of grape juice. It must have asked for it. It Omar made sure to keep track of the days of the week. They saved the grape juice for Shabas. They had some pretzels. Didn't have much food. They saved the mazonos for Shabas. On Friday night, they would cover heads with toilet paper and Omare would recite kdish. They would make a blessing on a pa bread and dip it in the salt from the pretzels. Omar would refrain from actions forbidden on Shabas. Now, here's here's the the interesting thing. The story that he tells is that that bottle that little bottle of grape juice miraculously remained full. Was like a Kaneka miracle. He had enough grape juice to make kdish for his for his for his days in in in captivity. Truly a miracle. There are other stories, the AAM, the go aam family stories where they where they um decided to keep shabas. There's a story Rabbi Jonathan Felman told me about how um that family had a grandmother who appeared in a dream to the granddaughter and told her start keeping Shabas and this was right before she was kidnapped in the Gaza war. And Shabas sustained them. many stories of women who lit Shabas candles for the first time that in in regular fashion and uh and they saw various Yeshua. These are the stories that we need to tell the downfall of our enemies on the one hand, the danger of our enemies and also the stories of inspiration of shabas and uh and return. So this morning I met a a certain rabbi who does kiru in uh uh a place just outside of Tel Aviv Ben area in or Yehuda. He said he reported he works with Bubas constantly all the time. He said there has been aus of Chuva in Israel. This is a result of those events. This must be mentioned at our seder that this is a return there. believe we have to have hope in the Jewish people that they will actually return and and that this is what what um the story of this year is that that has to be included in our seder and has to be part of our of our intentions. Now let me let me read you a little timeline of some of the miracles that happened here. Okay. From from uh in April in April April 13th of 2024 the was the first time that Iran shot missiles at Israel. 300 projectiles. Now I'm sorry. This is 2025 most recently. Let me take you back a little bit. Take you back a little bit. Okay, you ready? In October 19th, right after the beginning of the war, I ran back to Houthis, started started shooting missiles and drones almost almost immediately. Okay. And no, there was no damage at that time. Okay. Here's another [Music] one. On April 1st, this is was a year ago, Iran's embassy compound in Damascus is hit by a suspected Israeli strike that kills several military officers, including this fellow Zahidi who was the leader of of um of Hamas, I mean, excuse me, of Hezbollah. And as a result, on April 13th, Iran launched a massive attack on Israel. Massive. What was the damage? There was no damage. It was the buildings. But to human life, there was just a little girl, a bedin girl who was hurt. Okay, that was the first what they call operation true promise. No, the true promise is this is the true promise and they call it true promise but Hashem promises us. Okay. And uh then the tide really began to turn in this past summer. On July 27th, Pezblah made a horrific mistake. All right. Uh they sent a rocket that killed 12 children in the Goan Heights. I believe that was a turning point of the war because then all of the Drews turned against them. So even in the Arab world and in the Arab world they had a lack of of of support and unity. on August the 1st, the the Irahatim, one of the most evil terrorists ever to emerge in in the in the battle in the battle for for our safety here in Israel. Muhammad DeFim, he was killed on August 1st. An unbelievable unbelievable um miracle because they've been trying to kill him for for 20 30 years. the booby trapper the the the beepers the Sarda beepers was on September the 17th. Okay, that's not long after from August 1st to September 17th. August 1st they killed death. September 17th they did the beepers on September the 28th this past year. This past fall, Hassan Estrala was killed. As I like I said, like 10 days after the Beeper attack on October the 3, this past October the 3, the second phase of the war of the quote unquote truth. What do they call it? Moment of truth. What's their thing? Uh, operation true promise. This is the true promise that we have. 200 missiles result one Palestinian was killed where significantly in Eureko Euro is so important we don't realize you must tell the story though when they made the disastrous Oslo Accords the first piece of Erit Israel that they gave away to Yaser Arafatob was Jericho the key terrael the point of entry ter Israel all of the attempts to quote quote unquote wage peace have been utter destruction including the return of Sinai which is now a booby trapped military uh one giant military base aimed at us as the Babachbi said it's a ma it says the biggest problem that Israel will face is the is its own self-inflicted wounds of returning territory that's what the Babachi said and I believe him 100% that's That's what Kahana said. Obviously, I'm not going into the into whether you like or don't like, but the Baba is universal. Everybody likes the loves of the Baba. And he said, he said his truth, which is the truth. So again, August one, we got rid of death. September 17th, pagers, Safharda, boom, boom. 28th, Nisrala is is killed with many, many of his leaders in his headquarters in in Beirut. On October the 3, the the 200 missile strike came and only one Palestinian child killed in Eureka. How significant. 99% were intercepted. That's not humanly possible. We have to understand and underscore the miracle. Last week for lunch as I mentioned I believe the woman came to my chabas table said that her friend works with the Iron Dome missiles as a computer operator and he says every time it works they like they're shocked this really works they can't believe that it works they can't believe that it works how could it work 99% the the greatest projection of of u of utility would be 90% in ideal circ circumstances. 90% ideal circumstances and that is 99% is actually an open miracle. On October the 16th, Yaha Sinoir, the architect of the entire uh revolt was was eliminated. So look at the progression here. It's going rapidly. on November the 27th just after these events after Hzbollah has been basically destroyed and the leaders of Hamas destroyed is destroyed comes November 27 November 27th wait what was the election in the United States forget the date um that itself was a miracle that Trump was reelected stor supporter of Israel that was an incredible incredible miracle and November also in 27th is uh the fall of Syria And the end of that axis of evil, Iran has lost its foreground. And now internal wars between Lebanon and Turkey and and and Iran and and who knows Syrian rebels is a balagan. But as long as they're not all united in a attack against us, they're busy fighting each other as the Na'vi predicted that would be that way. Even in the wars of Gokamog, that they would turn upon each other. And that's exactly what's going on. Incredible, incredible miracle. In December 2nd, President Trump said, "You'll be held to pay if hostages and Gaz are not freed." It's the first time that anyone anyone since October 7th said, "Let's focus first and foremost on getting the Israeli hostages and American hostages out." Tremendous turning point. Okay. Then Nebach Biden made a parting shot of of force forcing onto us a damaging January 15th deal as always leaving office with a with a kick towards towards Israel. But but by you know by March it was already um anticipated right now we have to add the events that are happening right now in April of 225 of March and April and that is something absolutely extraordinary and what's going on is this the decision has been made and the word went out already almost soon after the election that the Trump plan for Gaza is to remove them remove them completely which is something that couldn't be uttered by any tongue in the universe except his and now due to their hashem stubbornness it's on its way to happening the as we speak today the leader of Israel uh Benjamin is on his way to Washington what is he doing there today the week of the seder he's going there today to discuss the endgame how they're going to get everybody out of Gaza and also destroy Iran's nuclear weapons. This is happening now. This pes it's a thrilling moment of it's coming to a dramatic end. It's a movie. It's a story. It's a pearl. It's a jewel. Let's wake up and integrate it into our saders. Now I'll mention something from Nebraska. always people had and every if you didn't have this question then you know you probably weren't a thinking person or you were just so so saintly they said look excuse me try was a wonderful event we had a big win what have you done for me lately what have you done for me lately every year every day of the year we go how about uh you know let's talk about uh something a little bit more current like why do we have to go, you know, to the 3,000 year ago thing. Why you expect me to get excited about event that was so so long ago and in the meantime, we've had so much suffering in after Bish still existed. Okay, that's one thing because then that's the beginning. Here we are in bringing carbonos, but it's been 2,000 years since that. the idea of even bringing a little carbon pes which is and I'll make a little side point here that there was a discussion that was brought to the attention of the of ager okay and uh whether we could bring carbon pes in bismanaz and he ruled that we can we can we absolutely can however that's not what the what the uh is possible. There was an attempt there were attempts by certain rabbanim to say let's buy let's buy harab let's buy them out let us do carbon pes only thing is that carbon pes is a carbon but it's not like a which is so there was a feeling that if we jumpstarted a carbon that's the gula would just be radically radically um hastened being carved I think wouldn't harm either but it's not to the same extent. So Rakiva Ager said no carbon tit anymore even though we are all tame and even if we could buy off Rothschild to pay for Harabias which was the plan which was a plan just give the Arabs all the money that they want and buy it and let us restart the basuma which is tumibore ultimately the rabbi rabar nixed it and he said but carbon pes Yes. Um, and every every year I think there's always somebody who tries to smuggle up a little lamb. I imagine they're going to do it they're going to do it on uh on on well they can't do it on chabas. That's the point. I guess this year there's going to be no attempt. I guess not. Isn't that interesting? This is the one year where they won't even have an attempt to to smuggle up a lamb on Harbay. I don't know if they posin that they can chef donas. Maybe they do th those folk follow that approach and maybe they'll get the lamb they'll get the lamb there before chabas. I don't know whatever it might be. Um it's not it's one of the furthest things from what the world as a whole is outraged. Isn't that Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't that ridiculous? But it shows you the importance. It shows you just how important and how relevant and how anticipated we must anticipate this moment because it's it's it's it's moving. It's moving. We might see this seder night a heavy blow on Iran. You can't make this stuff up. It just like it shamurim just like the night of the sedit was makas before rooting out evil at its core. That very well might happen on Friday night. I hope it doesn't happen on Friday night, but that's another story. But it may very well. It may very well. And we must incorporate these ideas into our seder. So again, um let me just add one piece and then we'll recap. We said that we have to do that's how the sed works. My father was a humble Aramian. My you know terra was the was the o of devot. We we tell our story of our not such pure and holy roots to show we came a long way just how how much we've achieved. So in the hagada there's four questions. The first two don't seem to match the second two. And this is a port that I heard from Rabbi Alexander Gross, my brother-in-law the who's the ra of the carbaku here's illustrious father of five he said look at the first two questions matzah and maru right matzah is a sign of how shall I say suffering it's a sign of poverty it's a sign of on suffering and mara too mara is bitter or is it's it's the reminds us of the bondage and the slavery and the suffering. But the second two are just the opposite. Second two is table. We dip like fancy elegant people eating in the finest restaurants orbs. Who serves orbs at dinner? Even on a Friday night, you don't serve orbs. Maybe if you're Spartic, you do the the kai salat. You do 18 salads. That's, you know, that's what it is. But you don't dip. No one dips like a Roman sort of elitist. It says that Rebi Yehuda Nilah had every sort of of uh for spice, every sort of elegant radish or this or that or all these appetizers, all these oberves on his table because he demonstrated wealth and power and projected that to the Romans who who are impressed were impressed by wealth and power to protect the Jewish people. But we do it on Saturday night everybody. And not only that, Msuben, we lay like Romans. We're supposed to lie like Romans on couches or they peel grapes for us. That's really how you're supposed to sit, not just in some, you know, neb pillow, but we're supposed to really be reclining in a royal fashion. And the question is obvious the dichotomy. It seems that it seems that the first two question the first question the the essential question of the seder which is mashana is you're giving me mixed signals and in psychology they call it a double bind. You're teaching me on the one hand that this is a night of slavery and suffering and the other hand you're telling me it's a of extreme luxury and and and celebration and elegance. What's going on? I mean you can't have it both ways. And the answer is like everything make up your mind. It's either this or that. And the answer is which one is it? And the answer is both. It's both. We can't really appreciate, we can't really um have the sense, we can't sense the great miracle and the great victory if we're numb. If we don't understand how far back it was and how bad it was. That's the obligation of the seder to use our imaginations to create real feeling about the hardships and to play down the food. Now even at home the seder can be a lot about food and if you've ever gone away for pes and I have nothing against anybody who goes away for pes notically not personally but everybody knows that for some reason in the hotels the emphasis on the food seems to be the big big deal cutting boards um you know every sort of non-stop food you you can eat all day every day, all day. In other words, by the time you finish serving breakfast, they're serving already schnitles and French fries for for snacks. And then they're going to go into lunch as if you could eat lunch after a breakfast like that. And after uh uh all your schnitles at 12 at 11:30 a.m. And then you're going to go to dinner and you're going to go go. Ironically, ironically that this is the time where we're supposed to be mainil the purpose of pes is to calm down with the food. Calm down with the food. Eat to live, don't live to eat. It's a challenge because we have a wealthy society hashem and we have so much available to us. So it's so easy to access food and and and it's so much kosher and it's just a sign of the gul of the coming wealth but at the same time we can fall into excess and it's such a big challenge. I give everybody a big braha that they should eat wisely. I'm talking to myself and eat productively and modestly and not go crazy uh over yontiff over the great foods that all of our wonderful women and men I guess prepare. And that's part of the lesson we want to remind people. Yeah, celebrate but don't but do it in a matzah context. Do with a little bit of restraint. Do it with a little bit of humility. Eat with a little humility. When a person with humility eats, they eat they don't they don't I can imagine my rebi never. It's just never happening. It's just never happening that he's, you know, going to stuff his face with food. It's never the image is impossible to comprehend. It's always modestly with a sense of dignity, with a sense of consciousness, with pro It's a job for us in our generation. A very big job. I'll speak to myself and for everybody else. Never mind the pop the extra calories and pounds that we could or kilo that we could put on. You know, everything in the moderation. So the the double message of the manishan is keep both things in mind. They're both true. It's true that we came through such a desperate place and it's true that we ended up and we will end up in a glorious place. But we're the same person. When we come to that glorious place, we're coming with our our sense of the suffering and what we weathered and the hollow and the appreciation that we have for that deliverance. Okay. So there there is that that element to the sedery. We have to keep the contrast in mind. Okay. But then let's go back to our central question that we asked and end with this and then we'll recap. The last question that we asked is that you know 2,000 years is a long time. Why are we still talking about mits? It says that when mashia comes we won't be talking about mit anymore. We're going to talk about the the gul of Mashiach which lends lends credence to the idea that we want to talk about what's contemporary and relevant and what what is what is this emphasis of such long ago events although key to the hashkaf and performance of mits yes but what is the nature of that mitzvah if you understand based on uh especially based on teachings of Bruss uh several toos in the in the in a wonderful book called it's oats it's oats hamoados which gathers his teachings by holiday and um basically what bin says I don't have time to read it inside is that we're making a massive mistake massive mistake if you think you see this story was a story of 2,000 years ago you couldn't be more possibly wrong. Mits is the story of our lives. Every single day, every single day we battle our inner parro which is our yates. We battle our types we mentioned last time the medish about Yoseph's cups. The cups that Yoseph spoke to the four mentions of Kosos in his conversation with the wine dealer with the wine butler of the of the of parro. They mentioned three slaves. The slave number one was Potifar. Slave number two was the Sarah, the baker. And then there was the wine maker who's restored to his place. And then of course there was Yoseph. And Yoseph becomes the preeminent person in all of Mitsayim. So why would we associate um does Shami does the four cups with that story? The answer is very simple. We are of parro parro being our own. We are every single day in need of mit. It is not the story of the gener of of a generation long ago. It's the story of our daily experience and and mission. We live every moment, every waking moment. That's what you have to understand. Why does why does keep saying because when you wake up every single day you need your need to get out of being one of the parrotif my goodness every ta in the world he wanted yose if he wanted who knows what he he was a murderer or or uh or a butcher we don't know but it was bloodshed all over and Aarios and then comes the Sahara who planted a fly in the cup of his friend. There's so much sin. I'm going to put a fly in the cup of the other guy. So, I'll be the number one number one servant of parro. And that triggered a war between them. But the Sarafa eventually lost because he was insincere and he tried to bring down his friend. The Sarah Hamashkim who was a little bit better. He got he got he got redeemed. And it's him who mentions Yoseph. And it's Yoseph who redeems uh all the wealth of the world towards Misim. And that wealth eventually leaves with the Jewish people and builds the BD. Do you understand that we're in the middle of that story every single day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's why we have mitzvah consciousness because we don't want to be a power. We want to be a and that's our daily daily objective. And that's part of what we need to tell at our seder. The matus is also about our our development. Do something. Elevate. Bring yourself up. Excite yourself with inspiring stories of chuva, with dramatic victories against our enemies, with beeper frogs, with whatever you can possibly do to animate your your seder and give it give it life. And if you don't pull even if you pull it off only a little so what as long as you tried and you know that in your heart we want this to be a heart pulsator not just another um intellectual exercise leading to a massive meal. That's really really our challenge. So we have to be of the hashem at the seder not of the parro at the seder. And that's that's really what we're hoping for. The braha should be that as these events swirling around us unfold, we have to mention at the sedar the anti-semitism that was experienced on campus and that and and thank Hashem that there's a drive to bring those people to justice to allow bloodshed and murder in places like Israel and America by not checking terrorist entities and and all sorts of criminal figures. But now hopefully that will end. And also the justice system. This is so so important. The justice system in America, the the judiciary and the legislative people here in America cleansing and they're fighting to cleanse it and Israel too. the battles between the judicial system, the attorney general, the head of the shinbet, the sitting government, members of Knesset and just the general that generated it must end must end. It must go away. We go from to vision for a country that's united around positive Jewish principles. love for our fellow Jew, love for everybody, opportunity for everybody, prosperity for everybody, but protection and a lack of sinister hatred which has only based on on a lack of faith. Now they say and means your fellow shepherd, right? Your fellow grazer. Why is it called Rea? Because if you don't think there's enough grass for everybody here, all right, then you don't get it. If you think there's a limited amount of grass, meaning green, meaning money, meaning power, I have to get it all for myself. No, there's enough for you. There's enough for everybody. There's room for you and your values. There's room for Torah Jews who want to do it that way. There's room for their values. We respect each other. We honor each other despite our differences. We create bridges of dialogue. And we send love and protection. and who follow the path of the people who escaped from the worst circumstances and look how they return to faith and they're not coming from Mearim and they're not coming from Bish and they're not coming uh you know from uh the old city of Yishim they're coming from every which corner of Israel and they're finding a meeting grounds in their basic imuna and respect for the principles of of Torah Shabas belief in moonm and for the other Jews who helped them and rescued them and need rescue. This horrible unacceptable hatefilled battle that going on in our country that's going on in America and who knows and the evil that's being perpetrated in so many of our enemy countries around us. Hashem wants this to end and it is being uh attacked just like Sinwar is eliminated and and and and Nala was eliminated and hopefully Iran's going to be eliminated. All these things are going to go and and be Hashem quickly. But we the remainder the other people have to say we're not dividing. We're not criticizing. We're not ourselves and not anybody else. We want a unified Jewish people. I'm not interested in arguing with you. I'm not interested in fighting with you. I'm not interested in trying to convince you of my opinion. We're here. We're open. We have open hearts. We are reaching towards each other. This is where we're going on this seder and the social health. And we should, you know, talk 20 years from now or whenever it might be about the miracles of this year, of this Pesak and of the whole year, Pes of 57 84 to 85. What a time period has been. Let's not forget it on Saturday night. Let's make it real. And that is a hop and we should share the surrog Yeshua and real shalom, real peace within ourselves as we gain victory of our inner parro. And once that happens on an individual level, more and more people will join. And that's what we're hoping for. And this is Hashem. We're going to um we're going to see uh advancement of good. Advancement of good. And there's no toe to Torah to Israel is to Mosher was to that's what his name was advancement of good in in this kufa and this year amen we should live to see it in good health with our families with our friends and with guns call thank you for listening have a great seder Heat. Heat. [Music] My sh