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| Jesus our healer, have mercy on us! |
This message of hope was sent to a family member. She is not Jewish, but in light of the message this letter contains, what does that matter? We need to hear the voice of the Jewish people at this time for if any people have endured trouble, it is the Jewish people. Jesus was (and is) Jewish and he never wavered in his following of the Commandments and the prophetic message. Let's read this and apply our Christian perspective to it. Passover is a holy day of freedom; Easter is as well.
Each year on Passover, we ask “Mah nishtanah,” “Why is this night different?” This year, though, we know why: Pesach 5780 is simply unlike any other.
As the global pandemic of COVID-19 changes life on planet Earth, there is simply no way that our holiday observance could resemble years past. Physical distancing, sheltering-in-place, and pervasive fears are significant obstacles to making Pesach happen at all, let alone embracing it as a time of joy and renewal.
But we are a resilient and imaginative community. We have faced challenges at almost every turn throughout our history – and that, my friends, is the story we tell from the Haggadah. So we will not take a year off this year; rather, with creativity, love, and defiance, we will adapt our Passover rituals to this moment.
Because we need this festival of liberation, now as much as ever. This year, we need our sacred ritual to temporarily liberate us from quarantine and fear. As we liberate ourselves from the limits of “the way we’ve always done seder,” let us tap into the essence of Reform Judaism, which inspires us to update our Jewish tradition to each new moment.
One of the most magical moments of seder comes when we open the door for the prophet Elijah, the same door once opened at the beginning of the seder with the words, “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” Long ago, this invitation was made early in the evening, allowing those in need to partake in the entirety of the meal and its meaning. Over time, though, our doors stayed closed for this invitation, because too many of our ancestors lived in places where it was dangerous to announce to the community that a seder was taking place.
Today, so too have our doors been closed to preserve the health of those inside. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another must open – and so, this year, we can dramatically increase the guest list of our seders. In years past, with limited physical space, so too were our guest lists limited; on Zoom, though, we can easily set another place at our virtual table.
This year, let us throw open the technological doors to our homes to all those who may be feeling lonely or isolated or who need the connection and spiritual renewal that our seder can provide. This year let’s extend the tent of our Reform Movement to include “all who are hungry” for community, meaning, and hope.
May we all be nourished by this year’s Passover, and may we deepen our commitment to nourish those who have not yet found an open door to our spiritually rich Jewish community.
Chag sameach,
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Rabbi Rick Jacobs
I'd like to invite any of you who read this to join me on Sunday morning, April 5 for a Palm Sunday service carried on video over the internet. It will begin at 11:00am that morning. However, it will not be a traditional service; that is not available to us at this time. I'm going to keep it simple and relatively short. No need to dress up and coffee or tea while we pray together will be fine. The program, YouTube, will also archive this service if you can't be there at the time and wish to watch it later. So...
I'm sad to say that I won't be able to see you, hear your voices at prayer, or field your remarks/questions. We'll do that as soon as we can. Let's pray together then and always.
and remember...
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