Pesach is conditional. Let’s take a quick look at the familiar
story:
Moshe rabbenu had to work
with the people to convince the Pharaoh to release the slaves. God did not do it. Moshe did.
During the last plague the
Jews were told to gather sheep* into their homes (for a festive meal) and to
paint their lintels with blood to deter the Angel of Death.
Later, trapped by the Red Sea and the
approaching chariots God taunted Moshe and the people to stop praying and have
a hand in their own salvation. The sea
only split when they waded in.
“Put your trust in God, but mind you keep your powder
dry,” declared Oliver Cromwell.
A unique attitude I have
found in our faith and nowhere else is that we are ‘partners’ with God and not
dependent underlings. We are key players
in doing the Will of God. As the Aleynu
reads, our task is “To complete the world under the Kingship of the Lord.” This is sanding the hard surfaces from Creation. God deliberately left the world unfinished.
There are numerous objectives
in the Pesach seder. Yet, one that often
becomes forgotten is the idea is to become engaged with God. We are challenged by the 613 mitzvot. The beg us to enter into a relationship with
the Giver. Mitzvot are our connection
to the Divine.
Scholem Asch told of a few
survivors of a terrible pogrom that decimated Lublin. One man returned to find his parents were
murdered and many of the town’s inhabitants forcibly converted. He roamed the streets and heard the stories
and sighs of the survivors.
He found himself on a narrow
street where merchant’s stalls were located.
There was one man calling buyers to his booth. But when he looked inside there was nothing
there. He asked the old man, “What do
you sell here? Your booth is empty.”
And the old man answered, “I
sell faith.”
Faith is imperative to
continue fulfilling our destiny of marrying God’s Will to bring “light to the
world.”
Perhaps then on Pesach we can
look for clues – lying in full sight- to
bring much needed relief to our fellow Jews and the world.
*Bear in mind the sheep was a
deity in ancient Egypt.
