April 2, 2015

The carpets are washed. The floor is steam cleaned. The counters are boiled. The groceries are purchased—from the Men’s Club wine sale, the Jewel in Buffalo Grove, Costco, Mariano’s, Meijer’s, the Jewel in Evanston. Everything has to be just so.

Eggs have been boiled. A lamb bone roasted. Soup simmering. We are almost there!

It is probably the most physically demanding Jewish holiday. And when done right, one of the most spiritually uplifting. That’s the harder part because with all the physical demands, there is hardly time to sit, let alone think.

In fact, even as I sat down to write this, I got interrupted.

So how do you prepare spiritually and emotionally while wielding a vacuum cleaner? Perhaps the first question is where is there? Passover is designed so that each of us feels as though he or she went forth from Egypt, out of the narrow places, into freedom. So the first question is to what are we enslaved?

When I asked this question this week at an assisted living center they really understood. They said that they are enslaved to time, since meals and medications are only served at specific times. They are enslaved to their wheelchairs because they struggle with mobility issues.

When I asked the question of middle school students, they said that they were enslaved to school, to getting homework done on time, to their parents who demand they clean their rooms, to their after school schedules and extra curricular activities.

When I asked them to tell the story of Passover, it was quite simple. “We were slaves in Egypt. Then we left. Then we were free. That’s all you really need to know.”

So part of how I prepare is to help others prepare. We practice the Four Questions. We learn new songs. We trade recipes. We debate the differences between Ashkanazi practices and Sephardic practices. Rice and beans or no? Some of this has gotten easier with the Internet.

Every Jewish organization adds readings for the seder. Part of that is a fundraising appeal (clever!) and part of it is to make us really think about the modern part of the seder.

Last Shabbat as part of Shabbat Hagadol I gave out parts. Here are some of the ones I liked:

http://ajws.org/who_we_are/news/archives/press_releases/us_supreme_court_justice_ruth_bader_ginsburg_offers_reading_for_passover.html about the role of women and girls. So feisty.

http://truah.org/resources-general/676-haggadah-on-fighting-modern-day-slavery.html A full Hagaddah to look at modern day slavery, including trafficking, immigration reform, from the people who are sometimes known as the Tomato Rabbis!

10 Modern Plagues: http://www.rac.org/sites/default/files/The%20Ten%20Plagues.pdf

Why is there Charoset on the table? The R-rated version: https://theshalomcenter.org/purim-to-pesach/why-there-charoset-seder-plate This is part of a collection of readings between Purim and Pesach about the earth and Passover. My own reading was included here. https://theshalomcenter.org/purim-to-pesach/knowing-where-you-are-going-box-hike-family-activity

CLAL always has an interesting take. This year they are talking about three little words, At Your Service. http://www.clal.org/cms/node/3720

Looking for more ways to make Passover inclusive: http://www.interfaithfamily.com/holidays/passover_and_easter/Tips_for_Interfaith_Families_How_to_Make_a_Seder_Inclusive.shtml

And of course, I always read books. Finished Rabbi Kerry Olitzky’s Preparing Your Heart for Passover. The best tip, amongst many good ones was writing your own Dayenu. If G-d would have done x, it would have been enough. Dayenu…He suggests writing in only ten steps, like the 10 emanations of G-d. I tried doing my own. My last one was If G-d had brought me out of Massachusetts and to Elgin, it would have been enough, Dayenu….thus far.

I am now reading Rabbi Evan Moffic’s book, What Every Christian Needs to Know about Passover. And Bitter Fruit about the uprising in Guatemala.

Ultimately that is what Passover is about. As my colleague Rabbi Maralee Gordon said recently, all you need for Passover is joy, gratitude and action. Joy that we are free, gratitude that we have made it thus far and action so that we continue to make the world a better place.

However you celebrate, keep it simple. Ultimately this is about freedom. And rest since it is also Shabbat.

May it be so for each of you. Chag Samayach