ב"ה
Free? Are you free? Can a person with a mortgage be free? Can a person with a mother-in-law be free? Can a person with a job be free? Can a person without a job be free?
One of the most constricting elements of the human condition is the phenomenon of time. Time carries off the past and holds off the future, confining our lives to a temporal sliver of "present." But on the first night of Passover we break the bonds of time, having received a mandate to experience the Exodus "as if he himself has come out of Egypt."
At the conclusion of the meal, the cup of Elijah was filled and my six year old son, candle in hand, was sent to open the front door, an old fashioned, ponderous wooden structure that was secured with a heavy iron latch. The door could be seen clearly from where I sat. However, before my son could take a step, the door unlatched and swung wide open. No one, or at least no one visible, was there. My son dropped the candle and ran to his mother. I hesitantly got up and went to the open doorway. The night was clear and there was not so much as a breeze.
So here I am, scrubbing out the crumbs from my ergonomic keyboard, faxing in my Deed of Chametz Sale and downloading a new Haggadah. In other words, it’s almost Passover 5760 already. I’ll soon be sitting at the Seder table with family and friends and the same question as with every one of these holidays is going to come up: What are we celebrating? What are we all here for? My kids tell me that’s no question: We’re here to celebrate our freedom. That’s what the holiday is called, "The Festival of Our Freedom." We were slaves in Egypt, now we are free. So let’s get to the meal and celebrate.
The next afternoon, the friendless little accountant again went to the door to collect his daily portion of "occupant mail." Again when he opened the door, a cardboard box fell at his feet. He examined it closely and again found that it was Shmurah Matzah from Lubavitch House. "Strange," he thought, "one box was nice, but two seems a bit extravagant on the Rabbi's part." "Maybe the Lubavitch have more money than I think," he said to himself, "perhaps I have been giving in excess," he noted in his accountant-like brain.
 At the time Chabad emissary to Louisville Rabbi Avraham Litvin received an invitation to offer the opening prayer at the Kentucky House of Legislation, local religious sensitivities were running raw. Some legislatures' plan to erect a large monument to the Ten Commandments had touched off bitter controversy, setting its supporters and opponents against each other in fierce debate. |
The Man and the Century
Week of April 16 - 22, 2000 The Complete Haggadah 
THE REBBE: 50 YEARS PREVIOUS ISSUE | ||||||||||||
