Pesach

Let me share with you a story that I hope will throw a little light on the extraordinary story of Pessah as a festival,

And,

What it teaches us about,

Jewish identity and Jewish history.

Some years ago, I was watching a documentary on Discovery Channel.

It was about the great Temples built by Ramses the 2nd,

The Pharaoh of Egypt,

That many people think that he was the Pharaoh of 

YETZIAT MITZRAYIM,

of the Pessah story,

And it showed the extraordinary Temples he built, 

And they are still there today!

For a while, I was carried along by the enthusiasm of the document!

All of a sudden, I stopped and said to myself:

Hang on! 

Who built those Temples?

Your ancestors,

My ancestors,

Our ancestors!

These were the slaves who built those Temples for Ramses the 2nd!

And I suddenly wondered:

What would it be like if we could get back in time,

And actually meet Ramses the 2nd and I imagined myself saying:

" Oh Almighty Ramses, I am a visitor from 3.300 years in the future

and I have for you some good news and I have for you some bad news! "

And curious he might say:

" OK, what is the good news? "

" Oh Almighty Ramses, there is a Civilisation living now, that will be still alive and strong 330 centuries from now! "

" and what is the bad news? "

" it is not going to be You ! "

Then my answer:

" Ramses, you see those slaves in the distance, building your Temples,

Those people you call Hebrews,

They are going to be alive and everything they believe is still going to be strong 330 centuries from now! "

It would sound like a big drama!!!

Ramses the 2nd was 

The greatest leader of the longest lived Empire of the ancient world!

And the Jews, the minority's,

Who lost their dignity !!!

So, how was it that this tiny people were able to survive,

And such an Empire disappeared from the pages of history?

Well of course there is an answer!

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Israel were 2 Civilizations that asked the deepest questions that any of us could ask:

" How in this short spine of years that we call a life, can we achieve immortality? "

The Egyptians gave an answer:

To achieve immortality by building monuments of stones that outlive time,

And in a sense they were right,

The buildings are still there!

But,

The Civilisation and the values for what they lived disappeared Long ago!

Ancient Israel said NO!

To become immortel, you do not need to built monument of stones,

The only thing to do is to engrave the values on your heart of your children and they on their's

and so on across the centuries of time.

Jews built living minds!

How did they do it?

In the process handing their story on to the next generation.

That is what we do on Pessah,

We give the next generation the gift of the Jewish story

and that turned to be longer lasting than the biggest Empire,

The greatest monuments!

Suppose this seder night we too are a part from this miracle,

The endless story of the Jewish people seeking freedom in the promise land,

CHAG KOSHER LESAMEAH

HAVE A WONDERFUL PESSAH,

THERE WILL BE A TIME OF SHALOM AL YISRAEL,

AMEN