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Holy Days -
Pesach
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Written by Adam Rose
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Why did Pharaoh decree that the Jewish slaves would have to collect their own straw to make bricks, whilst maintaining their previous work quota; why didn’t Pharaoh just double their quota? Not only would the Jews be working harder but he could have also benefited from the increase of production.
Pharaoh understood that nothing destroys a person’s spirit as seeing no purpose to his activity. This kind of work is similar to the prisoner in a Soviet labour camp, who for ten years he was placed in a room and was forced to turn a lever which protruded from the wall. Every day he would turn the lever which would operate a flour mill on the other side of the wall. When the day came for his release, he discovered that the handle on the other side of the wall was connected to nothing. The realisation that he had laboured in vain was more crushing than the ten years of imprisonment.
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Holy Days -
Pesach
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Written by gw
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What happens when you take a slice of challah and squash it in your hand? It obviously turns to mush. Additionally, it's unlike a sponge: it doesn't bounce back to its original shape. Once it has been altered, the challah is left with that lasting imprint on itself. Matzah, on the otherhand, isn't pliable, bendable or cut-able, as is challah, which can be changed from what it is in order to conform to an outside force. What happens if you were to cut a matzah? Or squash it? It refuses to bend and simply crumbles, almost as if refusing to bend on its beliefs to fit the outside force.
It doesn't conform to the pressure of the 'hand' or any other pressures, as would the challah. It refuses to be something it's not and it stands up for what it is. So to, we need to distance ourselves from conforming to whatever forces wish to change us. We need to be like the matzah: non-conforming and ever strong to our beliefs and values.
How else can we remain who we are as a people, as a nation, and simply, as our individual selves?
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Holy Days -
Pesach
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Written by Jonathan Grosskopf
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The Rashbam asks the obvious question; "How does the child know to ask about 2 dippings when he/she has only seen one dipping; that of the Karpas in the salt water? The Rashbam in Arvey Pesochim 116A answers by seemingly amending Rav Safra's comments in the Gemoroh to that the child asks :"Why are we obliged to dip ONCE when we have no such chiyuv at any other time in the year?" Consequently the Rashbam deletes the words 2 dippings from the child's question in the Mah Nishtanoh.
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Holy Days -
Pesach
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Written by Micha Kaplan
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We are two weeks before פסח and most of us are already confined to eating חמץ, in the kitchen only. Things start getting worse in about a week, when we actually start getting rid of all the חמץ in the house - and land up eating pasta (from the only pot not packed away) 3 times a day. As we get even closer to פסח, about 2 or 3 days before, we get rid of all the חמץ and then there is absolutely nothing to eat and we basically fast until .פסח
Theתורה tells us in דברים פרק טז פסוק ג ,
לֹא-תֹאכַל עָלָיו חָמֵץ, שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תֹּאכַל-עָלָיו מַצּוֹת לֶחֶם עֹנִי: כִּי בְחִפָּזוֹן, יָצָאתָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם--לְמַעַן תִּזְכֹּר אֶת-יוֹם צֵאתְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ.
“You shall eat no leavened bread… So that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life”.
Every single day of the year we are expected to remember that G-d took us out of Egypt.
But just remembering everyday in our minds is not enough it says in שמות פרק יג פסוק ט with regards to תפילין
וְהָיָה לְךָ לְאוֹת עַל-יָדְךָ, וּלְזִכָּרוֹן בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ, לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת יְהוָה, בְּפִיךָ: כִּי בְּיָד חֲזָקָה, הוֹצִאֲךָ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרָיִם.
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Holy Days -
Pesach
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Written by ShortVort
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Click the red "read more" button to watch a selection of Inspiring Pesach Videos...
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