From the Rabbi's Desk

Dear friends,

As we approach Pesach (Passover) and the Season of our Liberation, I would like to mention just how meaningful this festival is to each of us.

One of the instructive messages of this Yom Tov is that a Jew has the inner capacity and actual ability to transform himself, in a short time, from one extreme to the opposite. Our Holy Scriptures and Rabbinic sources describe in detail the bitterness of the enslavement in Egypt and the nadir of spiritual depravity to which the enslaved Jews had sunken in Egypt.

Enslaved in a country from which not even a single slave could escape; completely in the power of a Pharaoh who bathed in the blood of Jewish children; in utmost destitution; broken in body and spirit by the meanest kind of forced labor - suddenly Pharaoh's power is broken; the entire people is liberated; the erstwhile slaves emerge from bondage as free men, bold and dignified "with an outstretched arm" and "with great wealth"!

Likewise, their spiritual liberation is in a manner that bespeaks a complete transformation. After having sunk to the 49th degree of unholiness, to the point of pagan idolatry - they suddenly behold G‑d revealed in His full Glory, and only a few weeks later they all stand at the foot of Mount Sinai on the highest level of holiness and prophecy, and G‑d speaks to each one of them individually, without any intermediary, and declares: "I am G‑d, thy G‑d!"

The lesson is highly instructive: No matter what the status of the Jew is; no matter how gloomy the position appears to be, the Jew must remind himself every day of Yetzias Mitzrayim, our exodus from Egypt - and strive effectively towards complete liberation and freedom, in a bold manner ("with an outstretched arm") and to the fullest attainment ("with great wealth"). Freedom from all shackles and obstacles in escape from our own “Egypt”, in order to reach the height of "priestly kingdom and holy nationhood", through accepting the Torah upon ourselves. On this road; there must be no resting on one's initial accomplishments; one must go on and on, higher and higher, until one apprehends and experiences the call: "I am G‑d, thy G‑d!"

Wishing you all a kosher and happy Pesach, and may the Prophetic promise, "as in the days of your liberation from Egypt will I show them wonders" in the form of our Mashiach, be soon fulfilled in our time.

Rabbi Sholom S. Mimran