As the final hours of Pesach preparations set in, our entire family wish you & yours all that Passover represents, all that Matzah symbolizes, especially its redemptive & healing qualities, spiritual opportunities and meaningful messages particularly relevant for this year!
Two things make this Passover 2021 different, and there are relevant messages in both:
First, the unusual timing of Erev Pesach falling on Shabbat (happens next in 2025, then not again until 2045!) with the first Seder on Sat night. Erev Pesach is usually very hectic, with lots to do. Not this year! Shabbat precludes many preparations, which should be done either before or after Shabbat instead. This sense of “can’t do anything about it right now” during Shabbat before the Seder, has a sense of equanimity & serenity to it, like a calm before the storm. It is the acceptance of a situation or reality with less stress and pressure. This year's Passover opens with this introduction and background, especially relevant during Covid. Of course, we must do our utmost and not wait around. We must take initiative and be proactive, try our best and make good things happen. Yet, at the same time, Covid taught us how so much is out of our hands, we can’t have everything figured out, many things are beyond our control.
Secondly, this Passover is over a year into Corona. We’re now at a critical tipping point of vaccinations, at the cusp of a positive shift and Covid redemption. We are starting to get a glimpse of a better future, but with lots of uncertainty and unknowns still ahead of us. Obviously, this is no biblical Exodus, we're not talking Splitting of the Sea, but there is certainly applicable relevance to our time: Imagine the very first Seder, back in Egypt, on the night before the Exodus: Did the Jews know their dough would turn to Matzah or that the Sea would split? Did they imagine eating Manna? No. They had no plan, no guidebook, no strategy. And yet, as the verse says, they went out triumphantly. Faith and trust affords and accords us not to be fazed or deterred by uncertainty, to go forth without having it all figured out, to venture beyond our comfort zone, limited horizon and understanding.
Matzah is called "bread of faith" a tangible, edible & absorbable symbol of certainty amidst uncertainty, with clarity of conviction, proceeding knowingly determinedly into & despite the murky confusion of the unknown, to Pass-over our doubts and hesitations with an uplifting and redemptive Exodus.
With wishes for a Happy and Kosher Pesach,
Rabbi Chaim & Chanie Lazaroff
P.S. For a clear step by step plan for this year's unique schedule of Erev Pesach observed on Shabbos, click here. For EVERYTHING Pesach, check out www.chabaduptown.org/pesach
Fox26Houston carried a little something for Pesach again.
That time when lack of sleep called the zroah a horseradish and an apple a vegetable. SMH. :) Enjoy the interview here but make sure to go here is the right way for the plate.
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FRIDAY, MARCH 26 | EREV SHABBOS
Sell & Burn Chometz by 12:25 pm
Candle Lighting at 7:19 pm
Evening Service at 7:20 pm
SHABBOS, MARCH 27 | EREV PESACH
Morning Service at 7:30 am
Finish Eating Chametz at 11:22 am
Nullify Chametz by 12:24 pm
Evening Service at 7:20 pm
Light Candles AFTER 8:13 pm
First Seder
SUNDAY, MARCH 28 | DAY 1
Morning Service 10:00 am
Prayer for Dew
Evening Service 7:20 pm
Light Candles AFTER 8:14 pm
Count the Omer
Second Seder
MONDAY, MARCH 29 | DAY 2
Morning Service at 10:00 am
Evening Service at 7:20 pm
Holiday Ends at 8:15 pm