If there were Nielsen ratings for Jewish community online activities, this one might have topped the charts.
If the event were held in one of the larger shul buildings in town, the main sanctuary would have looked as crowded as Kol Nidre night.
Community members from shuls in East Brunswick, Edison and Highland Park logged into Zoom on April 1 to hear rabbis representing eight area shuls each present a five-minute dvar Torah on one aspect of the Pesach Seder. Over 331 distinctive desktop computers, laptops, iPads or smartphones dialed in for the unprecedented collaboration by community Rabbonim, potentially representing 500 or more people.
What follows are brief summaries of each Rabbi’s message.
Kadesh
Rabbi Sariel Malitzky, Congregation Ohr Torah, Edison
Ordinarily we first purify ourselves, then pursue Kedushah activities. Pesach is different because we imitate the actions of the Malach in Mitzrayim, which passed over the Jews’ homes (during Machat Bechorot). This is why, at the Seder, we can first say Kadesh and then we purify ourselves by washing our hands.
Urchatz
Rabbi Gedalia Jaffe, Congregation Ahavas Yisrael, Edison
This is the only siman (sign) of the Seder that begins with a connecting vav. This points us back to Kadesh and the connection between the two actions. On Seder night we first focus on the positive (Kadesh) before we shift to an action of Sur Mei Rah (turn from evil).
Karpas
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Eichenstein, Congregation Ateres Shlomo, Highland Park
In Karpas we take a sweet tasting vegetable and dip it in a bitter mixture (salt water). This is a mirror image of a later stage in the Seder, when we dip a bitter tasting vegetable (maror) in a sweet tasting dip (charoset). This is symbolic of the different ways one must purify oneself to prepare to do mitzvot.
Yachatz
Rabbi Steven Miodownik, Congregation Ahavas Achim, Highland Park
Breaking the middle matzah results in a bigger piece, set aside as the Afikomen (representing the korban Pesach, symbolizing freedom), and a smaller piece (representing lechem oni, symbolizing slavery). This echoes the Mishnah that teaches that a Jew should bless good things with a Shecheyanu and bad things with a Baruch Dayan Emet. We use both pieces of matza in the seder, because a Jew blesses both experiences.
Maggid
Rabbi Eliyahu Kaufman, Congregation Ohav Emeth, Highland Park
What is unusual in the Maggid section is that there’s no “order” to it; the section includes HaLachma Anya, the Four Questions, the story of the RAis having Seder in Bnei Brak, the Four Sons, etc. The Haggadah of the Malbim suggests that each component of Maggid represents a word from the pasuk that commands us to tell the story on Pesach night, Shemos 13:8, “VeHegada L’Bincha …”
Motzi Matza
Rabbi Hillel Feldman, Agudath Israel Congregation, Highland Park
The matza in part represents the rush to leave Egypt. Why is it so important to remember the rush? The meforshim tell us that the final Geulah (redemption) will come when we don’t expect it, just like the rush to leave Mitzrayim.
Maror
Rabbi Effy Unterman, Young Israel of East Brunswick
Tasting bitterness is actually a part of the redemption, because if the Jews didn’t “taste” the bitterness of their situation in Egypt it might have meant that they had accepted it as the norm. By tasting the bitterness at our Seder, we express a renewed longing for redemption.
Korech
Rabbi Yaakov Luban, Congregation Ohr Torah, Edison
By mixing the maror and the matza together, we are demonstrating that a Jew can simultaneously experience the joys in their life while also seeing tragedy and sorrow around them. This may be especially meaningful to us today, as we prepare to celebrate our joyful Seders at the same time that the world, and our own families, grasp the fears and uncertainties around us.
Tzafun
Rabbi Yechiel Horowitz, Khal Chassidim, Highland Park
According to Chassidus, one can save a piece of the afikomen as protection over the coming year. The afikomen is similar to a Korban Pesach and we know that korbanot must be eaten in a holy place. Our job, in getting ready for Pesach, is to recreate ourselves as holy places.
Barech
Rabbi Steven Miodownik, Congregation Ahavas Achim, Highland Park
Why is bentching on Seder night different than bentching any other night? The Shulchan Oruch says that on an ordinary Shabbos or chag, a guest should lead the bentching so they can properly thank their host. But on Seder night, the host should lead so they can express a full HaKoras HaTov to Hashem.
Hallel
Rabbi Gedalia Jaffe, Congregation Ahavas Yisrael, Edison
Why is Hallel on Seder night different from Hallel on other occasions? Women are obligated to say it, there is no preparatory bracha and we say it seated not standing. This is because Hallel at the Seder represents a spontaneous song of praise and thanks, a shirah, as we have relived all the blessing of our geulah from Mitzrayim.
Nirtzah
Rabbi Sariel Malitzky, Congregation Ohr Torah, Edison
It is curious that we end the Seder with Ha Gadya, a song about animals eating animals. And one way to consider that song is that if the cat was wrong in attacking the kid, then the dog was right to punish the cat. This makes the stick wrong, the fire right, the water wrong, the ox right, the shochet wrong, the Malach Ha Mavet right, and … HaShem wrong?!? How can that be? The answer is that as Jews, we end the Seder with an unanswered question because our faith is strong. And that is how we must live as Jews, accepting that there are hard questions we can’t answer yet maintaining a strong faith that endures.
Rabbi Malitzky, who served as host/moderator for the evening’s Zoom session, joked at the start that at no other time should community members expect their Rav to speak only five minutes at a time. And they shouldn’t think they can “mute” their Rav like participants can be muted on Zoom.
By Harry Glazer
