I am deeply inspired when I find a deep connection between topics that seem to have no relationship at all. It is all the more inspiring when the two topics themselves are difficult to appreciate, but the insight revealed now by the the topics and their connection becomes a beacon of clarity.
Consider the four questions that our children ask (often in multiple languages) to set the stage for their education into Jewish history and our relationship with the Creator. The intense and constant hashgacha pratis represented by the matzah! The bitterness of separation from our Creator repesented by the maror! The freedom to exercise our unfettered free will represented by our reclining! And... and.. dipping a small piece of vegetable into salt water and our matzah with maror into the charoses (that must be shaken off before eating) that represents... um... well... Right. What is with those two dippings?
Consider now a recurring tragedy in Jewish history: the blood libel. If there is one thing that Jews don't eat, it's blood. The Torah tells us time and again that we may eat certain animals, but never may be eat the blood. Moreover, there is no food that is more ingredient controlled than matzah on Pesach. The slightest amount of any ingredient by flour and water will render the matzah unfit for Passover use. If the water is tepid or not left to cool over night; the matzah is rendered unit for Passover use. And once you get passed all that, you have to wonder: what in the world does a blood libel have to do with Passover, anyway. Yet that cruel and vicious charge has always been leveled at Passover.
R' Matisyahu Salomon in (Matnas Chaim on the haggadah, article 12) reveals a beautiful and chilling insight. Our exile to Mitzrayim started with a dipping: the dipping of Yosef's coat into goat's blood to cover their crime. The redemption from Mitzrayim also started with a dipping: the dipping of the hyssop into lamb's blood to publicly identify each Jewish household.
What was the root cause of that argument between Yosef and his brothers? שנאת חינם/Baseless hatred on both sides. What is Passover? We identify as a single people, a single nation; we unify because of אהבת חינם/love for each Jew just because he is a Jew.
No lie can be successfully promulgated unless there is a kernel of truth. The kernel of truth, in this case, is our own deficiency in completely eradicating the destructive influence of שנאת חינם. The two dippings at the seder remind us how even our smallest actions can have large and long lasting affects -- both for good and the opposite; for ourselves and our descendants. Moreover, failure to correct an evil is tantamount to perpetrating that evil. At this time of year when we drawing together as a community, we are reminded by our enemies that we have more work to done.
Reb Chaim Volozhiner put it bluntly and succinctly: When the Jews don't make kiddush, the goyim make havdala.
Consider the four questions that our children ask (often in multiple languages) to set the stage for their education into Jewish history and our relationship with the Creator. The intense and constant hashgacha pratis represented by the matzah! The bitterness of separation from our Creator repesented by the maror! The freedom to exercise our unfettered free will represented by our reclining! And... and.. dipping a small piece of vegetable into salt water and our matzah with maror into the charoses (that must be shaken off before eating) that represents... um... well... Right. What is with those two dippings?
Consider now a recurring tragedy in Jewish history: the blood libel. If there is one thing that Jews don't eat, it's blood. The Torah tells us time and again that we may eat certain animals, but never may be eat the blood. Moreover, there is no food that is more ingredient controlled than matzah on Pesach. The slightest amount of any ingredient by flour and water will render the matzah unfit for Passover use. If the water is tepid or not left to cool over night; the matzah is rendered unit for Passover use. And once you get passed all that, you have to wonder: what in the world does a blood libel have to do with Passover, anyway. Yet that cruel and vicious charge has always been leveled at Passover.
R' Matisyahu Salomon in (Matnas Chaim on the haggadah, article 12) reveals a beautiful and chilling insight. Our exile to Mitzrayim started with a dipping: the dipping of Yosef's coat into goat's blood to cover their crime. The redemption from Mitzrayim also started with a dipping: the dipping of the hyssop into lamb's blood to publicly identify each Jewish household.
What was the root cause of that argument between Yosef and his brothers? שנאת חינם/Baseless hatred on both sides. What is Passover? We identify as a single people, a single nation; we unify because of אהבת חינם/love for each Jew just because he is a Jew.
No lie can be successfully promulgated unless there is a kernel of truth. The kernel of truth, in this case, is our own deficiency in completely eradicating the destructive influence of שנאת חינם. The two dippings at the seder remind us how even our smallest actions can have large and long lasting affects -- both for good and the opposite; for ourselves and our descendants. Moreover, failure to correct an evil is tantamount to perpetrating that evil. At this time of year when we drawing together as a community, we are reminded by our enemies that we have more work to done.
Reb Chaim Volozhiner put it bluntly and succinctly: When the Jews don't make kiddush, the goyim make havdala.
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