Passover message 5784

On all other nights we might not even dip a vegetable once, why on this night do we consciously dip vegetables twice, sweet greens into salt water and bitter herbs into sweet charoset.

Passover is an amazing festival of freedom. We don’t just remember the liberation of our ancestors from Egypt, we honor the experience of those who were in bondage being oppressed. This both/and is captured by our act of dipping twice during the seder.

First, we dip the sweet greens of karpas into salt water. The greens represent spring and the joy of a fresh start. We offset that sweetness by balancing it with a symbol of tears sadness and loss.

Then, just before we enjoy the meal, we taste maror, our bitter herbs. Typically we start with a taste of straight bitterness. Our sages knew, we as humans are quick to try and skip pass the negative emotions/memories. When we eat maror on its own, we are pushed to absorb that taste, the experiences that were hard to quite literally swallow. Then, our tradition highlights incredible grace. We do take another bite of the bitter herbs, but this time with charoset, a sweet fruit compote, to cut the bitterness and insulate our taste buds.  

The two dips of our seder reinforce the same dynamic. We have known such sadness, loss, pain. We also have found sweetness, renewal, and joy. Each should be felt singularly but then, our rituals offer a way to shift from one to the other. When we rejoice, we remember our hard times. When we are beset by darkness, we consume something sweet to lift our spirits and energize our bodies. 

We move and are moved back and forth. Not canceling out one part of life but seeing how there is more than bitterness or sweetness.  

In this season of Passover, when Israel is being challenged in so many painful ways, when antisemitism is rampant and has on us on alert, let us take time and make the effort to enjoy charoset, literal or symbolic tastes of sweetness.  

Even as we welcome spring time, and celebrate the joys of a holiday, let us shed some tears for those who are in danger, these who are facing a loss, for those not free to live to their highest potential. 

In this season, let us not dismiss either element of life, bitter or sweet, fresh or salty, but use their interaction to keep us moving forward to a place and time that is full of Shalom, wholeness, harmony and peace.

Chag, Sameach,

Rabbi Michael Birnholz