Shabbat HaGadol: This Year, We Welcome Only Visitor To Our Seder©
A Seder During A Pandemic
Rabbi David Baum
It seems like this year’s Pesach will be different than all other Pesachs as we are in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
But, there is something I’ve realized - we’ve been here before. There was one seder that was similar to this one.
This year, we is akin to, well, the first seder in Egypt.
Both then, and now, we are scared of what is happening the outside -back then we waited as the angel of death passed over our homes, but not fully knowing if the angel would spare us, and now, we have that same feeling of not knowing today, if we open our doors and see someone who isn’t part of our immediate family approach, we are also gripped with a certain fear. Will we catch it, or not?
As much as we want to be with our larger families and friends, just like during the first Pesach, we are just with our families, or just with our partners, or just alone. Kol Dichvin Yeitei v’yechol - let all who are hungry come and eat isn’t happening in a literal sense this year. Our seders are closed, and for good reason - because we want to make sure that our larger family and friends will be there for next year’s seder, and the only way we can ensure that now is with social distancing.
But, as I thought more about it, I realized something - we actually aren’t going to be alone - there is one guest who is allowed in this year - Elijah - Eliyahu HaNavi.
This past Shabbat was a special one: Shabbat haGadol, the Great Shabbat, named for the line in the Haftarah that we read in Malachi 3:23 -24).
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם יְי הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא׃
Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD.
וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב־אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל־אֲבוֹתָם פֶּן־אָבוֹא וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת־הָאָרֶץ חֵרֶם׃
He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD.
I know, it seems like the apocalypse is coming, that awesome and fearful day, but it isn’t. As our tradition teaches us, Gam Zeh Ya’avor, this too shall pass. But after it passes, what will we do?
I recently saw a movie called the Long Way Home about what happened to survivors of the Shoah after liberation. Do you know what most survivors did, almost immediately? They got married, within days, and babies came soon after. I know this because both of sets of my grandparents, all survivors of the Shoah, met each other and within one week, they were married, and pregnant soon after.
In the face of hopelessness, they had children. Why bring Jewish children into this cruel world?
Remember, they didn’t know the future, they didn’t know that there would be a state of Israel, or that they could come to America. They were homeless, their family, friends, neighbors, everyone they knew, were gone – they thought they were the last Jews left on earth – they felt tiny.
Why did they have children?
Because it gave them a sense of awe, Norah, and it made them feel great, Gadol.
Elijah is a unique prophet - he is the prophet that never died - and he visits us during interesting moments - Havdallah, the Brit Milah, and the Seder - what do they all have in common? They are all times when families are together - they all happen in the home.
When a Jewish boy is born, we go through a ceremony called a Brit Milah. The Brit Milah is more than a circumcision– it is entering our sons into a covenant. Now, we enter girls into our covenant through a new ceremony called a Brit Bat or Simchat Bat.
Part of the Brit Milah ceremony is placing the baby on a chair called the Kisei Shel Eliyahu – Elijah’s chair. As I mentioned, Elijah is the only prophet whose death is never recorded, in fact, God brings him to God’s realm and that is the last we see of him, so Elijah’s return to earth is thought to be the beginning of the coming of the messiah.
Why do we place a child on the kisei shel eliyahu?
Because each child has the potential of becoming the messiah.
Is there anything more fitting for a Jewish parent to begin their child’s lives?
We Jews have great expectations for our children. Not only do we expect them to get a great education, become a doctor or a lawyer, but Jews expect their children to be the messiah!
Whenever I attend a brit milah, the parents give speeches telling the story of their child’s name, and the story of who they were named after. From that moment on, that child is SOMEONE to their family, their community, and our people. In an instant, this small nameless child turns into a SOMEBODY.
And as you see this child, placed on this special chair, it gives everyone in the room a sense of hope – this child can change the world, and if this child, who is just 8 days old can change the world, why not me?
When I see these 8-day old boys, or an infant girl at a baby naming also called a Simchat Bat, I think about our own congregation’s children, our teens, as they sat in a room one Shabbat at Shaarei Kodesh with one of the most special people I’ve ever met, Scott Fried.
I first met Scott when I was 15 years old at USY Encampment. Scott was the first openly gay man I’d had ever met, and the first person I had ever known with HIV. Back then, HIV was not a manageable disease like it is today – it was a death sentence. Scott shared his story to us, 400 teens, and it changed our lives. I was able to bring Scott to teach our teens at Shaarei Kodesh a number of years ago. Thankfully, Scott is not only alive, but thriving. In fact, he was supposed to lead our Civil Rights Trip that we had to postpone. Now he is primarily a motivational speaker and sex educator. Since I met Scott over 20 years ago, he has lost hundreds of friends to AIDS all under 40.
He wrote something on Facebook during the early days of the pandemic, when we were still all trying to wrap our heads around this new reality:
Scott ends each session by saying three words, “You Are Enough” and he looks each person in the eyes. With his eyes, he is telling you what he tells so many others – You Are Enough. You are special, you are unique, you can change the world, because I have changed the world.”
Scott’s life could have ended years ago, but 35 years after becoming HIV positive, he’s still here – educating, inspiring, and connecting.
Can you imagine if you looked at everyone like Scott looked at you?
Can you imagine if you looked at everyone the way you look at the baby boy on the Elijah’s chair?
Can you imagine if you looked at yourself in the mirror the way that God looks at you everyday? Can you imagine how different the world would be?
The prophet Malachi ends his book with these words:
וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב־אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל־אֲבוֹתָם פֶּן־אָבוֹא וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת־הָאָרֶץ חֵרֶם׃
He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD.
V’heshiv lev - it is translated as reconcile, but it literally means, 'restore the heart'.
So my Beracha for all of this Pesach is that we look forward to that day when our hearts are restored - when we are together with our family, and God willing, we are all safe and healthy. But this day will be a new day - and we will be renewed. Think about the ways that these days will shape you for the better, work on yourself during these days, and especially work on how you look at others. And perhaps, if we all do this, we can change the world for the better, and bring about the messianic age here on earth.
May we all have a Happy, kosher, and more than anything, a safe Passover this year.
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