Next week we will gather around our seder tables and participate in the sacred ritual of Passover. We’ll retell the story of the exodus from Egypt as if we were there ourselves. I know I’ve shared this in the past, but Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday. I love the symbolism, the story, and how the seder itself offers each family an opportunity to make it their own, whether with an extra item on the seder plate, an extra reading, or some other ritual.

Click here to read the transcribed version of the Shabbat message.

In difficult times the instinct is to close ourselves off, but I urge you to open up, and give people the opportunity to experience all that we love about our culture and our Passover ritual. Invite them to hear the story of Passover with us. To experience the oppression and slavery and the joy of freedom.

Opening ourselves up can be scary, but it is through education and through acts of kindness that we not only change the tide of antisemitism, but that we do so while embodying the best of who we are as a people. Next week, we’ll be opening the door wide at our house, and I hope you’ll do the same.

Until next time, I wish you a safe, peaceful, and joyous Shabbat, and a wonderful Passover holiday.

Shabbat Shalom,
Adam Greenman
President & CEO