NO TORAH STUDY THIS WEEK AS WE CONTINUE PASSOVER’S JOURNEY
Passover in Jerusalem is a tapestry by Israeli artist Bracha Lavee. Its focal point is two windows. One looks out on contemporary Jerusalem. The other looks out onto the past, a scene of the ancient Israelites on their journey of freedom.
The image evokes the instruction from the Mishnah: “In every generation, you must see yourself as if you yourself came out of Egypt.” The Passover seder is designed not only to recall an event that happened thousands of years ago but also to stimulate awareness of our own participation in that ongoing journey of freedom.
There is a Hasidic custom to have a seder at the end of Passover. If the opening seder is meant to remember the past and its currency in our lives, the closing seder is meant to remember the future.
The Talmud imagines that we carry within us a pre-birth memory of beyond time, beyond separation, beyond want. Our spiritual practice is designed to help us access that memory and to actualize it in our lives.
Our seders can create windows not only on the past and the present. They can also open windows onto the future. A world of love, fulfillment and attachment. It is what we carry within us.
Journey well. Remember well.
Tapestry Passover in Jerusalem by Bracha Levee
