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Center for Spiritual Intelligence® Inc |
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Beyond Schlepping The Dishes: Heavy
Lifting For The Soul ©
Rabbi Yaacov Kravitz,
Ed.D. The Passover Seder
is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish ceremonies.
We are attracted by the foods, like the matzo and the matzo balls, the
themes of freedom and redemption, and the odd customs that always seem to need
an explanation. The Seder also centers the ceremony at home with family and friends
rather than at the synagogue. While these factors may
account for some of the attractiveness of the Passover Seder, some people may be disturbed or at least puzzled by the
actual Passover story with its miracles, the killing of the first born of the
Egyptians, the strange rabbinic counting of plagues, and the unsettling question
of the historical fact or fiction of the exodus. Many are disappointed when they
look for a more intense experience of God or when they fail to find modern-day
miracles on the scale of the ten plagues.
In spite of all these difficulties the story of the Exodus has retained
its power in the formation of Jewish identity.
The story has lessons to teach, but does the Seder
help us to find God and relate to God as a transcendent power, Imminent
Presence, or, more humanistically, as the Power That Makes for Salvation?
The answer to this question is totally dependent on you, the individual. The Passover Seder
provides multiple points for connecting with God.
Children ask the Four Questions and focus on the drama of the story.
Adults look for deeper meanings. It
is possible to relate to the various passages and topics in the Seder
on a variety of levels. For many people the Seder
provides an ethnic connection to the Jewish people and to key Jewish values that
grew from the experience of slavery: freedom, concern for justice, showing
kindness to widows, orphans and other unfortunates. As children explore the
story they can be introduced to these themes on an appropriate level. Some would
maintain that teaching the children is in fact the primary purpose of the Seder. Even if this is
true it is still possible to explore the same material in greater depth.
The themes of slavery and freedom provide wonderful examples. The
experiences of slavery and freedom are emotionally accessible to everyone.
Children can relate to the idea of dependence and independence based on
their own experience of being dependent on their family and teachers. Adults can
view these themes in an historical context. There is a point in the
Seder at which each person is enjoined to see him or herself as if he or she had
personally gone out of The Hasidic masters suggest
that we must also identify our own personal slavery and do the work of repairing
our soul. This approach moves us from an historical and physical context to a
more personal and emotional perspective. These alternative
approaches demonstrate that we can move from an "easy lifting"
experience for the children to a much ”heavier lifting” experience for the
adults. With the "heavy
lifting" approaches we are able
to expand our consciousness of God and bring holiness into our lives and the
world.
The Passover Seder is a once a
year experience, and its message of freedom is a starting point. The soul work
of heavy lifting must continue throughout the year.
The children of
The kabbalistic tradition teaches that each of the forty-nine days
between the second day of Passover and Shavuot represents a unique combination
of character traits (Middot) that we must develop and
purify in order to be ready and worthy to stand at Sinai.
Prayer, meditation, Torah study, and deeds of loving kindness and justice
are all a part of this work of soul assessment (Heshbon haNefesh) and soul
repair (tikkun hanefesh).
A Hasidic master remarked that God is found where you let Him in.
Letting God in, is not always as easy as it sounds.
“Letting in” or opening to God requires a shift of the heart and mind
in which we move from automatic, routine and often negative responses to life
and its challenges, to a more mindful, gracious, humble and accepting
perspective. The practices of
Heshbon HaNefesh and Tikkun HaNefesh are the tools that we use to create this
openness, build a relationship with God and create an expanded God
consciousness. Contact with God is
available to us at every moment. At times it requires only that we have the
desire and will to be present in the moment. At other times we may need to do
the "heavy lifting" that is required to free ourselves from our
accumulated emotional baggage and receive God's presence. |