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7 Nisan 5766 - April 4, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
Pesach in a Jewish Home — Holy Activity in a Holy Environment

A Jewish family is not just a convenient social structure that can be altered or discarded. Rather it is an essential part of life itself as envisioned by the Torah. Nothing makes this more clear than the yom tov of Pesach.

The family gathering on the night of Pesach that we call the Seder is an echo of the "bayis" that was formed in the time of the Beis Hamikdosh in order to eat the Korbon Pesach, together with the matzoh and the morror. We come together each year in our own homes throughout the world in the hope and with the prayer that we will once again soon come together as in days of old to actually bring and eat a Korbon Pesach each year.

The bayis that was assembled for eating the Korbon Pesach had to be composed of only those who were fully committed to the Heavenly task of the Jewish people: kol ben neichor lo yochal bo — anyone whose deeds are alienated from his Heavenly Father may not partake (Pesochim 96a and Zevochim 22b). Even those who are full members of the household (eved ish) may not participate unless they have a bris milah indicating that they are a part of the larger effort of the Jewish people in avodas Hashem. The head of the household himself is also not allowed to eat the Korbon Pesach unless he has ensured that all those who are associated with him are enlisted.

This bayis on the night of Pesach became a holy gathering in a holy place — complete with special laws. "You must not take the Pesach meat out of the house" (Shemos 12:46). Just like the holy meat of the korbonos throughout the year must be eaten within special boundaries — the Beis Hamikdosh or Yerushalayim — so the meat of the Korbon Pesach must be eaten within the home that has become a sanctified area when it is united in fulfillment of the Torah way of life.

Our homes on the night of Pesach are echoes of the bayis of old. We connect to the experience of the times of glory when the Beis Hamikdash stood, by doing as much as we can of what was done then.

But there is a whole dimension that we lack today. In bringing the Korbon Pesach, all of Kehal Adas Yisroel was united within the Beis Hamikdash itself. Lacking that central pole of our relationship as a nation with Hashem, we remain fragmented in our homes in the Golus.

Within the Golus Jewish homes, built on the eternal instructions of the Torah, are critical and essential structures in the fulfillment of the Torah and in its perpetuation. We have our seudas Shabbos at home every week, and every yom tov we also have seudas. On Pesach we have the major mitzvos of the period — matzoh, morror, the four cups, and of course the haggodoh itself of recounting the story of yetzias Mitzrayim — which are performed within the home. On Shavuos there is a special emphasis on lochem — the meals we eat at home. And one of the major components of Succos is a modification of our physical home itself and the time we spend within it.

Some who do not understand the way our homes echo the Jewish bayis of all generations, think that they can just decide on changes to mimic the latest decadent fads. In truth they are not really connected with the sources of holiness that accompany us even in the Golus, and we can say of them what Chazal say of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh: that when the enemies of Hashem burned it down, they were destroying only wood and stone. The true inner holy content had long since departed.

If we wish to have a relationship with the Holy One, Blessed be He, we must follow the instructions that He gave us in His holy Torah. When we do so, we will certainly experience a personal yetzias Mitzrayim that will serve as the initiation of a process that culminates in gathering around Sinai for a full acceptance of the holy Torah.


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