Passover: Increasing the Light
Vermont House of Representatives Devotional March 31, 2022
Rabbi Tobie Weisman
There is a Jewish teaching that everything in the world is here for the service of G!d. Somebody once came to the Hasidic master Reb Alexander, and asked him, if everything and everyone in the world is here for the service of G!d, then how can one serve G!d by being an atheist? Reb Alexander answered, “Ah, you have to be an atheist when someone asks you a favor. If you believe in G!d, you might say to the person, “I will pray for you or I will bless you, but inside you might think to yourself, I don’t have to do anything because G!d will do it. But when someone asks you to do them a favor, you have to become a complete atheist, as if G!d won’t do anything for them. You have to think to yourself “I have got to do this person a favor, there is no one else to do it!”
We might think that we are doing a favor for someone, but really Reb Shlomo Carlebach taught, that really the person asking us for a favor is doing us a favor by asking us! They are opening up all the gates for us to bring more light into our lives!
Tomorrow night and Shabbat is Rosh Hodesh Nisan, the new month of the Jewish month of Nisan, when we celebrate Passover, our liberation from slavery. While we were still slaves, the children of Israel were given the first Mitzvah, the first commandment (or way of being close to the Divine) to celebrate the new moon every month. Month in Hebrew is Hodesh and it relates to the word Hadash which means new.
Jewish tradition teaches that each of us is given the power of renewal. Like the moon, each month we have another opportunity to begin anew, to break free from whatever enslaves us. How do we do this specifically on Passover, our yearly reenactment of our liberation from slavery?
The Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, says that the Hebrew word for guest is Orayach which really means the light of the infinite. Each person carries within them a unique and special light that only they possess.
Specifically at the Passover seder, it is traditional to invite guests, especially those who might not otherwise have a seder. We might think that we are doing them a favor by inviting them, but really, they are sharing their unique infinite Divine light with us which connects us to our unique, infinite Divine light. When we connect to our inner light, we have the opportunity to transform and grow and become renewed. We are given the chance to get out of our internal restrictions and connect with our own infinite light.
Today, when we do a favor for someone or we give of ourselves to someone else, let’s remember that they are doing us the favor! They are opening the gates for us to connect with our infinite light! Let us use the power of renewal placed within us with the light of the new moon and find the strength to be open to seeing the Divine light within each and every person, recognizing that each of us carries a unique, infinite and holy light.