Pesach

At the end of Passover (or on years like this year, at the end of Shabbat adjacent to the end of Passover), households around Israel celebrate the “Mimouna” holiday, a holiday filled with baked sweets, good cheer, and open doors. The holiday, which came to Israel from North Africa, connects to many themes, including faith, redemption, and neighborly relations. This study looks at a few different aspects of the holiday in order to lead to a deeper understanding of its customs and their meaning. The texts used in this study are taken from the KIAH (Kol Israel Haverim) booklet, entitled “And I Will Betroth You to Me with the Mimouna.”

One of the central concepts of the Passover Haggada is the story of the people of Israel's journey from slavery to freedom. However, there are many ways to understand the meaning of slavery and freedom, especially given that we say year after year, "This year we are slaves, next year we will be free people." Rabbi Michael Graetz, rabbi emeritus of Kehilat Magen Avraham in Omer, and one of the founders of the Masorti Movement, suggests in the attached video that it is no coincidence that the seder ends with "Next year in Jerusalem," and that the rabbis of the Haggada teach us that true freedom for the Jewish people can only be achieved in our own sovereign state.
We hope that you'll find Rabbi Graetz's interpretation thought-provoking, and that it will be food for thought as we all grapple with the questions of the meaning of our freedom and the relationships between the Jews of Israel and the entire world.

As part of the Rav Siach program, Masorti congregations in Israel conduct skyping sessions with their sister congregations around the world on the subject of refugies, then, now, here and over there...

“In every generation, we must see ourselves, as if it was we that left Egypt”.
This is the fundamental principle of the Seder night: in every generation, every year, we must see, and show, the newness, the relevance and the ancient new significance of the Exodus from slavery to freedom, of our being free, in the generations-old familiar framework of “Seder Night”.
Rabbi Gamliel, the great Tanna, defines the structure, and the minimal requirements of observing the mitzvah of “Telling the Tale (haggadah)”:
Rabbi Gamliel used to say “He who does not mention these three things on Passover, has not fulfilled his obligation, and they are:Pesach, Matzah and Maror”.
Today, we shall consider what Rabbi Gamliel said, and its significance: