Another gem from the crown of Torah worn with peerless resplendence By Rabbi J.B.Soloveitchik is a comment that I wish to share and elaborate upon with you.
Again taken from his commentary on the Haggadah-"The Seder Night-An Exalted Evening"- we are nurtured by the following words:
"The tale of the rabbis in Bene-Berak was not just an isolated historical event, but rather the perennial drama that has been enacted since antiquity, hundreds, indeed thousands, of times. The people who acted out this drama with tears and blood were not five or ten scholars, but countless individuals in each generation,anonymous fathers, unknown mothers, forgotten teachers, nursemaids, lonely souls and tragic people. All of them were involved in one task...:They were talking of 'yetziat mitzrayim,' the Exodus, all night."
What makes the Seder so powerful and enduring is our grateful recognition of the story tellers who during the night- when darkness swept over our people- evidenced the faith and courage to tell the story of survival and reassure a downtrodden people that a new generation will come forward and eagerly announce that a new day is dawning-it is morning and the "time for reciting the Kriat Shema has arrived!" The meaning of morning resides in our ability to adhere to the unshakable conviction of the Shema- of God's love for each and every member of the human community and that ultimately God is One, the underlying spiritual reality of the universe as that of unity and harmony.
It is the potency of the "sippur"-the story of the Exodus-that will enable us to link up with freedom no matter how dark and dismal the night. As long as there are story tellers, there is reason to hope, the glimmer of dawn will continue to flicker in our memory.
Hag Sameach v'kasher-A joyous and gratitude-filled Passover.
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