During the Passover Season the Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Foundation will post transcriptions, video and audio recordings of Reb Shlomo talking and singing about Passover. Check back frequently, as new content is posted daily!!

According to our holy rabbis it is the time when babies wake up and want to be nursed, the time when husband and wife wake up and want to be so close to each other. It is the time when the light of the Messiah is shining. It is a time when everyone dreams that today is the day of their redemption. Anybody who has ever been up all night has tasted the awesome depth and sweetness of davening at dawn. Have you ever prayed by the Holy Wall at dawn?

So Purim in the beginning of our redemption. We’re waking up and being drunk with the joy of being Jewish. Dawn is still too dark; we don’t really see each other. We only see with the eyes of our soul and my soul sees only G-d. On Purim I send out gifts but not face to face, This is how I let you know I see you with the eyes of my soul. That is why I love you so much.

Then, for thirty days we prepare ourselves. The way I prepare myself is by realizing that I don’t have vessels for redemption, What I must do is get rid of the old dirty vessels.

We are living in a crazy world, Everything is out of proportion, everything is inflated. The matzoh is just water and flour, the way it really is. Chometz is being blown up beyond proportion. On Pesach we change our dishes, everything is new. New light for new vessels. We realize we were only slaves because we did not receive G-d’s light with the right vessels. This is also true between other people and ourselves. On Pesach we have new vessels for each other’s love. The awakening is on Purim. But Purim is just one day, one minute. Light beyond vessels. Drunk. On Pesach I have new vessels.

Is there anything greater than the love of children for their parents or parents for their children? Is there anything sweeter than the questions of children? Seder night begins with children asking us the deepest questions. And we don’t really answer them, we just make the questions deeper; we are just telling children that we have the same questions all our lives.

The most terrible thing is that we keep pretending to our children that we do know the answers. On Seder night we admit we don’t know. But when Elijah the Prophet comes he will answer all the questions, no, he will not answer all the questions, but suddenly, in his presence, the questions will disappear.

We have no vessels to feel the pain of homeless people. That is why we are afraid to let them into our house. There is no peace in the world because we don’t have vessels for it. Yet on Pesach, the night of redemption, I have vessels for the homeless and I invite them to my house. On Seder night, hopefully, I have vessels to be one with my children. Let it be this year that we will have vessels to be one with the world.

There, is a matzoh of this world and there is a matzoh from heaven. The matzoh we eat at the beginning of the seder is matzoh from this world, matzoh of the earth. But at the end of the seder, when our children bring us a piece of matzoh, this is the matzoh from heaven. The matzoh which reaches so deep in us and makes us all into vessels to receive the light of Elijah, the light of redemption.

Some of us don’t even have vessels for our own souls. Do you know why we eat blown up bread? Why our lives are so blown up? It is because we cannot the sadness of the poverty of the bread in our lives. So we need to blow it up.

Our children steal the matzoh from us and bring it back to us later on. They am telling us, gevalt, are you holy. Parents, do you know what you could be to your children? Each time we console our children, when we take care of them, we become their Elijah the Prophet. Each time we kiss our children we are bringing the world closer to the Messiah. Seder night we are giving over our Yiddishkeit to our children. Please be so careful to give over the best to our children. We so often don’t teach our children because our Yiddishkeit has become blown up. So many people don’t believe in Israel anymore because they found the blown up Israel. On Seder night we give over Yiddishkeit the way it really is. On Seder night we fix our poor children who are turned off by blown up Yiddishkeit. What a night, what a night of all nights!

I wish you, brothers and sisters, the most glorious, divine seder.

Reprinted from Kehilat Jacob News New York, 5752

So we are inviting each other again for an even deeper Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur, a more heavenly Succos, and a more beyond heaven Simchas Torah.

When I was a little boy, I always asked my father, “Where are the songs of the Holy Temple?” And I never got a good answer because I could not believe that Jews can live without at least one song from the Holy Temple, a song of King David, a song of beyond time and space, a song that reminds us that we are part of G-d.

A few years ago, late at night, I saw a frail Jew by the Holy Wall who drew my attention. He really prayed. I waited until he finished and he began telling me he had arrived that day from Russia after ten years in Siberia. I asked him, “How did you survive Siberia?” He said, “I was singing all the time.” Suddenly I had this flash and I asked, “Did you sing the songs of the Holy Temple?” And he was quiet for a long time tears of ten years of Siberia and maybe two thousand years of exile came out from his holy eyes. And he said, “My whole family are Chassidim from the time of the Baal Shem Tov, and my holy grandfather told me in the name of the holy Baal Shem Toy, that the way we chant prayers on the High Holidays is the way they were singing them in the Holy Temple – the way King David composed them.”

That evening changed my life. Whenever I give a concert, I always include the prayers of the High Holidays. The melodies reach, like the Shofar, to the deepest chambers of our souls.

Just imagine Baron Rothschild, suffering from amnesia, standing on it street corner, dirty and filthy, begging for dimes. The first thing he needs is to remember is that he is Rothschild and then to wash up and change his clothes, and then to go back to his home. All year long everyone in his own way is suffering from amnesia. We forgot what a Jew is, we forgot what a human being is, and we forgot who G-d is. Rosh Hashanah when we blow the Shofar, we remember everything. On Yom Kippur, we wash up and on Succoth we move back into our heavenly abode –to the palace we are meant to live in.

There is war in the world and hatred because the world has amnesia and his forgotten what it is to be human. There is so much trouble in Israel because the whole world refuses to remember that G-d gave us the land.

Let this Rosh Hashanah wake up the world.

Let this Yom Kippur clean us and the whole world.

Let this Succos, when we bring sacrifices for all the seventy nations in the Holy Temple, restore dignity all the nations of the world.

There were never so many homeless people in New York as today and this phenomenon is actually all over the world. It is as if G-d is reminding us that if true humanity, true belief in G-d has no home in the world yet. Succos we are building a new home for G-d, for all of Israel and, via Israel, for the whole world.

Let the New Year be the year we have been waiting for.

Love,
Shlomo

New York, Elul 5748
Reprinted from Cong Kehilath Jacob News

Machshava means what I’m thinking with my head.

Hirur the Gemara always says, is what king in my heart.

In my head, my thoughts change every split second, and even if I think the same thing, I don’t think of it the same way. Then there’s “hirhur be libo” – you know I can walk around with one thought in my heart my whole life, and the more real I am, the less it changes. And this is so deep, like the Gemara says; my heart is only telling my heart.

Now let’s talk about the tribe of Issachar – they know what to do in the moment. This is very important. A lot of people know what they have to do always – but what do you have to do in this moment? We were learning it at Purim – why is the megillah called a book and a letter? If I love someone very much, do I send them my book? A book is for the whole world … but a letter – this is from my heart. Remember what Amalek said to us just after we left Egypt. His vibrations made us so cold; only 40 days since the miracles of Egypt and we were so cut off that we made the golden calf. Amalek says to you, “Yeah, religions beautiful, G-ds beautiful, the ‘always’ you have, but the moment…” I know what G-d is telling to all the Jews, to the whole world, but what is He saying to me?

The truth is the Ribbono Shel Olam is sending each of us a letter every moment but you’ve got to know how to read it. And this is Issachar. Somebody says, “I don’t know what to do.” Watch the signs. How do you know how you are to somebody? It’s how well they read your signs.

The Izbitzer asks,” What’s the letter Vav?” Most of the letters need other letters to pronounce it – aleph is aleph lamed pe, gimmel is gimmel mem lamed. Vav is the one letter that I only need the same word to pronounce it. This means that nothing foreign gets to the inside of my heart. The two Vavs represent Emet and Tiferet. The Vav starts up in heaven and comes straight down, non- stop because the truth is non-stop. We have to know the truth in our heart and know the beauty in our hearts. But did you ever see anything uglier than someone talking about their own beauty? How do you make somebody else beautiful, by giving them honor, right? Kavod knows no words, it comes from the heart. When the students of Rabbi Akiva couldn’t make each other beautiful, so to speak, the month itself couldn’t bear it. This month, Nature is mamish us how beautiful the world can be.

We have to work our whole life on this one letter – the Vav – truth and beauty. When Moshe Rabbenu came down from Mt. Sinai he knew Am Yisroel’s neshamahs were very high, but their heads were in the wrong place, so he had to break the tablets. But what did the Golden Calf teach us? It was the end, and Moshe Rabbenu went right back up the Mount, back to the beginning. Gevalt, Hashem, I don’t want to learn from the Golden Calf this year; teach me how to learn right from the beginning.

Pesach and the redemption from Mitzrayim is G-d’s revelation. Sefiras ha- Omer means, what am I doing with it? Everybody has to count in order to fix his own neshamah. In one ways waiting for G-d’s , His revelation, and in another I have to search and trust my own heart in the deepest way. lyar is the fixing of the heart. Nissan is the fixing of the head – a slave is listening only to his head. What does it mean to be in exile? It’s being so petty. Every year we are fixing again leaving Egypt until we receive the Torah. But this year I want to receive the Torah without making a golden calf.

Originally published in Kehilat Jacob News New York, Iyar 5746.

Without getting too personal, I would like to share a story with you that actually happened to me. Maybe some of you know about it. A few years ago, the Humanity Foundation had a big conference in Toronto, to save the planet. Obviously, it was organized by a lot of Jews. It was during Easter and they had special Easter prayers. Nothing for Pesach. The leader of the group was named Yossi Cohn. Gevalt. As it so happens, Yossi is a good friend of mine. I said, “Yossi, you respect every religion except your own. We have two Seder nights, there will be thousands of people, many Jews. Can’t you do something for them?” He said, “Okay, you do something.”

I played there the night of bedikat chametz. There were hundreds of kids. I told them about bedikat chametz, how holy it is. I Invited them all to a Seder. Since I didn’t know who was coming, we put up signs all over, saying that anyone who wants to come to the Seder should buy a box of matza and should bring hardboiled eggs, enough wine for four cups, gefilte fish and one candle. I had to be home. This was in Toronto, and I had to be home to make a Seder first with my kids. From there to the Seder at the University of Toronto was about an hour and twenty minutes walk. I told them I’ll begin the Seder at 11:30. I got there a few minutes before twelve and there was not one sound in the whole building. I walked up the steps and thought, obviously not even one person came. I want you to know, to my most unbelievable surprise, 1500 people were sitting at the tables in complete silence. 1500 peoplel People of every race, every religion were there. As far as I was concerned, that was the highest Seder on the planet. The fire and the holiness, their readiness were unbelievable.

I explained the Haggadah as much as I could. Then we ate matzo, the egg, a little fish. We benched, (said grace). About 3:30, we went out to greet Eliyahu HaNavi. I want you to know, there were 1500 candles standing by the door until a quarter to five. I was telling Eliyahu HaNavi stories and all kinds of other things. Until this very day, I travel all over the world, I meet people who tell me they were at that unforgetable Seder.

Eliyahu HaNavi does not knock on doors. A lot of us are waiting to hear a knock at the door. Sometimes, one should wait to hear a knock on the door. But, at great moments, you have to open the door first.

One hippie asked me, “Seder night, Eliyahu HaNavi comes in and then we say, “Shfoch chamatcha al hagoyim” (spill out your wrath upon the nations who do not recognize You). Wouldn’t it be even more beautiful if, since Eliyahu is coming, we would say words of love and peace? This is a Torah of Shalom Bayis. Eliyahu HaNavi comes in and the truth is, the world needs a lot of cleaning. There is a lot of evil that has to be wiped out from the world. You know what I say to G-d? Please, can You do the cleaning by Yourself? Shafoch chamatcha al hagoyim – can You do it? Right now, I am so high, I don’t want anything to do with cleaning. I just want to tell the world there is one G-d. I personally don’t want to be cleaning. During the year, we can’t get enough of cleaning. We have to say bad things, that this person needs to be cleaned out, that person needs to be cleaned out. Like Rav Kook said, everybody wants to clean out someone else’s apartment. But, when Eliyahu HaNavi ccnies in, it’s clear to me, Ribbono Shel Olam, I don’t want to be Your cleaning man anymore. The only thing I want to say now is Hallel. “Not for us, 0 Lord, not for us, but for Your Name do we sing praises.”

I want to tell you one more story. It’s a “today” story. A few years ago, on the day after Pesach, I had the privilege of playing for Hadassah of New England. The concert was very beautiful, but the women were more interested in going to beauty parlors than they were in spiritual things. Sometimes, you say something and you don’t even know why you said it. I said to them, “My dearest, beautiful ladies. I don’t know if you saw Elijah the Prophet. To tell you the sad truth, I didn’t see him either. But, I swear to you, the children saw him. What a privilege to be mothers of children who saw Eiljah the Prophet.”

A very beautiful lady came up to me. The way she looked, you wouldn’t think she had any depth inside. But, you never know. She came to me and said, “Do you know what you said? I can testify to it. My husband is a psychiatrist. Seder night, we have a little Seder. This year my husband calls me up on the phone to tell me, ‘All this hocus- pocus is getting on my nerves.’ Now we have a little girl, Maxine. He said, ‘Maxine will ask me four stupid questions and I’ll have to answer. It’s stupid, the whole thing makes no sense. Let’s just eat dinner and that’s it.’ So, I said, ‘You’re right. I don’t care so much either.’

About three o’clock in the afternoon, my little girl Maxine comes home. Her eyes are glowing with joy. She says, ‘I can’t wait for my friend Elijah the Prophet to come visit me. Do you know Elijah the Prophet is coming tonight to see me.’ I realize that I cannot do this to her. I call my husband in his office and say, ‘Listen, we have to have a little Seder because Maxine is so excited about it.” He says, ‘Okay, we’ll have a little Sederle, she can ask the four questions, I’ll mumble a few words. But, that’s all.’

My husband came home annoyed, and said, ‘Maxine, let’s go. Ask the four questions.’ She asked them, he mumbled a few words and then we ate dinner. Then, my husband said to Maxine, ‘Now, go to sleep, so you’ll get to school tomorrow on time.’ She said, ‘Daddy, Elijah the Prophet is coming to see me.’ This was too much for my husband. He said, ‘We are not old fashioned Jews who believe in fairy tales. We are modern Jews. We don’t believe in fairy tales. Go to sleep right now.’

My little Maxine ran to the window. In her whole life, she never cried so much. I walked up to the window and said, ‘Maxine, why are you crying so much?’ She said, ‘Mommy, can’t you see Elijah the Prophet standing by our door, crying?’” I just hope that wherever this little Maxine is now, that she still waits for Eliyahu HaNavi.

You know, friends, so many of our children are so holy. They are all “matza children”. Sadly enough, we put chametz into them. Our excuse is, we want them to rise. We want them to be higher more civilized. That is not what we need. We need to be matza Yidden, someone who knows the way it really is.

This is a story of Rav Tzvi Elimelech. He told this story about his father. In those days, people were so poor, but a way of making money was to become a tutor in a rich man’s house. They taught children from Succoth to Pesach, they made a few hundred rubles, and lived on that the whole year. So, his father became a tutor for a rich man. The first shabbos that his father was there, there were no guests. His father said to the rich man, “How can you have a shabbos without guests?” The man said, “I don’t waste my precious money on guests.” Rav Tzvi Elimelech’s father was so innocent. He said, “Do me a favor. Take it off my salary. I cannot eat without poor people at the table.”

He stayed there from Succoth until Pesach. A few days before Pesach, he walked in and said, Now, give me my 500 rubles.” The rich man said, “What do you mean? You owe ME 500 rubles! Because of you I had to spend twice your salary on the poor.” Anyway, Tzvi Elimelech’s father realized that this rich man would not let him go without getting his 500 rubles back, so  he ran to his room, took his things and left. In the meantime, his wife didn’t have a single penny. The grocer and the butcher were asking her when she would pay them and she would tell them that her husband was bringing money on Pesach. So, he thought, how can I come home without any money? What am I supposed to do? He arrived home in the middle of the night. He was afraid to go home so he went to the Beis Midrash (study house).

Rav Tzvi Elimelech said, “I was seven years old. then. I went in the morning to daven and there was my father in the Beis Midrash! I said to my father, ‘Why didn’t you come home? We miss you so much!’ He said, ‘I didn’t want to wake you up.’ I ran home to tell my mother that my father came home. She was so happy. I ran back to my father and told him, ‘For four weeks we had nothing to eat because the butcher the grocer didn’t trust us any more. Now, we went and told them that thank G-d, you are here. Now my mother is preparing the best breakfast for you. We are so happy you came home.’

Well, my father davened so long. He didn’t know what to do. He took an hour to pack his tfllin up and I was pulling him the whole time, saying, ‘Let’s go home already.’ We walked in the street. He walked so slowly. Finally, we came to the last corner before the house. Suddenly, a Cossack came charging along and stopped right in front of my father. He said, “I am looking for Reb Feivel.’ My father said, “That’s me.” The Cossack took a little bag and threw it at my father and then took off. There was pure gold in it. Pure gold. So, Rav Tzvi Elimelech said, “That Seder night, when my father opened the door for Eliyahu HaNavi, I started yelling and I said, “Father, look — The Cossack is here again!”

Every Pesach is so good, so holy. Whatever we can give over to our children all year long does not compare to what we can give them one minute by the Seder.

I remember that from the age of three on, every Seder, my father would say to us, to my sister and my twin brother and me, children, tonight you are sitting at G-d’s table. It is not my table, it’s G-d’s table. At G-d’s table, you must behave in a different way.

What I remember the most about my father is Seder night. And, my father made his Seder like my zaide, who made it like his father. Seder night is seriousness, holiness, awareness.

Some of us are so worried that our children should be religious. First, make Yidden out of them. Shavuot, the giving of the Torah, comes later. First, comes Pesach. Pesach is “vehigadta lebinkha,” And you shall tell your children. The way to give Yiddishkeit to children has to be with so much simcha, so much love. Eliyahu HaNavi is the master at bringing parents and children together. So, at the end of the Seder, any parents who got close to their children, Eliyahu HaNavi knocks at their door and tells them – before Mashiach is coming, and I’m running all over the world to fix the relationship between parents and children, I won’t have to come here because here it’s already fixed.

I want to bless you that when Eliyahu walks into your house, he should tell you the good news that before Mashiach is coming, I’m not coming to your house, because I see that, baruch HaShem, you did it.

“Veheishiv lev avos al banim — and the hearts of the fathers shall return to the children.” Seder Night is the time to pray that your children have whatever they need.

The deepest holiness of us Jews is not only in the way we keep Shabbos and eat matza. The deepest holiness is how we pray for our children.

 Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

Our children don’t talk to us sometimes because they think we really don’t see them. Pesach has so much to do with seeing. “Lo yeiraeh lecha chametz”. “You shall not see chametz” – don’t see chametz. People who look at chametz all the time, don’t see their own neshama (soul), don’t see their own children, don’t see G-d. Seder night, when there is no chametz in the house, when the house is clean, then suddenly G-d gives me the vision of seeing my children again, of seeing how they really are and how fast they can reach the highest level.

The saddest day in the life of children is when they are disappointed in their parents. When babies are born, it is clear to them that their parents are the best people in the world. They cannot imagine anybody being better than their father and their mother. Sadly, they grow up and they realize that their parents aren’t the best. The don’t want to talk to us anymore. Seder night the Ribbono Shal Olam gives my children back the vision to see, even though at this moment I am not the best I can be, what I really am, and how fast it will take me to get there. And, then my children are so happy, they love me so much again because it is restoring their vision, the way they remember me.

Why do children love their parents so much? The way children know their parents is in a very deep way. They don’t know biology, they never read a sex book, but they know this is my father, this is my mother. Imagine if, when children are born, we would have to take them aside and explain to them the facts of life and why this is their father and this is their mother. How close would they be to us? And, sadly, when they find out how a baby is born, they love us less, because it takes away all the holiness.

An exile Jew is one who has read a book on G-d, on theology, he is a Kabbalist. It’s like an adult, looking at his parents. Pesach is when we are looking at G-d again, like a baby on the day it’s born. It’s not less, it’s not stupid. It is the highest.

Seder night, G-d gives us back the vision. “Ani Hashem, Ani velo acher”. “I am the Lord, I and no other.” How beautiful everything is. Howlittle it takes to reach the highest place.

Why do our children steal the afikomon and then give it back to us? There is a lot of talk about it. First of all, what are we giving over to our children? Do you think our children remember everything we say? Do you think my daughter remembers that last year she wanted to turn on the television on shabbos and I told her not to? No. She remembers those moments when I didn’t say anything. She remembers those holy moments, those secret moments.

Do you think children don’t know how much we pray for them before they were born? They know everything.

Seder night is when I am giving over Yiddishkeit to my children, I am giving over to them G-d knowledge. The Torah was given later, on Shavuot. G-d knowledge is when it is clear to me, there is nothing to think about – that is Seder night, So, you know what the children do? They take the afikomon and hide it. And, they tell me, I want you to know what I am taking from you. I am taking from you all the secrets. All the things which nobody knows, I know about them. Sometimes secrets, unholy secrets, the more you tell them, they become unholy, they become profane. Holy secrets, when you tell them to somebody you love very much, become even deeper secrets. My children tell me, you are giving over to me tonight all the hidden things, the deepest depths. Then, I say to my children, please, can you give back a taste of that bread? Can you give me back a little taste of all those holy moments, those deep prayers?

At my Seder, I had the privilege of doing something special. A lot of people eat the afikomon with the teeth of a rasha. They sit there and tell jokes; they talk about the food. I had the privilege to make, at my Seder, a rule that from afikomon on, no one is permitted to talk. They are barely permitted to breathe. it is so holy, because when my children give me back the afikomon, it is not only my afikomon, it is the afikomon of my father, and my mother, and my bubba, and my zaide. It is the afikomon that goes back to Avraham Aveinu.

Everybody knows that when the angels came to visit Avraham Aveinu, it was Seder night. Who stole the afikomon at Avraham’s Seder? It was the holy mother Sarah who stole the afikomon. Who knows more secrets than our mother Sarah, the secret of secrets? So, the angels said to Avraham, “Ayeh Sarah ishtecha”, “Where is Sarah your wife?” “Where is she keeping the afikomon?” Avraham answered, “hinei baohel”, “Lo, she is in the tent.” It is all hidden, all hidden away.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

What is the difference between the chacham (wise son) and the rasha (evil son)? They are both asking, why do you eat matza on Pesach? Sure, I need to use my teeth in order to get it inside me. But, the rasha begins to chew, to analyze what is this halacha – explain to me everything. What is the matza all about, the wine? So, I say, please, rasha, don’t chew around in my Torah.

I have seen many married couples going to marriage counselors and they chew around in their marriage. There is nothing left after that. So, Seder night is not only the fixing of our stomach – it s the fixing of our teeth. How to chew, when to chew, what to chew.

Why do we drink wine first? Because wine we don’t chew – we drink it just the way it is. It goes into us just the way it is. Matza requires chewing, but, certain things, you must take them the way they are.

What is an exile Jew? An exile Jew is anybody who chews on Yiddishkeit, who says, this is relevant, this isn’t relevant, this is good, this is not so good. What are the four cups of wine? Take it the way it is.

When you love somebody very much, when you kiss somebody, you put your teeth in your lips on that person. You know what you are telling that person? I am never going to chew. Our relationship is non-chewable. It’s the way it is.

When Yaacov aveinu brought wine to Yitzchak, he kissed him. Yitzchak didn’t ask for wine. Yaacov, when he came to be blessed, brought it himself. Wine represents taking the whole thing the way it is.

When the Haggadah says, “veata haclieh et shinov — and you break his (the evil son’s) teeth”. it doesn’t mean cut out his teeth.  It means cut out the teeth that destroy, teach him how to chew, and what to chew.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

Let me tell you one more story right now. The heilege (holy) Zeditchover had so many grandchildren. But, one particular year, he said, “My grandson Bereshel should ask Mah Nishtana.” Bereshel was then five years old; later on he became Rav Bereshel of Donina, a very great Rabbi. Comes time for Mah Nishtana and Bereshel isn’t there. They started looking for him high and low. He’s not there. Here, I interrupt myself with another story about Bereshel.

Bereshel was the favorite of his grandfather, because in that year one of the other grandchildren got very sick. Very, very sick. The mother of the child was begging the Zeditshuver to please pray for him. Nothing happened. One night, the boy’s condition worsened. It seemed he was going to leave the world. The Zeditshuver, from 12:30 A.M. until three in the morning, did not want to be disturbed. He was writing his commentaries on the Zohar and did not want to be disturbed. But, someone had to tell him. They decided to wake up Bereshel and he will tell the zaide. Bereshel was five years old. They tell him, tell zaide that if he doesn’t pray now, it will be too late.

Bereshel walks up to the higher floor, to his grandfather. He knocks on the door. His grandfather asks, “Who’s there?” “Bereshel.” “Why aren’t you asleep?” Bereshel said, “Zaide, I came to bring you the most unbelievable good news. I want you to know that Moishele is getting better every second. But, zaide, please pray for him. Please, zaide, pray for him.”

The holy Zeditshuver prayed for him. He got well. The Zeditshuver called in all his children and grandchildren. He said, “Do you know why I couldn’t pray for Moishele the whole time? Because the way you asked me to pray for him was with so much sadness, so much brokenness. I felt so broken. I douldn’t pray. But, you know who is a Rebbe? Bereshel. Did you hear how he asked me to pray? He said, ‘I bring you good news, Moishele is getting better, but I want you to pray.’ Didn’t I understand what was going on? When Bereshel is sent up in the middle of the night to tell me. But, the way he said it, with so much hope. I want you to know, Bereshel is a Rebbe.” And, the truth is, Bereshel really became the successor of his grandfather later on.

Back to Seder night. Everyone is looking for Bereshel and, suddenly, he comes in. Water is running down from his payos (sidecurls). He just came from the mikva. Before asking his grandfather Mah Nishtana, he wanted to go to the mikva. His mother yelled at him, “What chutzpahl” But his grandfather said, “Let him alone. Bereshel is a Rebbe.”

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. Sometimes our children ask us, and we can take our time in answering. Sometimes if we take our time, we will lose them. Rav Nachman says, if our children ask us, is there one G-d and we say, let’s talk it over – we’ve lost them. If they ask for advice, what should they do, what career they should have, we can say, let’s talk about it. If they ask, are you a Jew, if you have to think about it, that’s not good. He said, Seder night is when our children ask, is there one G-d? And, our answer has to be right away. Don’t take any time.

I remember once reading a book written by one of the outstanding Jewish leaders of the other religions. This outstanding leader writes in the forward to his book that when he was a little boy he once asked a rabbi if there is one G-d. The rabbi said, let’s discuss it. Come to my house and we’ll discuss it. He quoted from here, he quoted from there. The boy said, I’m just asking one question, is there one G-d or not? He couldn’t get an answer out of him. The next week, he met a swami and asked him, is there one G-d? The swami said, yes, there is.

Seder night is when I tell my children, there is one G-d. There is one Torah. There is Eretz Yisroel. I have no time. It has to be fast.

When somebody is drowning, imagine if I would say, let me call a Rabbi and ask if I should save this person, because I heard that last year this person ate ham on Yom Kippur. I call one rabbi, the line is busy, so I call somebody else. All these things are cute. In the meantime, the person is drowning.

You know the problem with us Yidden, you know why Mashiach didn’t come yet? Because we waited, wegaited so long. How did Moshe Rabbenu get us out of Egypt? Right now is the time – “Bachatzot halayla” in the middle of the night – right now, don’t think. This is “mochin megadlus” a high mind. It is not, not, thinking. It is clearer than thinking. It is clear to me. It is on such a high consciousness level, a deep level.

When I see somebody drowning, where do they grasp me? Do they reach for my head? They reach for somewhere else; they have to touch the deepest depths of my understanding, that triggers something so holy.

So, Seder night, everything is fast, but it’s so clear, and it’s so good. “This I do not say other than when matza and maror are placed in front of me.” Everything is clear. I can tell my child this ismatza, this is maror, I am a Jew, there is one G-d.

You know friends, we are living in a world where the devil would like so much to take advantage of the great moments which we have. Seder night, every Jew wants to have a Seder. So, what does the devil do – brings chicken soup, and kneidlach. Sometimes I ask people, how was the Seder? They say, Oh, the food was unbelievable. When you ask about the Seder, they are not thinking about the Hgggadah, they are thinking about the food.

I was in India three years ago. I asked one boy, he was a yogi who didn’t want to come back. I asked him what he knew about Yiddishkeit. He said, “Once a year my family got together for a Seder. The spokesman of the Seder was my uncle who told over all the dirty jokes he heard all year. One night, I got up and said, I don’t think this is what the Seder is all about. My uncle said to me, ‘Look who’s talking. You haven’t even finished Hebrew school yet. What do you know?’ So, I thought that if all Yiddishkeit can offer me is a night with dirty jokes and chicken soup, who needs it, who wants it?”

When my daughters’ teeth hurt, I send for the best dentist. When my children are sick, I call for the best doctor. When it comes to Yiddishkeit, the soul of the soul, the eternity of all eternities of my children, would I subject them to the lowest people in the world, who don’t know anything?

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. He says that, basically, the downfall and the ultimate slavery in Egypt were brought about because we ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge causes you to eat your bread with sadness. The beginning of the Seder is that we eat karpas, we eat a little vegetable and, a few moments later, we are on the level of eating bread with simcha, with joy. Matza is on the level of eating bread with joy. From the beginning of the Seder, to the matza, we are fixing everything from the Tree of Knowledge. And, it goes so fast, so fast.

Chametz is that everything takes a long time. This is the downfall of mankind. The world says, we have to wait for peace. It takes time until it comes. Always waiting, waiting. Matza is the first admission in the service of G-d; today is a great moment – don’t wait.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

The next day, after davening, the chassidim went up to Moshele the water carrier and said, “The Rebbe wants to see you.” Moishele came before the Rebbe, and he began to cry bitterly. He said, if ‘Rebbe, I’ll never do it again. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He was crying. The Rebbe said, “Listen, Moishele, just tell us what you did.”

Now, I always tell my friends that basically we Jews are not so much into drinking. But, in every city there is one Jew who drinks for all in that city. Then, there is some kind of higher drunkard, who drinks for the Jews of that country. And then, there are some lamed vov drunkards who drink for all the Jews of that generation. And then, there are some drunkards who drink for all the Jews from Avraham Aveinu until Mashiach. Anyway, this Moishe, the drunkard, was a lamed vovnick. His greatest joy in life was drinking. The saddest thing is, on Pesach you can’t drink whiskey. So, he had a tremendous idea. He’ll stay up the whole night, erev Pesach, and he’ll be drunk for the rest of Pesach, he’ll be drunk right thru. Anyway, he drank, and even a drunkard who is a religious Jew knows that ten minutes after nine, on Pesach, you stop. He stopped exactly, and he was out.

Seder night, his wife came to wake him up and said, “Moshele, it’s really not fair. Every Jew has a Seder. Every house has a Seder. We have little children, and we don’t have a Seder. So what’s going on here?” And, he said, “By then, did I regret that I drank so much at night. Did I regret it! I would have done anything not to be drunk. But I couldn’t help it. I said, ‘Please wake me up in an hour. I just can’t get it together yet.’ Anyway, my wife kept waking me up every hour, every half hour. Then, suddenly, she came to me and said, ‘Moishele, in five minutes, five minutes, it’s gone. You didn’t have anything and the children are waiting.’ “Gevalt”. he said, “was I broken. Here, my children are so holy and I am such a lousy father, I didn’t even give them a Seder. So, I said to my wife, ‘Please, call my children.’ She called the children in and I said to them, ‘Please, sit very close to me on my bed. I have to talk to you. I want you to know, children, that I am so sorry that I drank. I am so sorry that I am a drunkard. But, I want you to know that if my drinking can make me not have a Seder with you, then it’s not worth it.’ So, I said to my children, ‘I swear to you, Seder night, tonight, that I’ll never drink again. But, right now, it’s Seder night, I am so sorry, we didn’t eat matza, we didn’t eat maror. But, let me just tell you the Pesach story, in a nutshell.’”

Moishele said to the Rebbe, “You know, I was still drunk. But, I tried my best. I said, ‘Children, I want you to know that G-d created heaven and earth in seven days. And, I want you to know that Adam was thrown out of Paradise the first day. Then everything went downhill. There was a flood, there was a tower of Babylon; that was as much as I knew. Then came Avraham. He began fixing the world again. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaacov and his twelve holy sons. Then Pharaoh made slaves out of us, and tonight, G-d took us out from Egypt. And, I said, children, I want you to swear to me right now, that you’ll always know that the same G-d who took us out from Egypt is still alive. It’s the same G-d. Whenever a Jew cries to G-d, G-d always hears our prayers and takes us out from all our troubles.’”

“Rebbe, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t say anything more because I was still drunk. I turned over and I fell asleep again.”

So the heilege (holy) Reb Tzvi Elimelech was crying bitter tears. He said to his chassidim, “Did you hear that? Did you hear that? I wish that one time in my life, I should be privileged to give over Yiddishkeit to my children, the way Moishele the water carrier gave it over to his children Seder night.” Gevalt.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2