Rabbi's Message

More than a commemoration of the past, Pesach is the festival of the present. It is a holiday of hope and purpose; it is the Yom Tov of definition and identification. Terms like Jew, freedom, and redemption acquire new meaning and significance.

To be a Jew means to possess a desire and an aspiration for redemption and salvation. To live one's life as a Jew means to live with hope for tomorrow and to believe in the guiding hand of G-d in the affairs of man; striving for release not only from all physical bondage, but, in a larger sense, from all spiritual baseness and stagnation. It has been our minhag for many years to give expression to those feelings of hope by reciting Shir Mizmor L'Asaf (the 83rd Psalm) at the conclusion of Shacharit each day. This beautiful custom, I have been told, began years ago under the direction of Rabbi Kaminetzky as a Tefiloh for the redemption of the millions of our fellow Jews, then suffering behind the Iron Curtain.

We are grateful to the Al-mighty for answering those heartfelt prayers, and we continue to recite those same Tefilot in appreciation for their redemption and as a Tefilah for the well-being and safety of our fellow Jews who still live in danger, especially those who live in and defend our Medinat Yisroel.

Today we are unfortunately called upon again to express a new heartfelt call to the Al-mighty for help on behalf of our fellow-Jews in danger in Iran. Our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers are directed toward Jews there who are wrongly imprisoned, suffering the persecution of that Government.

On this Pesach as we read the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, our prayers and hopes are raised for our brethren in Iran. May it be His will that they witness an "Exodus from Egypt" and enter the promised land of peace and freedom.