Happy Passover!

"Manishtana halaylah hazeh mikohl holaylot?"

Pesach. As Jews, we are always seeking to separate the holy from the mundane. Every day we eat a certain way, drink a certain way, and have a certain pattern to our every day life that we like to call a "routine". On Passover, the routine must be broken in the most clear and distinguishable of ways.

First, before Passover begins, we clean out our houses and cars of all leaven, or "Chumetz" traces. This requires an intensive, exhausting cleaning process that takes families long hours to accomplish.

As most everyone also knows, we eat matzos during Passover, which is a dry, unleavened, cracker-like food without much taste. Of course, most importantly, we also have Seders, or family dinners, in which we read and participate in the rituals and prayers from the book called the haggadah. Essentially, we tell the story of the Jews being freed by God from slavery in Egypt.

One of the most important parts of the Hagadah are the "4 questions". The "4 questions" actually are a misnomer, however, as the mitzvah lies entirely in the first question. That question is the one you read above in phoenetic Hebrew at the top of the page. It asks: "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

It is the children who are central to asking and participate in the 4 questions. As Jews, we wish to pass on our age-old religious traditions to the children who will someday inherit our places at the seder table. The idea is for them to ask to hear the story: "Why is this different?"; "Why is this special?"; "Why is this holy?"; "What in the world is going on??"

When a child asks questions like these, the answers aren't dry lessons in Jewish Law, but a story filled with richness, color and vitality that are brought to life before their very eyes! We are trying to recreate a fresh taste of what it felt like to be a slave, and, in turn, to be freed from slavery, all those years ago.

The answer, the way we Jews are freed from slavery, of course, is through Torah. By learning, by devoting our time to studying and living it, with love and devotion, we are able to free ourselves from all that enslaves us. To some that may be drugs, the computer, or pornography. To others, it may be gambling, food, sloth or any number of vices that we all struggle to overcome in our lives. We Jews refer to such inner demons as the yaytzer hara, or "evil inclination", that is capable of taking each of us over entirely, and enslaving us, just as pharoah enslaved us back in Egypt.

May all of you enjoy a sweet and festive Pesach that helps to free you from whatever lurks inside, seeking to enslave you and control your life for all the wrong reasons. Oh, and enjoy MZ's favorite mitzvah: It is a religious requirement for Jews to drink four full glasses of wine at the seder! :)

Chag Pesach Semayach!

-MZ