Page 27 - Shalom Toronto Lifestyle Passover 2020

Continued from Page 26
The concluding line of the seder: Next Year in Jerusalem!
A table set for a seder
Matza with Kosher for Passover dips
Haroset : a thick, brown paste often made from nuts, apples, wine and cinnamon
eat matza is to recall our rush to freedom. After Pharoah relented to let our people go, the Israelites didn’t have time for their bread to rise before it was time to leave Egypt. As we feel the constriction and afflictions of this current year, can we also hold the moments of joy and freedom that may be arising, just as our symbolic matza holds both?
Another symbolic food on our seder plates is the haroset, the thick, brown paste often made from nuts, apples, wine and cinnamon. The harsoet is most commonly described as mimicking the mortar our ancestors used to build cities for the Egyptians. However, we might be struck by the incongruence of the bitter description of the food and its sweet and pleasant taste. Indeed there is another, sweeter explanation of the haroset - that it recalls The Song of Songs, the scroll of love poetry attributed to King Solomon, that is traditionally read on PASSOVER. The Song of Songs is filled with images of springtime, the longing of young lovers and atmospheric descriptions of plants and foods we might recognize from
our charoset including a “nut grove”, an apple tree in a forest, “fragrant reed and cinnamon” and wine. The hint within the haroset and the Song of Songs is that while we celebrate freedom we also acknowledge our longing for something beyond our experience. That longing can often be bittersweet, but our tradition wants us to know that it is part of the journey on our way to greater freedom.
When we complete the seder, the whole night of telling the story of our people’s past redemption, we end with our eyes towards the next redemption and the coming of the Messianic Age. The closing words of the haggadah, the seder’s script, are: “Lishana haba b’yerusahlayim” Next year in Jerusalem. Next year may we find ourselves in a future that is even more hopeful and kind. May we hold the difficulties and the straits of this year as we imagine and pray for freedom and openness for all those who are struggling. Chag Sameach.
HAPPY PASSOVER to you, your family and all of those loved ones in our hearts.
SHALOM TORONTO Passover 2020 Page 27