Thank you to Rabbi Mychal Copeland and Cantor Sharon Bernstein of Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco for these teachings about Passover. This is from the Sha’ar Zahav congregational email.
The Hebrew word for Egypt, “Mitzrayim” comes from “tzar,” meaning a narrow, confined, place. A place so tight it is restricting, painful. A place so tight that we might not be able to see the way out. One of the purposes of Passover is to give ourselves a chance to tell the story of being in that tight place of Mitzrayim, of seeing ourselves there, and bursting free from it, to a place of freedom, comfort, even exuberant wild abandon. And perhaps in that story-telling, in that re-living, in that imagining, find some pathways towards widening or breaking away from tight places we might find ourselves in now. Whatever our tight places might be, in whatever ways we may be feeling restricted from being and experiencing fully who we are and the world around us, may we find the narrow places we are in widening, and may we — and everyone in the world — find and experience paths to freedom.
They also shared some nifty links!
This one is to a downloadable Passover Bingo game. It’s a great way for kids to entertain themselves at the Seder table. It’s also nice for Passover novices as it important aspects of the process and gives a jumping off point for questions.
This one is a PDF to guide you through counting the Omer.
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