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North Jersey Edition March 2021 • Nissan 5781 Exodus Magazine North Jersey Edition (English-Russian) published by Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn | 201.791.7200 | JewishFairLawn.org Permit # 532 # Permit Paramus, NJ Paramus, PAID Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 07410 NJ Lawn, Fair US Postage US Avenue Lawn Fair 30-02 Non-Profit Org Non-Profit Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn Fair of Avrohom Bris The Festival PASSOVER of freedom North Jersey Edition MARCH 27 - APRIL 4, 2021 Freedom is defined not by the absence of slavery, but by the presence of purpose! GET READY FOR PASSOVER! • Remove all grain based food and drink • Clean your kitchen for Passover • Sell your Chometz • Get wine, Shmurah Matzah and other Passover treats Visit www.JewishFairLawn.org/Passover Order Shmurah Matzah | Sell Your Chometz Seder in a Box delivered to your door | See Holiday Schedule of Services Published by The journey from slavery to freedom is an practice it, to live it. For them, exodus is from intensely personal one, especially when we mental slavery to freedom. consider it on a daily, existential level. We remember the Exodus not only every year on “From deep darkness to great light” expresses Passover, but also every day, several times a the experience in more spiritual terms. Some day in fact. And there is actually a blessing in people are able to transcend both the physical the morning blessings to recite daily that has and mental slavery, but feeling free from to do with becoming free. Because freedom oppression is not enough. They are bothered is a relative process – the freedom I achieve by the overarching darkness, decadence and today becomes a form of slavery if I remain spiritual emptiness within which we find stuck there for too long. Humans, unlike ourselves in exile. They long to be in the light, Who we are other beings like angels and animals, are and for all of existence to be permeated by its Editor Iz zy Gre en berg meant to keep moving, to evolve, to grow in goodness and oneness. For them, exodus is Editorial Director Rabbi Levi Jacobson a way that changes and challenges our nature. from deep darkness to great light. Director Rab bi Mendel Zaltzman There are various phrases used to describe We all live in the same reality, face similar Des ign and La y out VEP Graphics / Tekiyah the process of Exodus. Among them: From circumstances, deal with comparable Proofreading Larissa Tchoumak bondage to redemption; from slavery to challenges. Yet each one of use experiences life freedom; from deep darkness to great light. differently. And sometimes we can experience Though these phrases may sound similar, it differently at different stages or phases of like different poetic ways of describing the life, or even different moments of the day. To How to find us same thing, in their nuances they each reveal recognize this, without judgement, requires Address: Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn something about the personal experience of deep compassion for both oneself and for 30-02 Fair Lawn Avenue the exile. others, and the awareness that the two are Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 intertwines and interdependent. The ability Telephone: 201.791.7200 “From bondage to redemption” expresses the to cultivate this type of universal compassion experience in the most simplistic and literal of is perhaps the greatest measure of one’s true E-ma il: [email protected] terms. Some people experienced the harshness freedom. Web: www.JewishFairLawn.org of exile, the physical and emotional weight of harsh labor. They long to be free of the When we feel compassion for ourselves shackles. For them, exodus is from physical and for others, then the different modes of Exo dus Ma ga zi ne North Jersey Edition bondage to redemption. Exodus can compliment one another. Those is pu blished periodically by individuals (or moments) that are striving BRIS AVROHOM OF FAIR LAWN “From slavery to freedom” expresses the for light can uplift the ones trapped in experience in a more sophisticated way mental slavery, and those struggling against Rabbi Berel Zaltzman - Senior Rabbi that goes beyond the body and includes the shackles of physical bondage can bring Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman - Directors consciousness. Some people either are spared the individuals (or moments) of striving down March 2021 the physical harshness of exile, or learn to to earth, lest they become disembodied. And Ma il Re gi stra tion Num ber: 532 transcend it, but simple bodily redemption together we can dance a dance of unity, lifting is not enough. They feel enslaved by the one another up to the heavens and bringing Cir cu la tion: 3,000 oppressive atmosphere that pervades existence one another down to earth, all the way out Subscription: $36 in exile. They long to feel free to be, to of exile. Prin ted in USA An Awesome Summer Adventure! FAIR LAWN © 2021 Exodus Magazine. Jewish Day Camp Don’t Delay, Register Today! www.FairLawnCamp.com think! again. March 2021 • Nissan 5781 North Jersey Edition 4E5 | JEWISH SOUL 6E8 | JEWISH THOUGHT What Exodus Means Today Absolute Evil? The Exodus occupies a central place in Jewish life. As such it is a Passover is in essence the story of the classic battle between good and source of instruction and inspiration not only in its general theme, evil, and how good prevails. In truth, almost all enduring narratives but also in every detail and aspect of it. contain this theme in one way or another. — From the Rebbe's letters — by Simon Jacobson 5E6 | MADE YOU THINK 10E10 | JEWISH THOUGHT Haggadah Insights To Be Free The Exodus is the inexhaustible source of inspiration to all those At the root of all the richness and variety of Passover and its symbolism who long for freedom. Enjoy some excerpts from The Jonathan lies one central idea that binds the Seder’s disparate parts into a single Sacks Haggadah, published by Koren Publishers. whole: “Once we were slaves—now we are free.” — by Jonathan Sacks — by Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz 9E7 | LIFE ON EARTH 8E12 | ASK THE RABBI How is this Passover Different? Where are the Miracles? Passover means to pass over every challenge. There are some big The Torah abounds with miracles and Divine revelation. The Exodus and challenges right now. The world in which we lived only a year ago countless miracles throughout the period of the judges, prophets and is gone, never to return quite the same. kings in the ancient Land of Israel. Why don’t we see any miracles today? — by Tzvi Freeman — by Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman 3E jewish soul WHAT EXODUS MEANS TODAY From the Rebbe's letters he Exodus, the focal point of the whereby Jews live, lived and experienced in festival of Pesach, occupies a central the daily life, regardless of how the past had Tplace in Jewish life, both on the been, the Jew attaches himself to the Creator collective as well as on the individual level. and Master of the World, and liberates As such it is a source of instruction and himself from all “natural” restrictions and inspiration not only in its general theme, but limitations, and attains his true happiness, also in every detail and aspect of it. materially and spiritually. One of the fundamental features of the “Know Him in all your ways”. Jews Exodus message is the unlimited trust - the are enjoined to know and remember and absolute reliance on Divine Providence - permeate with holiness every aspect of the which found such poignant expression in daily conduct and activities. In so doing the the historic event of the Exodus from Egypt. observant Jew may frequently face the above- A whole people, men, women and children, mentioned challenge and test. Therefore, the several million in number, eagerly leave a Jew has been enjoined: “Remember your well-settled and prosperous country, with all deliverance from Egypt, every day of your its fleshpots and material blessings, and go life.” Remembering and identifying oneself out on a long and perilous journey, without with the aspects of Exodus is a source provision, but with absolute reliance on the of limitless strength to make every day word of G-d coming through Moses. meaningful and full of true Yiddish life, and Moreover, they do not follow the well- as my father-in-law of saintly memory, has trodden and shorter route (through the land emphasized: The festival of Pesach irradiates of the Philistines) which, although possibly not only every day, but every moment of the entailing war, was yet more logical by far Jew's life. EM than crossing the vast and desolate desert. For in the fortunes of war there is a chance of When the non-Jewish world, and even victory, and even in defeat there is a chance those of the Jewish world who have strayed of escape and survival for many, whereas from the true Jewish way of life, challenge the chances of survival in the terrible desert the observant and practising Jew: You, who without food or water were, by all laws of like us, live in a materialistic world, in the nature, virtually nil. Nevertheless they follow midst of a highly competitive society, facing a the obviously "irrational" route solely on the desperate struggle for economic survival, how word of Moses speaking in the name of G-d. can you escape subservience to the idolatry Still greater is the wonder considering that of the land (be it the Dollar, or the fear to be this takes place after spending 210 years in a “different”, etc.)? How can you adhere to a highly agricultural country, where nomadic code of 613 precepts which "burden" your life was despised, a land of fertile soil, life and limit your competitiveness at every independent of rain and climatic inclemencies, side and turn? richly irrigated by the faithful Nile River, in The answer is - Exodus provides the clue.