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Passover Guide 12,13,14,15-22 Nissan, 5768 • April 17,18,19,20-27, 2008

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the soulfulblessings, meaning, schedules how toSpecial seder, & how history, instructionsto celebrate. customs, Seder. for this year’s Saturday man. He was also a truly liberated person. He per- sonified freedom. When observing the ’s Some conduct in extending himself to all, in reaching out Celebration! to the furthest corners of the globe, in freely offering 3 reBBE’S MESSAGE his personal counsel to all who sought it, one could Matzah After Midnight not but be struck by the spirit of openness with which he did it all. 4 Four questions before He gave freely of his ideas, allowing – nay, encour- you begin the Seder Thoughts aging – all to copy them. He never copyrighted them Passover 5 tHE SEDER and he would often say to use someone else’s name hat separates the men from the boys? The The Practical How, What and assumption, of course, is that “the boys” if it would be more effective. the Meaning of Items on the Ware “small” people, while the men are He was a free and he imparted his freedom Seder Plate “big” people with big personalities. to all. A child is busy with himself or herself and cannot He opened our eyes to the true meaning of free- 7 souLFUL SEDER see beyond their own needs and desires, and often dom. Even now, almost fourteen years after his Join us as we perform the they withhold from sharing their belongings with physical passing, the potency of his message only Seder; as our bodies and souls others. increases with the passage of time. His liberty is experience and celebrate liberation and freedom today An adult, on the other hand, makes room for contagious. another person, accepts the ideas and critique of If you will, the creation of this brochure is, in part, 20 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU others, and shares with others. In fact, the “bigger” an illustration of this spirit. PASSOVER AND DURING THE one is the more he or she gives to others, and even A number of years ago, when I learned about a puts the other’s needs before his or her own. new, exciting Passover guide created by Lubavitch How to prepare for Passover (Indeed, don’t we as parents feel “small” when of the West Coast, I asked them to allow us to print and what to do once it’s here, we respond to our teen’s behavior in kind, building it in our Celebration brochure. They immediately for the duration of the holiday up a head full of steam and stooping to their emo- responded positively without asking for anything in tional level – when all they really want, expect and 24 STORIES: The rebbe and deserve is a mature parent. Or consider the inappro- return. Wic; the rebbe’s advise priate role reversal that takes place when we put our In the spirit of this brochure (see The 15 Steps, How the Rebbe helped interests before – and even at the expense of our pages 7-19), their spontaneous response brought to America’s poor. own children’s good – blurring the line between mind the following thoughts: child and parent.) Bondage Mentality: We worked hard on it. It’s 26 wHAT’S HAPPENING AT ours. It is a gorgeous piece, and we should be the LUBAVITCH OF WISCONSIN The ability to consider others before one’s own A photo gallery of recent interests makes one a “big person.” And the bigger first to publish it. We should get all the recognition events the person, the greater is the span of his or her con- and credit for it. Freedom Mentality: This is cern and the further is his or her reach. for all to appreciate the Seder and Passover. 30 PASSOVER SCHEDULES AND I am drawn to these thoughts in the context of It was created in order to be shared with all. So, BLESSINGS the upcoming Holiday of Freedom and the personal please be our guest, it’s yours as well as ours. liberation we are meant to experience. I remember thinking how lucky we are. This is 31 counting of the As we mature, as we grow “big,” we discover that the sense of freedom the Rebbe imparted to us all. Schedule the more liberated we are inside, the less encum- Reach out to everyone everywhere, help, elevate, 31 saLE OF CHOMETZ bered is our relationship with others. The more lend a hand, without consideration of self. By doing “free” we are , the less busy we are with our own CERTIFICATE this you will truly be free. selves, the more giving we are toward our family, our peers, our community and the world at large. Following in the Rebbe’s footsteps indeed leads The celebration of Passover is for me closely to Yetziat Mitzrayim, to personal redemption, to free- Celebration! Vol. 39 #4 March 2008 dom from smallness and moving toward the liberty bound with the days before it, when my friends and Published 6 times a year by Lubavitch of I would celebrate the anniversary of the birth of our of sharing and giving. It helps us experience the Wisconsin dear Rebbe, Meanchem M. Schneerson, of injunction “in each generation one must see himself, 3109 N. Lake Drive • Milwaukee, WI 53211 righteous memory. as if he himself has gone out of Egypt.” Phone: (414) 961-6100 The proximity of this auspicious anniversary to the FAX: (414) 962-1740 holiday of Passover is, I think, quite appropriate. Best wishes for a happy & kosher Passover. e-mail: [email protected] www.chabadwi.org For the Rebbe was, by all accounts, a very “big” Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin

2 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org One returns to that original faith, The Rebbe’s Message that same faith which shone so bright and hard because it wasn't saddled with knowledge and experience. Now, however, faith coexists with Matzah After Midnight – indeed feeds upon – knowledge Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. and experience. The roots of faith Schneerson, OBM, by Yanki Tauber reaches deeper than them, its crown towers higher than them, but it also leans against them and is fortified by them. child is blessed with faith. The world is good, people ••••• are good, and being good is simply a matter of Matzah is the most basic icon of the of Passover. The following the dos and don'ts of life which G-d had biblical name for Passover is “The Festival of Matzahs.” For told Mom and Dad. eight days, this flat, “unleavened ” displaces all leavened AThen the child grows up, encounters some bad stuff, and forms of the staff of life. And on Passover eve, the three seder finds that following the rules doesn't always pan out the way matzahs, enthroned on their special plate at the head of the one imagines. Morality muddles into an amalgam of maybes, table, take center stage in the seder rituals. ifs and usuallys. Faith alone isn’t enough anymore: one also The sages of the and the give matzah needs intellect, sensitivity, feeling, will and desire to navigate different – even conflicting – names: “The Bread of Affliction,” this thing called life. “The Bread of Poverty,” “The Bread of Humility,” “The Bread When one first marries, they are blessed with faith. A of Instruction,” “The Bread of Faith,” “The Bread of Healing.” husband or wife is the most good-hearted, intelligent, beautiful, And then there's the matter of timing: Just when was the talented, caring and loving person in the universe. Love for matzah born? At the beginning of the seder we announce, each other will get them through anything. Then the marriage “This is the bread of affliction which our forefathers ate in ages, acquires wrinkles, an irregular heartbeat and bouts the land of Egypt...” But later in the evening, we recite: “This of dementia. Love alone just isn’t enough anymore: one also matzah which we eat, for what reason [do we eat it]? Because needs intellect, sensitivity, feeling, will and desire to maintain the dough of our fathers did not have time to become leavened the relationship. before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be One begins in faith, and moves on to experience. But there is He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them.” also a third stage: a stage in which the faith reemerges. A stage Thus we have pre-Exodus matzah and post-Exodus matzah. in which is discovered that one’s spouse really is the greatest, Or, as they're referred to in the teachings of Chassidism, pre- most wonderful person in the universe. A stage in which one midnight matzah and post-midnight matzah. discovers that the world is good, that people are good, that the For matzah, the bread of faith, has two faces. It is the faith G-d-given dos and don’ts are the formula for a meaningful life. of “poverty” which thrives in pristine souls free of the tangles No, it's not as simple and straightforward as youthful faith sees of intellect and the burdens of experience. And then, when it it. But this mature, complex, thoughtful, willed and inspired emerges from the other side of the night, it is a faith enriched faith has something that youthful faith didn't have: it has a by the very elements that stifled it in its years of exile. density, a texture, a taste. A richness.

Pre-Passover Checklist Seder CHECKLIST ❒ Kosher for Passover ❒ Kosher for Passover food & supplies ❒ Special Shmurah matzah ❒ Storing Chometz (see page 20) ❒ Kosher for Passover matzah ❒ S ell Chometz (Please see page 20 for instructions and ❒ Shankbone or chicken neck page 31 for a certificate of sale of Chometz) ❒ Hardboiled egg ❒ B’dikas (search for) Chometz set ❒ Salt water ❒ ❒ Other preparations (listed on page 21 - 23) or lettuce ❒ Apple and nuts and make charoses ❒ Onion or cooked potato To obtain any of these or any other Passover ❒ needs go to www.chabadwi.org and visit our store ❒ Cup today. ❒ Ritual washing cup

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 3 Four questions before you begin the Seder

What makes this night different?

One: Is the a mere ritual commemorating the enslavement and exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt 3320 years ago? Is it an “excuse” to get family and friends together? Is it a time for nostalgia, for remembering our history?

Two: We’re instructed “in each generation” and “every day” to “envision as if we just left Egypt.” Most of us have never been to Egypt. Why is it so important to envision as if we are now leaving Egypt?! Why should we be reliving experiences that happened in another part of the world, in a completely different part of history, completely removed from our contemporary lives?

Three: What is freedom anyway and how is it achieved? What makes a people and why should me need and/or desire to belong to one?

Four: How do the various Passover observances – the prohibition against chometz (leaven), the three , and the entire Seder plate, the four cups of wine etc. – access and facilitate our freedom and identity as individual Jews and members of the community of .

Passover, like all Jewish traditions, has a body and a soul. The body consists of the rituals, laws, and structure of tradition. The soul is its inner meaning and significance. The body of Passover is commemorating from bondage in the land of Egypt. The soul of the holiday is freedom. The entire objective of the Passover Seder is to achieve transcendence.

These are the issues explored in this Passover guide. We have attempted to translate the laws and customs the make-up of the Seder and it’s various steps into “today’s language”. We trust you will find it to be as informative as it is enjoyable.

You will also find the practical how, what, and why of Passover celebration. How to conduct a Seder; insights into the meaning and significance of the numerous details and practices thereof; how to prepare as Pesach approaches; and what to do once the holiday has arrived.

We wish you a very happy and kosher Passover.

4 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org items are placed; ze’roa, a roasted shank bone or chicken The neck, is placed on the top right; opposite of it on the Seder left, the beitzah, an egg, is placed. Beneath them is the , bitter herbs. Beneath the ze’roah, on the right is n the first two nights of Passover we conduct a the , a pasty mixture of fruits, nuts and wine. On the opposite left, below the egg, is the , a vegetable, Seder. We affirm our desire to elevate this night such as an onion or potato. Under the maror is the above all that is mundane. With it we declare to chazeret, salad; bitter herbs. ourselves and all who are present that, this is “the Thus, the final Seder Plate is comprised of three matzos, lying one on the other, which cradle the six food items seasonO of our freedom.” that form two triangles. All together there are nine items The entire Seder, beginning with the Seder and the ke’ara, the plate underneath completes Plate, provides us with tools to achieve the number ten. personal transcendence; to experience Body and Soul emotional and spiritual freedom. Each of these items represents a historical event and has The Seder its practical application, its body. It also has its soul; its plate and its meaning and its relevance ingredients in our journey of freedom. Seder in Hebrew means Generally the ten elements order. Everything we do of the Seder plate reflect tonight has a distinct and the structure of human important order. consciousness, which is The first thing we do is comprised of ten dimensions construct a Seder Plate. The plate – in Kabbalah, the ten – consists of ten items; Three matzos. the “spiritual DNA” of all existence On a cloth spread over them, six food and of man.

Passover Seders are on April 19 & 20 We look forward to celebrating together! Please call us: THE SHUL-EAST of Madison 3109 N. Lake Drive - Milwaukee, WI 1722 Regent - Madison, WI For more information call (414) 961-6100 x309 For more information call Rabbi Yona Matusof, (608) 231-3450 THE SHUL Chabad on campus 383 W. Brown Deer Rd. - Milwaukee, WI For more information call For more information call (414) 228-8000 Rabbi Mendel Matusof, 608-257-1757 JEWISH REACH (in the Russian language) Agudas Achim Chabad 3030 E. Kenwood - Milwaukee, WI 2233 West Mequon Rd - Mequon, WI For more information call 414-213-8023 For more information call (262) 242-2235

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 5 Maror (Bitter Herbs) Bitter herbs – Horseradish, Lettuce, Endives, or a mixture of them – remind us of the bitterness and harshness of the , which the Jewish people endured in ancient Matzos Egypt. The lettuce, as a bitter herb, teaches us a lesson about The matzos are the centerpiece of Passover, symbolizing bondage and freedom. The leaves in a young fresh the unleavened food that the Jewish people ate as they lettuce are sweet. Nonetheless, the lettuce grows from a escaped Egypt. green-white stalk, which is bitter. The crisp, sweet leaves The three Matzos represent three categories within the represent freedom and the bitter stalk represents slavery. Jewish people. Each Matzah represents a different group: The Maror will be used later on, before the beginning of Cohen, Levi, Israel. It also represents our forefathers the meal (See page 15). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The key to freedom is humility, which allows you to take it easy, to free yourself from being manipulated by Charoses (Chopped Nuts and subjected emotions. Fruit with Wine) Matzah is called the “food of faith”, for only with this Its color is that of the mortar used to unleavened food did our ancestors leave Egypt, relying make bricks and clay when we were faithfully on the Al-mighty to provide the sustenance for enslaved to in Egypt. Charoset is a mixture of the whole nation of a few million – men, women and fruits and nuts. The fruits used in the mixture – apples, children. pears and dates – are symbols of the Jewish people, who The matzah itself symbolizes humility and faith. The are affectionately referred to in the by these matzah is not enriched with oil, honey or even names. salt. It is rather, simple and water, and The Charoses is used as a dip for the Maror may not be allowed to rise. Similarly, the and Chazeres (See pages 15 & 16). only “ingredients” for faith are humility and submission to G-d, which comes from the realization of our nothingness and “intellectual poverty” in the face of the infinite wisdom of the Karpas (Vegetables) creator. Onion, parsley or cooked potato - to be used later in the Seder as an appetizer. (Its Zeroah (Shankbone) significance is explained in Step #3 on page 9). The Zeroah is a shankbone or chicken neck, commemorating the pascal lamb our ancestors were commanded to eat on Chazeres (Romaine Lettuce) the eve of the exodus from Egypt, and later on brought as Horseradish, Lettuce, Endives or the Passover offering in the time of the Temple, which was a mixture of them is used. The roasted and eaten as part of the Seder night meal. Chazeres is used in the Koresh Unlike the other items, the Zeroah is not eaten. It . (See page 16). remains on the Seder plate until the end. ••••••••••••• Beitzoh (Hard-boiled Eggs) The hard-boiled egg represents the festival offering (chaagigah) in the days of the holy Temple, which was Four Cups of Wine also eaten on the Seder night. The egg is a symbol of During the course of the evening we will mourning. Mourners eat hard-boiled eggs at their first be treated to four cups of wine. The four cups represent meal after a funeral to show that life is like a cycle. Even the four elements of redemption we experienced during in this happy festival we remember that our Temple is in the Exodus. These four levels are alluded to in the four ruins. expressions of “deliverance” or “freedom” mentioned in Like an egg, the Jewish people – the more we are in hot the in connection with our liberation from Egypt: water, the tougher we become. (1) I will bring you out; (2) I will deliver you; (3) I will The egg will be eaten at the beginning of the meal (See redeem you; (4) I will take you as my people (Ex.6:6,7). page 17). Wine is used as a symbol of joy when welcoming the Festival, the Season of our Freedom.

6 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org S oulful The Seder of the Body Soul Partnership Seder & The Hebrew word for Egypt, “Mitzrayim,” is Steps 15The Seder begins by welcoming the festival rooted in the word “meitzar,” meaning with “a toast” to the Al-mighty boundaries, limits, restrictions. Egypt represents constraints and confinements: psychological, emotional and spiritual. Anything, from within or from without that inhibits our free Separate/Sanctify; Make this night different expression is a form of mitzrayim. 1. Kadesh Body Exodus is the most important element in life: It’s been a busy week, or a busy year. The first step tonight is to forget The ability to free ourselves from our confines the noise and leave it behind. Tonight we enter a timeless space, where we experience the Seder together with our great-grandparents, and get out of the rut. What better time to and . We begin by welcoming the festival with a “toast” to the reaffirm G-d’s promise to Abraham that we will Al-mighty with a full cup of red wine. A cup filled with generations of rejoicing and tears and celebration and wisdom. be freed from Mitzrayim? This promise was true for the first Exodus from Egypt and is true We affirm our desire to elevate this night above all that is mundane. With it we declare to ourselves and all that are present that this is “the today, for in “Each generation one must season of our freedom”. envision himself as if he just left Mitzrayim.” 1 Fill a cup with wine (or grape juice). That’s cup #1. The Seder provides us with the keys to open You can have someone else fill your cup. Then return the favor. the doors of freedom. “Passover Seder” is an This way, we are all like nobility, whose cups are filled by someone else. Make sure your cup holds at least 86 mil. (a little oxymoron: The word Pesach (Passover) means more than three ounces). to leap, to bypass the normal order; whereas, 2 Everyone stands and says Kiddush or listens to the seder Seder means order and organization! The leader. The rest of the year, one person says Kiddush and everyone takes Seder is an order that allows us to transcend a sip. Tonight, each man, woman and child drinks their own full order. Like music: By playing the defined cup. Please note: when a Festival occurs on a Saturday night the “Vatodianu” – blessing is added to the Kiddush. You musical scale, we can create infinite musical will find it in the Haggadah. combinations and songs. 3 Get ready for some serious relaxing. Recline on a cushion to your left side, and drink. The fifteen Seder steps represent fifteen keys Remember the ancient times, when we used to recline on our to open doors freeing us from our couches while sampling grapes? That’s what we are dramatizing by reclining now. We are not just free; we are our own masters. confinements.

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 7 and Urchatz (purify), describe what we set out to accomplish Soul through this night: to rise above the restraints of our world Every journey begins with a separation. You’ve got to leave in order to elevate it. somewhere to get somewhere else. In this way, separation is the first step towards freedom. By ignoring the negative voice of Pharaoh’s mockery that says, “Who are you to begin such Personal Application a journey?” we’re ready to leave Egypt behind. Separation is Bondage Mentality the first meaning of the word “kadesh”—to transcend the Look, I’m a down-to-earth kind of person. I’m trying to manage mundane world. Once you’ve set yourself free from those real life. I can’t get into this spirituality stuff. Let’s just get to the things that hold you down, you can achieve the second . meaning of “kadesh”—to return and sanctify it. Spiritual Freedom Mentality freedom is achieved through sanctifying the material world, I can master my world by staying above it. I come to the Seder using its elements as physical expressions of a higher purpose. to get that strength. The first two steps of the Seder, Kadesh (separate/sanctify)

But too often the aspects of our psyche sit compartmentalized, detached from one another. The mind sees one way, the heart feels another, and our interface with Wash your hands; Purify the world is disoriented. 2. Urchatz Water symbolizes wisdom. Flowing downward from on-high, Body everything in its stream is affected by its pure and simple essence. We 1 Fill a cup with water pour water over our hands so that our Many Jewish homes have a special two- heart and emotions may be touched by handled cup designed for this. You could leave wisdom, and from there shape our interaction the table to go to the kitchen or you could with the world. bring a basin and towel to the table. A wise rabbi asked, “Wouldn’t it make more (What? We just sat down and now we have to sense to wash first and then say Kiddush? get up and leave already? Well, that’s a fairly To first purify, so you can then sanctify standard Jewish migration pattern.) yourself?” 2 Pour the water over your right hand three times, Then he answered,”You need first to get out of then over your left hand three times. the pit, and then clean up your act. That’s why G-d first took Tonight we do like the Kohanim (Temple staff/priests) us out of Egypt and only then had us purify ourselves for who washed before eating the trumah tithing especially 49 days in the wilderness to prepare us for the revelations at designated for them. Mount Sinai.” 3 Dry your hands. The rest of the year we say a blessing after washing our hands, but not now. When we wash the second time Personal Application before eating the matzo, we’ll say it then. Bondage Mentality Just react. Let your instinct be your guide. Soul Freedom Mentality Hands are instruments that allow the mind to interact with Count to ten. Let your mind and heart talk things over with one their environment. Our hands reflect our mental state and act another. according to our emotions: love, fear, compassion, the urge to win, to be appreciated, to express ourselves, to dominate.

8 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org On the night that we left Egypt, we were like a newly hatched chick, breaking out of our shell to discover life and the light of day. It is with those fresh eyes that we were able to experience wonder, to travel forth with 3.Eat the Karpas vegetable; A taste of humility faith and innocence and trust. So tonight, again, we enter the mind and heart of a child. Body The child is the most important participant at the Seder. 1 Take a small piece of some In fact, the entire Seder with all its customs revolves vegetable (potato, onion, around the child. The of the Haggadah, parsley). V’higaddeta, is “tell the story to your child.” The child The rest of the year, we would asks, we respond. be getting to the meal now. But we’re doing things differently tonight, principally to But more than the child learns from us, we learn from spark questions from the small children. If they ask, the child. We awaken the mystical child within us, the “Hey mom and dad! Aren’t we supposed to eat real food place that is still innocent and fresh and able to grow, now? Why the funny green stuff?”—you know you’re to be amazed, to sense awe. doing things right. How do you answer them? “We are doing this so that you will ask questions.” And if they say, “Well, so what’s the answer?” “You can’t learn if you don’t ask. And the first thing to learn is that not all questions have immediate Soul answers.” This is one of the most distinctive elements of In order to liberate ourselves from Egypt, we need to taste : more than teaching our children how its harshness again, because this harshness prepares us for to answer, we teach them how to ask—and how to be freedom. This labor gives us the humble spirit to accept patient in their search for answers. wisdom. 2 Dip it into saltwater. These are our tears, and the tears of all our people beginning with the tears of our labor in Egypt. If you know some Hebrew, look at the word Karpas and read it backwards. Samach PeReKh. That refers to Personal Application Bondage Mentality the backbreaking labor (PeReKh) of the 600,000 Jewish slaves (Samach=60 x 10,000). I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. Freedom Mentality 3 Say the blessing that is said over the vegetable, and munch it down. Through my work I appreciate the higher things of life. Munch good. You’re not going to get much more for a while.

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Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 9 the adults hide it and the children find it. Either way, it keeps the kids awake and in suspense until the end of the Seder. Many Sephardic Jews follow the tradition of tying the Break the Matzo; The poor man’s bread under the arms of the children, who carry it 4. Yachatz like that all night, just like when we left Egypt. Body 1 Remove the middle Soul matzo. Why is so much broken in this world? Why did the We need the top matzo Creator make a world where hearts break, lives shatter, to remain whole because beauty crumbles? we’ll make a blessing on Because a whole vessel can only contain its measure, it later on. (Blessings are while a broken one can hold the Infinite. Matzo is said on whole things.) called the poor man’s bread. He is low and broken. 2 Break it in two different- And it is this brokenness that allows him to open his sized pieces. Put the soul and escape his Egypt. As long as we feel whole, smaller piece back there is no room left for us to grow. When we realize that between the two complete we are just a fragment —that we need the others around matzos. us, that so much of ourselves is missing —then can The piece you put back is the “poor man’s bread” over begin. which the tale of our slavery is recounted. Poor people’s bread is, intrinsically, never whole. 3 Break the remaining (larger) piece into five pieces and Personal Application wrap them in a cloth. Hide the package until the end Bondage Mentality of the Seder when it will be eaten as the Afikoman, I know who I am. Look what I have achieved. or dessert. Freedom Mentality In many houses, the children hide the Afikoman and the There is much that I am lacking. I have only started to grow. adults have to find it at the end of the meal. In others,

second child—the “wicked” child. This is the cup the story is told over. The “wicked” child is one who needs this story the most, and one who can really appreciate it. 5.Tell theMaggid Story; Experience Exodus 2 Children ask the Four Questions. This is it, folks. This is why it’s called a Of course, they can always ask more. No Haggadah. Now we get to the meat and children at your Seder? Let an adult ask. There’s just you? You be the child, and potatoes your soul is longing for. (As for G-d will be the Father. While you’re at it, the other meat and potatoes, you can ask Him a few other difficult questions probably smell them simmering in the for us all. 3 kitchen. Hold on, we‘ll get there soon.) Continue recounting the Passover story, as written in your Haggadah. Hey, you’re not limited to the Haggadah! That was written so that everybody would have something to say. Body But now is the chance to get creative. Tell every story 1 Fill your cup with wine (or grape juice). That’s cup #2 you know about the Exodus. Examine every word of the There are “four sons” at the Seder table, as described Haggadah and get into its deeper meaning. Keep it real in the Haggadah. The second cup corresponds to the —make it profound.

10 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org

Basic rules of telling the story: • Get the children involved. Mah nishtanah • Start with Abraham and Sara and work your way through the Egyptian scene until we receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. halailah hazeh... “Why is this night different from all other nights?” our • Tell it in the first person, in the now. Instead of, “Long children ask us at the Passover Seder. Because, we ago, the ancient Hebrews…” say, “When we were slaves answer, we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and G-d in Egypt, the perverse system crushed our sense of self.” Everything that happened in Egypt parallels something set us free. in each of our lives. We are truly living it now. We are Free? Are you free? simply examining our own lives in the dress of . Can a person with a mortgage be free? Can a person with a job be free? Can a person without a job be • It’s all about miracles. Moses and his signs and wonders. free? The Ten Plagues. The Splitting of the Sea. These miracles happened so that we would look at the events of Freedom! Is there anything more desired yet more our lives and recognize that they, too, are miracles. elusive? Is there a need more basic to our souls, yet • Tell it like it is. We are a people born of miracles, who so beyond our reach? How, indeed, do we achieve endured this long by abrogating natural law. The very freedom from the demands, cares and burdens of daily fact that we are here now telling this same story to our living? children in an unbroken chain of 3,314 years is beyond human comprehension. But look at your child. Observe her at play, immersed in a book, asleep and smiling at her dreams. Assured that • Offer a few words of praise to G-d. After telling the story father and mother will feed him, protect him and worry of the Exodus say the formal blessings (see Haggadah) about all that needs worrying about, the child is free. before drinking the second cup. Free to revel in her inner self, free to grow and develop, 4 We drink the second cup of wine at the end of open to the joys and possibilities of life. this step. This is why Passover, the festival of freedom, is so much the festival of the child. For it is the child who evokes in Soul us the realization that we, too, are children of G-d, and The Exodus is not simply an event that happened to us. It are thus inherently and eternally free. It is the child who is an event that we became. It is who we are. It is the life of opens our eyes to the ultimate significance of Passover: each one of us, occurring again and again, in our wrestling that in taking us out of Egypt to make us His chosen match with the world, in our struggle with our own selves. We embody freedom in a constant mode of escape. Perhaps people, G-d has liberated us of all enslavement and that is why Jews have always been the rebels of society. The subjugation for all time. experience of leaving Egypt left such an indelible mark on The child is the most important participant at the our souls that we never stop doing it. A Jew who stops leaving Passover Seder. The entire Seder is constructed around Egypt ceases to allow his soul to breathe. To tell the story is to bring our essential self into the open, the goal to mystify the child, to stimulate his curiosity, and to come face to face with who we really are. to compel him to ask: Why is this night different from all other nights? The child asks, and we answer. But there is another Personal Application dialogue taking place – a dialogue in which we ask, Bondage Mentality and the child explains. I’m free already. I live in a land of freedom. Who needs more Take a good look at your child this Passover. Pay her freedom than that? close attention – enter her mind, view reality from her Freedom Mentality perspective. For how else might we taste freedom? My body is free because my soul is free.

From Chabad.Org

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 11 “He took us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to festivity, from deep darkness to great Wash your hands; Purify again light, and from bondage to redemption.” 6. Rochtzo – The Haggedah n each one of us there is an Egypt and a Pharaoh Body and a Moses and Freedom in a promised land. 1 Fill a cup with water. And every point in time is an opportunity for Again? Yes, again. It’s been a long time since the last Ianother Exodus. washing. (Who knows what those hands may have touched? Egypt is a place that chains you to who are you Anyway, it’s good to get up and stretch a little.) are, constraining you from growth and change. And 2 Pour the water over your right hand three times, Pharaoh is that voice inside that mocks your gambit then over your left hand three times. to escape, saying, “Why should you want to attempt Say the blessing: “Blessed…concerning the washing of being today something you were not yesterday? Aren’t the hands.” you good enough just as you are? Don’t you know who you are?” 3 Dry your hands. Moses is the liberator, the infinite force deep within an impetuous and all-powerful drive to break out from any bondage, to always transcend, to connect Soul with that which has not bounds. As long as we live in this But Freedom and the Promised Land are not world, freedom remains static elements that lie in wait. They are your own elusive. While moving achievements which you may create at any moment, forward, we are free. Stop, in anything that you do, simply by breaking free from and we are bound and fettered whoever you were the day before. again. That is why freedom is Last Passover, you may not have yet begun to light something that you cannot buy o r a candle… Or some other Mitzvah still waits for you steal. Never can you put freedom to fulfill its full potential. This year, defy Pharaoh and in your purse and say, “Freedom is mine light up your world with unbounded light. forever!” Spiritual freedom is like a marriage between our finite selves and the Infinite, providing the power to transcend the material world while working inside of it. It is a marriage of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, soul and body. And like any marriage, it is kept alive through constant renewal. Our release from slavery was only the first step of our Exodus. We were granted eternal freedom—the power to perpetually transcend Egypt. That’s the order of the Seder tonight: Kadesh, Urchatz, Transcend and Purify. Over and over. Rise higher, then draw that into deeds. Rise higher again, draw even more. Never stop rising. Never stop applying.

Personal Application Bondage Mentality Passover? Been there, done that. Freedom Mentality Each year at the Seder, I discover new things that I just never saw before.

12 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org Thank G-d for bread; Remember your roots Say a blessing for the matzah; 7. Motzi 8.Eat to yourMatzah soul’s content (Hold it! Didn’t we just say a blessing on the matzah bread? Body That was a blessing for giving us what to eat. Now we go on Get ready Seder Leader, techie matzah to bless and praise Him for connecting us to Him through the instructions to follow: mitzvah of eating matzah.) 1 Grab all three matzahs—the top one, the broken middle one and the bottom one—and pick them up. Body 2 Say the blessing: “Blessed…Who brings bread out of Techie instructions continued: carefully release the the earth.” 1 bottom matzah. (Continue orbiting while it makes This blessing, “He makes bread come out of the earth,” its descent to the table.) may seem ordinary, even odd. But think about it: the earth upon which we tread germinates all the nutrients a human 2 Recite the blessing on the top whole matzah and the being needs to survive—it is the substance that powers our broken middle matzah: “Blessed…and commanded thoughts, creativity, music, art, philosophy, meditation, us concerning eating matzah.” prayer. 3 Break off a piece from each of these two matzahs for yourself and for each of those sitting at your table. Pass them around. Soul 4 Everybody eats at least two thirds of a matzah. (To do We feel an affinity with this, they will need to help themselves to an auxiliary the food we eat: we, too, reserve of matzah.) are a out of the Hey, it’s a mitzvah after all! earth. We share a common Don’t forget to lean to the left while you munch—just like with the wine. journey with bread. The bread begins as a seed buried beneath the ground. And then, a miracle occurs: as it decomposes and loses its Soul original form, it comes alive, begins to sprout and grow. As Since the destruction of the Holy Temple in , arrives, it pushes its way above the earth to find the matzah is the only opportunity we have to actually eat a sun, and then bears its fruit for the world. mitzvah. That’s right, the matzah you are eating is pure We, too, begin buried in Egypt, our identity all but lost. G‑dliness. But that furnace of oppression becomes for us a firing kiln, The calls matzah Bread of Faith and Bread of a baker’s oven, and the womb from whence we are born as a Healing. “Faith?” Well, actually, that’s a rather feeble nation in the Spring. In our liberation, we bring our fruits of translation. “Emunah” is the word in Hebrew, and it means freedom to the world. a lot more than “I believe.” Faith can often be something

Personal Application Bondage Mentality I’m stuck here under ground. Life is rotten. Freedom Mentality My challenges in life help me discover the strength of my soul.

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 13 people claim when they don’t care to think too much. Emunah where there is no dichotomy of spirit and matter, soul and is when you go beyond thinking to a place your mind could body. Where the spiritual transforms into the physical, and have never brought you. material objects become spiritual in a perpetual chemistry of Emunah means touching the place where your soul and exchange. Where the body is healed through empowering the the essence of the Infinite Light are One. It’s a place that soul, and the soul is nourished with the rituals of the body. nothing can describe. Where there are no words. No doubts, (After all, we live in the world of One G-d.) no uncertainty, no confusion, nothing but a magnificent Oneness before which nothing else exists, and the challenges of life withdraw. Personal Application Eating matzah is a way of tapping into that reservoir. Your Bondage Mentality physical body digests the Emunah of your soul, everything is Sure, I’ll eat a little matzo because that’s the integrated back into One, and your body and spirit are whole tradition. and harmonious. Freedom Mentality How on earth can a mixture of water and wheat baked in I can’t get enough of this stuff! Feed me matzo! Feed my soul! an oven contain such a spiritual cure? Welcome to ,

ou’re trapped in your marriage. You’ve said certain explain that in order to re-experience the freedom of the things, she’s said things, both quite unforgivable. Exodus — the moment in history that liberated our souls YSo now you’re imprisoned in this cube of tense from all and any future forms of slavery — we must silence you used to call “home,” and the only place to go eradicate the chometz from our souls and replace it with from here is down. Yes, there is a way out — just yesterday matzah. there was a moment, a fleeting opportunity for Chometz — grain that has fermented and bloated — reconciliation. But you were too big to squeeze through. represents that swelling of ego that enslaves the soul more You’re trapped in debt. There’s the house redo you just had than any external prison. The flat, unpretentious matzah to do, the car you absolutely had to have, the vacation you represents the humility, self-effacement, and commitment simply wanted (you deserve something for yourself, too). that are the ultimate liberators of the human spirit. The bills are closing in, and the only place to go from here is down. Yes, there’s a small opening, through which a tiny voice inside you sometimes beckons, “You don’t really hxm m a t z a h Xmcc h o m e t z need this.” But you’ve gotten too big to squeeze through. h e i c h e t You’re trapped in your life. Whichever way you turn, you h c encounter walls—unshakable habits, antagonistic The liberating quality of matzah is also shown in the forms colleagues, elusive desires. The only direction that seems of the Hebrew letters that spell the words “chometz” and not to be closed to you is down — the direction leading “matzah.” The spelling of these two words are very similar deeper into the quagmire. (just as a piece of bread and a piece of matzah are made of Sometimes, the weather clears enough for you to see the the same basic ingredients) — chometz is spelled chet, escape hatch set high up in the wall — the way out to mem, tzadi; matzah is spelled mem, tzadi, hei. So the only freedom. But it’s so small. Actually, it’s not so much that it’s difference is the difference between the chet and the hei small but that you need to make yourself small — veritably — which, as the illustration above shows, is also slight. flatten yourself — to fit through. You need to deflate your Both the chet and the hei have the form of a three sided selfhood enough to say to yourself, “Wait a minute! I’ve got enclosure, open at the bottom; the difference being that the wrong idea of what it’s all about! It’s not about me, it’s the hei has a small “escape hatch” near the top of its left about Us. It’s not about what I can be and have, but what I side. can do and accomplish.” Which is all the difference in the world. We celebrate the festival of Passover by eradicating all chometz (leavened foods) from our home and replacing it with matzah, the . The Chassidic masters From Chabad.Org

14 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org many Jews said, “Egypt is our land. How can we leave it?” And they stayed and died there. As for the rest of us, when Moses came and told us we were going to leave, we believed him. It was our bitterness that Eat a bitter herb; had preserved our faith. This is the sweetness we apply to the bitter herb: bitterness 9.It’s okay Maror to experience bitterness alone, without any direction, is self-destructive. Add some life and optimism to it, and it becomes the springboard to freedom. Body 1 Grab some of that bitter herb (such as horseradish.) Take enough to make the size of an if you were Personal Application to crunch it into a ball. Bondage Mentality Look, this is what I’m used to. I can’t change. 2 Dip the bitter herb in the Charoset. Shake off any excess. Freedom Mentality It’s a careful balance: you want bitter herbs, but you I don’t belong to my habits. want to sweeten the bitterness. Yet it still has to be bitter herbs—not a sumptuous Charoset hors d’oeuvre. 3 Say the blessing: “Blessed…and commanded us The relates: When the Jewish people fled concerning eating bitter herbs.” Egypt, after crossing the parted , they sang in praise to G-d. He welcomed their song and incorporated 4 Eat the bitter herb it into the Torah. When the heavenly hosts wished to offer (Don’t worry if it doesn’t taste that great—it’s not a song to G-d, He told them, “My creatures (the ) supposed to.) are drowning in the ocean, and you sing?”

Why did G-d accept the song of the Jewish people but not Soul that of the angels? We can never get used to Egypt. We never belonged there. The angels never suffered, but the Jewish people We can never say, “They are the masters and we are the demonstrated their loyalty to G-d even while suffering slaves, and that’s the way it is.” It must remain something pain and their lives and the lives of their children were we feel bitter about, something that is unjust and needs to at stake. Their song is a true praise to G-d, rather than an change. expression of self satisfaction. If we get used to Egypt, it’s very hard to leave. In fact,

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Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 15 Soul The world, when viewed from within Egypt, looks to be a mess Have the Hillel sandwich; of fragments. It’s a “Passoverly- Challenged” perspective. Plain 10.Bring it all togetherKorech materialism. appear to be a mishmash of do’s and don’ts; the Jewish people are a collection of irreconcilable Body individuals; daily life is a cacophony of 1 Break the bottom matzah into two pieces. hassles and just, well, stuff. If you’ve followed the instructions until now, the bottom Once we escape materialism’s gravitational matzah should still be whole. pull, we can look back and see a whole new perspective. 2 Take an olive-sized amount of the bitter herb, put it Mitzvahs are multiple expressions of a single spiritual path; in some romaine lettuce and dip it into the Charoset. Jews are multiple faces to a single soul; the elements of today’s Shake off any excess. journey harmonize together as a symphony playing a delicate Now you know what the romaine lettuce on the Seder melody. plate is for. After we make ourselves into a temple for the Divine, then 3 Place the bitter herb and lettuce in-between your two the bitter, the sweet, and the tasteless responsibilities of life pieces of matzah. wrap together in a single package. 4 Say the words: “This is what Hillel did, at the time that the Holy Temple stood. He wrapped up some Personal Application Pesach lamb, some matzah and some bitter herb and Bondage Mentality ate them together.” I have to take care of career, family, health, hobbies, handball, (And you thought it was because they packed fast-food friendships, parents, taxes, studies, the house, the car, the cat. to leave Egypt in a hurry.) Hillel understood the words of the Torah about the Freedom Mentality Pesach lamb, “On matzah and bitter herbs you shall eat I am a conductor and the world is my orchestra to play a it,” in its literal sense. And so, he invented the sandwich. symphony for its Creator. (Or should we call it a Hillel?) 5 Lean to the left while you eat.

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16 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org It was the first night of Passover and, as I was accustomed 11. from myThe parents’ home, I wished Feast to participate in a seder. Shulchan My friend never experienced a seder. I convinced him to Let’s Feast! come along with me to the , on the first night Orech of Passover. After services we were both invited to different Body homes for the festive ceremony of the seder. Time to really eat. You Hours later we met in a predetermined place in the local know how to do this, park. But to my amazement, my friend was blazing mad. right? Oh, don’t forget the “What did you do to me?” He shouted. “It was torture!! It was tradition of eating the hell!” hard-boiled egg on your Seder plate, dipped in some salt “What do you mean? What happened?” I asked. water. Most do this at the very beginning of the meal. A hard-boiled egg is a sign of mourning. However, on every “What happened? You know! Religious Jews are crazy–that’s festive occasion, we remember to mourn for the destruction what happened! First we drank a glass of wine. I like wine, of the Temple and Jerusalem. but on an empty stomach... My head started spinning a bit but I figured that any second we would begin the meal. The smell of the food from the kitchen was great. Then we ate Soul a bit of parsley. Then they started talking, and talking, and This step, along with Korech before it, marks the re-entry we talking. In Hebrew. All the time I’m smiling and nodding my mentioned at the beginning (in Kadesh). We’ve escaped Egypt head as if I understand what they’re saying–like you told me and reached a higher vision. to–but my head is really swimming and hurting from the But freedom consists of more than escape. Complete wine and I’m dying of hunger. freedom is when you can turn around and liberate all the elements of your world from their pure material state, and “The smell of the food from the kitchen is making me insane, make them transcendent as well. but they don’t bring it out. For two hours they don’t bring That’s what we do when we eat every day—we take foods anything out! Just talking, and more talking. Then, just what grown from the earth, say a blessing over them, and bring I needed.... another cup of wine! Then we get up, wash them into our journey as human beings. And when it’s a hands, sit back down and eat this big wafer called matzah Jewish holiday or Shabbos, we elevate them further, into the that tastes like newspaper, leaning to the left (don’t ask me realm of pure spirituality. As for tonight, this meal is going why...). I started choking, almost threw up. And then finally to be truly Divine. they give me this lettuce, I took a big bite and wham! My So don’t imagine we’re just feasting. We’re reaching a mouth was on fire. My throat! There was horseradish inside! higher state. And it’s a great way to do it. Nothing to eat but horseradish! You guys are crazy.... “Well, I just got up and left. Enough is enough!” Personal Application “Ah, I should have told you.” I replied. “What a shame! After Bondage Mentality I am a slave to food. I live to eat. the bitter herbs is a glorious meal. You suffered so long; you Freedom Mentality I am a food liberator. I eat to live. should have just held out for a few more minutes...!” is a seder. We’ve had our appetite teased with small moments of triumph. But mostly we’ve had plenty of “bread of faith” that our palates can’t really appreciate. And generous helpings of bitter herbs. But, you need patience to be a Jew. And since we’ve swallowed the maror already, we might as well hold out one minute longer and get to the feast and then we will come to realize why we waited so long and how good it is to be Jewish.

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 17 Eat the Hidden Matzah; Lost and found Grace after the Meal; 12. Tzofun 13.Thanks forBerach having us Body 1 Grab that last bite. Be sure you’ve eaten enough, because the only thing to Body pass our lips after this step of the Seder tonight is another If you’re still awake now, you know it’s getting late. Adults are two cups of wine.(Oy.) falling asleep. Kids are having a great time taking advantage of that. But it’s not over. There are songs and wine, and 2 Retrieve that hidden matzah. the is on his way…. If you can’t find it, you may have to enter into negotiations with your kids to get it back. (Well, if they 1 Fill your cup with wine or grape juice. That’s cup #3. fell asleep, you will be “forced” to just eat some other 2 Say the Grace After Meals as printed in your matzah). Haggadah. 3 Eat another two-thirds of a matzah. Lean to Say a blessing on the wine and drink it all down. your left. 3 Lean to your left. With the first matzah, we fulfilled the Mitzvah to eat matzah. This one is also in place of the Pesach offering, which is meant to be eaten on a full stomach. Soul The theme of the Grace After Meals is confidence. Confidence in a Higher Force that is with us in our daily lives. Why did Soul miracles happen in Egypt? Because we believed they would. There is the body, there is the soul, and then there is the Those who didn’t believe in miracles saw only plagues. To see essence. If the soul is light, then that essence is its source of a miracle, you need an open heart and mind, open enough light. If the soul is energy, then the essence is its generator. to receive the Infinite. That is the opening we make when we The Kabbalah teaches that this essence remains elusive. It is thank G-d for the miracle of our food. called “tzofun,” meaning hidden, concealed, locked away and out of reach. It is unlikely to experience it. We dance around that essence-core, like a spacecraft in orbit, unable to land. We can be inspired, we can meditate, Personal we can pray, but to touch this inner core—the essence of our Application soul—takes a power from beyond. Bondage Mentality On Passover night, we have that power. But only after I thank G-d for giving me we have taken all the proper steps: destroying our internal what I need. Chometz, preparing our homes for liberation - the previous eleven steps of the Seder. Then, when we are satiated with Freedom Mentality all we can handle, connecting every facet of ourselves to the I thank G-d for letting me Divine, that’s when that power comes to us. Whether we know what He needs. sense it or not, tasteless as it may seem, the matzah we eat now—the matzah of Tzofun—reaches deep into our essence and transforms our very being. Those things you find inspiring and nice may take you a step forward. But to effect a real change, you need to do something totally beyond your personal bounds.

Personal Application Bondage Mentality Seeing is believing. Freedom Mentality Believing is seeing.

18 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org 14.Praise theHallel L-ord; Sing along 15.The acceptance; Nirtzo Next year in Jerusalem! Body Body 1 Pour a special cup of wine and set This last step of the Seder is easy: expect a miracle. it in the middle of the table. You This is His job now. won’t drink this one—it’s for Elijah the Look up from your wine. The table’s a delicious mess. Uncle Prophet. Irving is snoring in his Haggadah, serenaded by the first chirping Elijah comes to announce the imminent of dawn. As you carry the little ones to their beds to the sound of and final Redemption, with the arrival matzah crunching beneath your feet, you wonder, “Who will carry of Moshiach. me to bed?” 2 Now fill your cup with wine or grape Was it the best Seder that could have been? Look, it had its juice. highlights. A few times, the kids got a little over-excited. And the That’s cup #4. horseradish and didn’t mix too well. Grandpa told Yes, you can handle it. some great stories, but we heard them last year. We all had fun with the songs. We told the tale again with new embellishments, just like 3 The kids open the front door to wel- we have for 3,300-plus years. We did what we are supposed to, in come Elijah the Prophet. Recite the our own human way. prayer, “Pour out Your wrath…” from the Haggadah. Watch Elijah And now, let the Creator do what He has promised to do: a enter. (Can’t see him? Maybe you’ve re-run. Starring us, in the Ultimate Redemption. With lots of had too much wine.) miracles. But this time, forever. Tonight is a called “Leil Shimurim”—a night of protection —when we are secured by G-d’s Gentle Hand. We open our front door in the middle of the night with confidence and trust that no harm will befall us. On that very first Passover in Egypt, we were redeemed on the merit of our trust that He would redeem us. Tonight we are Soul If G-d wanted us to be perfect, why did He create such imperfect liberated again, and again we demonstrate our trust. beings? Because what He wants of us is our very humanness. Sometimes 4 It’s all there in your Haggadah. Sing whatever you we do good. Sometimes we fall. But we keep on struggling, and know a song for. eventually make some real change in order to create a perfect 5 At the end, say a blessing and drink the fourth and final world. cup of wine. And then, once we have done all we can, like a kind parent help- ing with the homework, He makes sure to touch up our work and make it shine. For 3,300 years we have been leaving Egypt. For 3,300 years we Soul have been doing our human job of transforming the darkness of The ancient clued us in on a key principle in cosmic func- tions: whatever G-d tells us to do, He does Himself. Of course, His world into light. And now it is His turn to banish darkness there’s a difference. We do it in our little human world, while He forever, to make our work shine does it on a grand cosmic plain. He told us to open our door on the night of Passover. So, tonight, He opens every door and every gateway of the spiritual Personal Application cosmos to all of the Jewish People. To each one of us, regardless of Bondage Mentality what we have been doing the rest of the year, tonight is our chance Yaaaaawwwwwwn! Well, there goes another Passover night under the to reach the highest of spiritual levels. belt. Freedom Mentality Personal Application I’m done with Pharaoh; I’m through with Egypt. Take me to Bondage Mentality Jerusalem! Since it’s Passover, I’ll make a little change. Freedom Mentality Since Passover, I totally changed.

Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 19 Th i n gApproaching s t o Do: Before Freedom You Passover Begin well in advance fill out the sale of Chometz form in this brochure (Page 31) Deadline: April 18, 2008 and mail it to us or e-mail it to [email protected], to reach us well before April 18, 2008, and we will take care of the rest. The Chometz-Free Zone: In the weeks prior to Passover, Do not leave it for the last minute. (For the very latest time we clean our homes of leavened products made from five major see schedule page 30.) grains (wheat, , rye, oats and spelt). On Passover, we will be “Chometz-free” for eight days; step one is to clean any place Prepare to celebrate: Stock up on Kosher-for-Passover we might have handled Chometz: in the house, car, and office items. Did you know that the only Matzo that is fit to eat (desk and drawers, etc.); on our clothing and in our pockets must be marked for Passover use? Did you know that today (especially children’s!); in purses, pocketbooks, attaché cases, there are hundreds and thousands of commercially prepared etc. foods, which are under rabbinical supervision and marked Give some serious thought about koshering your kitchen – Kosher-for- Passover? stove, microwave and sink. Ask your Rabbi how to go about it. Shmurah Matzah: The ideal Passover Matzah is hand- You may e-mail us: [email protected]. In Milwaukee you may made “Shmurah” (“guarded”) Matzah. The wheat is carefully also call Rabbi Shais Taub 414-961-6100 ext. 309. For more watched –protected against contact with water from the information or for Rabbis in other Wisconsin locations, moment of harvest—to prevent any chance of visit our website at www.chabadwi.org. We will fermentation. Kneaded, shaped and rolled by hand, be glad to help with information or in any other they are baked under meticulous supervision to way. avoid even the slightest possibility of leaven. Eat Storing and Selling Chometz: Chometz Shmurah Matzah on each of the Seder nights. you wish to keep (e.g., food, cosmetics, or dishes You may contact us at 414-961-6100 Ext. and utensils) should be stored for Passover in 303 to buy this special Matzah. designated closets, cabinets, or rooms – and locked, sealed or taped shut. It will be sold (and Thursday, April 17, 2008 the space leased) to a non-Jew before Passover, sons Fast: The last of the completely removing it from your legal possession. Ten Plagues visited upon the Egyptians A competent rabbi performs the sale; he acts as the before the Jewish people were freed was agent to sell the Chometz before the festival, and he when G-d slew all firstborn males in buys it back for you after the holiday ends. You may Egypt, sparing the firstborn sons of Israel. In recognition, firstborn Jewish males over 13 fast on this day. But, since joy eclipses suffering, it is customary to waive this fast with a celebration, upon the conclusion of a Talmudic tractate. Ask your Rabbi for the time, or come to Lubavitch House on Thursday, April 17, at 7am. Search for hidden chometz: The absence of Chometz is key in preparing for Passover. At nightfall, on the eve of the first day before Passover, we conduct a ‘formal search’ for Chometz throughout the house while holding a lit candle to light the way. Traditionally, we also use a spoon (as a shovel), a feather (as a broom) and a paper bag to collect any Chometz found. After reciting the appropriate blessing for this mitzvah (blessing #5 on page 30), do a thorough, final once-over search of every last bit of Chometz. (Just to insure that our search

20 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org will not be in vain, strategically place ten pieces of Chometz • Any remaining bread crumbs from the meals should be wrapped with paper around the house. Do not hide them “flushed.” so that they are hard to find. If you do, then you will be in Lighting Candles: As before every Shabbat, trouble…) After the search, verbally nullify any Chometz Jewish women and girls light the candles that brighten the that was not found (statement #6 on page 30) and place the home and welcome these special days. Shabbat candles are lit Chometz that was found in a conspicuous spot to be burned before sunset (for time and blessing #1 see page 30). the next morning. (Before the search, put aside the Chometz you plan to use on Friday and on Shabbat.) Shabbat, April 19, 2008 NOTE: Usually we search for chometz the night before Shabbat Meal: Savor the last bit of chometz, because early Passover and burn it the next morning. This year, however, this morning is our final chance to eat chometz for eight days the day before Passover falls on Shabbat, which trumps (for exact time see chart on page 30). After we finish our last our agenda. Since we are not to light a fire on Shabbat we bite, there should be no chometz remaining. complete the tasks associated with Passover preparations one day early (Friday, April 18) so as not to disturb the Shabbat. Making Nothing into a Big Deal: Now you are ready And since we don’t cook or prepare on Shabbat, make sure to formally declare your home a chometz-free zone. Recite that all your special Passover delicacies are prepared on Friday the Chometz Nullification Statement (statement #7 on page before Shabbat. If you did not manage to cook and prepare 30), verbally disowning any chometz that might have been all that you need for the holiday, you may do so after the end overlooked. of Shabbat. (See candle lighting schedule and instructions on Prepare Again to Celebrate: Now you have a whole page 30, which also apply to cooking and preparing.) day to look forward to the Seder. But wait; to develop our spiritual and nutritional appetite for the Seder, we abstain Friday, April 18, 2008 from eating any food found on the Seder plate today, especially Burn the chometz: This morning we safely burn all Matzo. If you’re a fan of bitter herbs and raw onions, apples, chometz found during last night’s search (for time see chart on nuts and wine, stay out of the kitchen. The time to actually page 30). All chometz, except the chometz we intend to eat begin preparation for the Seder is after nightfall. (See candle on Friday and during the first two , must be lighting schedule on page 30.) burned (unless stored in the chometz closet and sold before Passover.) Saturday Night, April 19, 2008 Note: Here are some suggestions in overcoming the special Finally the Seder: After Shabbat, at nightfall, recite challenges posed by this years special calendar. As your the following statement “Baruch hamavdil bein kodesh house has been prepared for Passover except for the Chometz le’chol ” (Blessed is He who separates between the holy and (bread/) needed for the Friday night and Shabbat the mundane). Now you may begin to prepare the Seder morning meals, after which no chometz may remain in your table. Light the Passover candles from a pre-existing flame possession. How do you ensure that your well prepared (for time and blessing #2 and #4, see page 30). Now it’s home, tablecloths etc. do not come in contact with showtime; Experience the Seder! chometz? How do you ascertain that no chometz remains Please note: when a Festival occurs on a Saturday in your possession after the allowed time? night the “Vatodianu” – Havdalah blessing is added to • All meals for Shabbos should be prepared Kosher for the Kiddush. You will find it in the Haggadah. Passover, cooked in Passover cooking-ware, using only Kosher for Passover ingredients. • Only enough “Challah” (Shabbat Bread) necessary for Friday night and Shabbos Morning should be left out. Shalem Healing • This Challah should be eaten very carefully in a separate area taking care that the bread should not touch Passover Chinese and Holistic Medicine utensils. Acupuncture / Herbal Medicine / Liver, Lymph & Intestinal Cleansing / • After finishing eating your “Challah” take part in the rest Tissue Mineral Analysis / In Office Testing of the meal. Treating Children and Adults • Paper goods and plastic-ware are good alternatives for this Robert J. Fox MSOM, L.Ac Shabbos’ usage. 800 E. Locust St. • 414.640.5433 • www.shalemhealing.com • You may also wish to use a disposable tablecloth. Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 21 Sunday, April 20, 2008 Monday, April 21, 2008 Pray And Feast: Today is a good day to go to Shul, followed Pray and Feast Again: It’s time to go to Shul again and by a festive meal for lunch. Wait with preparing for the second enjoy another festive meal for lunch. Seder until after nightfall. Monday Night, April 21, 2008 Sunday Night, April 20, 2008 Make a Difference: Just as we make Kiddush, declaring Brighten Up Again: Tonight we will enjoy one more the sanctification of the day, we’re equally obliged to distinguish Seder. But, before we begin the second Seder, the holiday between the sanctified and the mundane, good and evil, light candles are lit after nightfall from a pre-existing flame. (For and darkness. At this time, when these qualities are so often time and blessings #2 & #4 see page 30.) blurred and distorted, it is of particular importance. After nightfall, we make the traditional Havdallah (distinction) Count in Anticipation: Tonight is when we start service (to be found in your prayer book). counting the “Omer,” the seven-week period (49 days) that begins on Passover and ends at the festival of Shavuos, when Now You are in the Middle: Passover’s intermediate we celebrate G-d’s giving us the Torah. The “Omer” – a days begin at the end of the second day of the holiday (Monday measure of barley – was brought to the night). Between the first two and the last two days of Passover on the second day of Passover, as a thanksgiving offering for we may resume much (not all) of our regular, workday activities; the new crops. (For schedule and blessing see page 30.) You but, of course, we continue to eat Kosher for Passover foods would want to do that even before the Seder begins, as you exclusively. Also, it is customary to drink a glass of wine or may fall asleep before you have a chance to bless. grape juice each day, in celebration of the festival. The 49 days embody the 49 steps of self- Friday, April 25, 2008 improvement – beginning with the departure from our “personal” And On The Seventh Day: In addition to being Shabbat Egypt, until our arrival at Mount the Seventh Day of Passover is Yom Tov (Holiday), as is the Sinai, when we are ready to accept Eighth Day of Passover, and are observed with the same laws the wisdom of the Torah.

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22 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org governing (Shabbat and) all Jewish . At sundown On this final day of Passover, we strive for a higher level of Shabbat and Yom Tov candles are lit (for times and blessing freedom and focus on the final redemption. #3 see page 30). This day commemorates our total liberation from Egypt Sunday, April 27, 2008 with the Splitting of the Sea. We celebrate the holiday with Last But Not Least: Yizkor Memorial Prayers are recited a formal festival meal beginning with Kiddush. You will during morning services. Following the ’s find it in your prayer book or the Haggadah. Get ready for custom, we end Passover with “Moshiach’s Feast” – a festive an intense experience – it is customary to stay up all night meal complete with matzo and four cups of wine during studying Torah. which we celebrate the imminent arrival of the . The Saturday, April 26, 2008 feast begins before sunset and continues until after nightfall. Nightfall is the official end of Passover (for exact time see Cross The Sea Of Reeds: If you enjoyed services at Shul page 30). You must wait an additional hour to give the rabbi on the first two days – three days will constitute it “permanent”. enough time to “buy back” your Chometz before eating it. Today’s experience in Shul includes the of the We have made it! Let’s continue the Passover spirit of Splitting of the Sea of Reeds. (That’s in addition to the Rabbi’s freedom throughout the year! sermon). Make a Difference Again: At nightfall (see schedule on Saturday Night, April 26, 2008 page 30), as we depart the holiday to our day to day activities, we recite the Havdalah blessing. Havdalah invites us to carry The Finals: After nightfall, Passover candles are lit from a the spirit of Shabbat and/or the holiday into our weekday pre-existing flame (for time and blessing #2 see page 30.) We life. Thus, by contrasting the sacred and the mundane – the celebrate the holiday with a formal festival meal beginning Shabbat/Holidays from the other days of the week –we strive with Kiddush. You will find it in your prayer book or the to bring some of the holiness of the Holidays into our everyday Haggadah. Please note: Being Shabbat evening, the special activities throughout the week. “Vatodianu” – havdalah blessing is added to the Kiddush.

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hirley Chisholm was the first African- y father used to pray in a beautiful, big American woman ever elected to the US shul. When the neighborhood changed, Congress. Chisholm made headlines upon and Jews moved away, the shul grew her election in 1968 and she had grand emptier each week. So it was finally sold hopes of using her new position to pursue for what was then a huge amount of money, some four her goal of helping the poor and the inner city. hundredM thousand dollars. But she soon found her congressional career stunted That’s when the dispute broke out: What to do with Sat its start by race-related politics. Bowing to political the money? The shul had been a Lubavitch shul and pressures, the House’s leadership assigned Chisholm so the obvious choice would have been to give it to not to the housing committee she requested, nor to the the Rebbe for his institutions. But others who joined treaty on poverty, but to the Agriculture Committee, the Shul later wanted to give the money to various where it was assumed she could have little influence. , to a hospital, to other causes. It was a major dispute. To add insult to injury, the day she was appointed to Agriculture committee the New York Times ran They finally agreed that a committee would go to the a front page article which said, “Does a tree grow in Rebbe. They would ask for his guidance on what to do. Brooklyn?” implying that When they came in and a city-girl couldn’t possibly presented their question to head the agriculture com- the Rebbe, the Rebbe said, mittee. “My advice is not to give that money away. Put it in Chisholm was distraught. the bank. Invest it carefully Soon there after, she and give the interest from received a phone call: “The that money every year to Lubavitcher Rebbe would help with Chinuch, Jewish like to meet with you.” education.” Chisholm represented New Members of the commit- York’s 12th District, which tee, as well as my father, included her own neighbor- were in shock. This was in hood of Crown Heights. 1955, just four years after She lived a block away from the Rebbe had become the Rebbe and had met the Rebbe. I am certain him once before when she that in 1955, four hundred was seeking endorsements. thousand dollars would The Rebbe had declined to have been an unbelievable endorse her candidacy, just

24 Check out our weekly online magazine at www.LubavitchofWI.org as those of her predecessors, because of his policy of gift to Lubavitch. The Rebbe knew about the dispute, non-involvement in political campaigns. But now the because my father wrote and spoke to him about it. Rebbe wanted to speak to her; and so she headed over The Rebbe himself was not having an easy time fund- to the Rebbe’s office at 770 Eastern Parkway. ing the Lubavitch institutions. Can you imagine what the Rebbe could have done with that kind of money? At the meeting the Rebbe said, “I know you’re very Yet the Rebbe declined it, and, instead, directed the upset.” And she said, “I’m upset. I’m insulted. What committee to use it for Jewish education, at their dis- should I do?” cretion. That’s when the Rebbe turned the tables: “What a For many years we did that. And I’m still treasurer blessing G-d has given you. This country has so much of the shul. We’ve gone well into the principal now, surplus food, and there are so many hungry people. but we still give out the money each year. And I think You can use this gift that G-d gave you to feed hungry that’s a tremendous legacy; over four million dollars people. Find a creative way to do it.” have been given out. Soon after she went off to Washington and on her first Years later, many years later, I mentioned the episode day there met a young congressman from Kansas, Bob to the Rebbe and the Rebbe remembered it well. When Dole. The farm-state politician told her, “You know, I told him we’re still giving out money, the Rebbe said, our farmers have all this extra food and we don’t know “It was a good investment, wasn’t it?” what to do with it.” Suddenly a light bulb went off for Chilsholm: “One second, the Rabbi!” Dr. David Luchins was a senior advisor to the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan for 20 years and now During the next few years, and for the duration of the serves as the Chair of the Political Science Department 1970s, Chisholm worked to expand the national Food at Touro College. Stamp Program, which allowed poor Americans to buy subsidized food. Finally in 1973, the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act mandated that Food Stamps be made available in every jurisdiction in the . It was in the creation of the WIC program, however, that Chisholm really made her mark. The 1969 White House Conference on Food Nutrition and Health rec- ommended targeted food supplements for high-risk pregnant women and their infants. Chisholm, in the House, and Dole, in the Senate, championed the idea and got Congress to approve a two-year pilot project that would be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Today more than 8 million people receive WIC (an acronym for Women Infants and Children) benefits each month. In 1983, Chisholm spoke at a celebrating her retirement from Congress. She talked about her work on WIC and the accomplishments she made. Then she said, “I owe this to a rabbi who was an optimist and taught me optimism. He taught me how to view a challenge as a gift from G-d. If poor babies have milk and poor children have food, it’s because the Rabbi in Crown Heights had vision.”

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Special Passover presentation at www.LubavitchofWI.org/Pesach 29 Candl e l ighting times Passover Blessing Milwaukee Madison Green Bay La Crosse Kenosha April 18 Eve of Shabbat 1* 7:20 7:26 7:23 7:34 7:19 April 19 Eve of Passover/ 1st Seder 2 & 4** 8:24 8:30 8:28 8:39 8:23 April 20 Eve of 2nd Day / 2nd Seder 2 & 4** 8:25 8:31 8:30 8:41 8:24 Blessings & April 25 Eve of Shabbat / 7th day 3* 7:28 7:34 7:31 7:43 7:27 April 26 Eve of 8th Day of Passover 2** 8:33 8:39 8:38 8:49 8:32 Schedules * Do not light after sunset ** Do not light before the times indicated. Light only from a preexisting flame. A preexisting flame is a flame that has been burning continuously since the onset of the festival such as a pilot light, gas or candle flame.

Candle lighting blessings THURSDAY, APRIL 17, AFTER NIGHTFALL – Search for Chometz 1. BA-RUCH A-TOH ADO-NOI Before beginning the search, the following blessing is recited: E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHO- 5. BA-RUCH A-TOH ADO-NOI E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-ESHO-NU BE-MITZVO- NU BE-MITZ-VO-SOV VETZI- SOV VETZI-VONU AL BE-UR CHO-METZ VO-NU LE-HAD-LIK NER SHEL Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, SHA-BBOS KO-DESH. and commanded us concerning the removal of chometz. Blessed are You, Lord our After concluding the search the following declaration is stated: G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His com- 6. ALL LEAVEN AND ANYTHING LEAVENED THAT IS IN MY POSSESSION, WHICH I HAVE NEITHER mandments, and commanded SEEN NOR REMOVED, AND ABOUT WHICH I AM UNAWARE, SHALL BE CONSIDERED NULLIFIED us to kindle the light of the holy AND OWNERLESS AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH. Shabbat.

2. BA-RUCH A-TOH ADO-NOI E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH Friday, April 18 – Burning Chometz, Selling Chometz

HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHO- Milwaukee Madison Green Bay LaCrosse Kenosha NU BE-MITZ-VO-SOV VETZI- Burn Chometz By: 11:42am 11:48am 11:42am 11:55am 11:42am VO-NU LE-HAD-LIK NER SHEL YOM TOV. Sale of Chometz: Have the Authorization Certificate (see page 31) reach us no later than 4 PM Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who See Candle Lighting Times and Blessings – Above, Left Column) has sanctified us with His com- mandments, and commanded us to kindle the Yom Tov light. Shabbat, April 19 – Eating, Disposing of Chometz Milwaukee Madison Green Bay LaCrosse Kenosha 3. BA-RUCH A-TOH ADO-NOI Finish eating chometz before: 10:33am 10:39am 10:33am 10:46am 10:34am E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH Dispose of chometz before: 11:41am 11:47am 11:41am 11:55am 11:42am HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHO- NU BE-MITZ-VO-SOV VETZI- After the Chometz is disposed of, the following declaration is stated: VO-NU LE-HAD-LIK NER SHEL SHA-BBOS VE-SHEL YOM 7. ALL LEAVEN AND ANYTHING LEAVENED THAT IS IN MY POSSESSION, WHETHER I HAVE SEEN IT TOV. OR NOT, SHALL BE CONSIDERED NULLIFIED AND OWNERLESS AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH. Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His command- Monday, April 21 nightfall – The First days of yom Tov end. ments, and commanded us to Intermediate days begin. Milwaukee Madison Green Bay LaCrosse Kenosha kindle the Shabbat and Yom Tov light. 8:27pm 8:33pm 8:31pm 8:42pm 8:25pm

4. BA-RUCH A-TOH ADO-NOI E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH Friday Eve, Shabbat & Sunday, APRIL 25-27 – Last days of Yom Tov. HA-OLAM SHE-HECHI-YO-NU See Candle Lighting Times and Blessings – Above, Left Column) VE-KI-YE-MO-NU VE-HIGI-O- NU LIZ-MAN HA-ZEH. Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, Sunday, APRIL 27 – Yizkor King of the universe, who has Yizkor is recited during morning service. Consult your synagogue for times. granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occa- Passover Ends at nightfall Milwaukee Madison Green Bay LaCrosse Kenosha sion. 8:35pm 8:41pm 8:39pm 8:50pm 8:33pm 30 SCHEDULE OF THE COUNTING On the following evenings in MAY, continue: 21st – “... thirty-two days, which is four weeks and four days of the Today is… Omer.” OF THE OMER - 2008 22nd – “... thirty-three days, which is four weeks and five days of Beginning with the second night of Passover, and for 1st – “... twelve days, which is one week and five days of the Omer.” the Omer.” the following forty-eight days, culminating on the eve 2nd – “... thirteen days, which is one week and six days of the Omer.” 23rd – “... thirty-four days, which is four weeks and six days of the before the festival of , the Omer is counted. It is 3rd – “... fourteen days, which is two weeks of the Omer.” Omer.” best to count the Omer at nightfall. However, one may 24th – “... thirty-five days, which is five weeks of the Omer.” count at any time throughout the night. If one forgets to 4th – “... fifteen days, which is two weeks and one day of the Omer.” count at night, he should count during the day without 5th – “... sixteen days, which is two weeks and two days of the 25th – “... thirty-six days, which is five weeks and one day of the the blessing, but continue to count with a blessing on Omer.” Omer.” the subsequent nights. If one, however, forgets to count 6th – “... seventeen days, which is two weeks and three days of the 26th – “... thirty-seven days, which is five weeks and two days of during the day as well, from there on he counts the rest of Omer.” the Omer.” the nights without a blessing. 7th – “... eighteen days, which is two weeks and four days of the 27th – “... thirty-eight days, which is five weeks and three days of The following is the blessing to be said every night Omer.” the Omer.” followed by the appropriate count for that day: 8th – “... nineteen days, which is two weeks and five days of the 28th – “... thirty-nine days, which is five weeks and four days of the Omer.” Omer.” BA-RUCH A-TOH A-DO-NOI E-LO-HEI-NU ME-LECH HA-O-LAM A-SHER KID-E-SHO-NU BE-MITZ-VO- 9th – “... twenty days, which is two weeks and six days of the Omer.” 29th – “... forty days, which is five weeks and five days of the Omer.” SOV VET-ZI-VO-NU AL SE-FI-RAS HA-O-MER 10th – “... twenty-one days, which is three weeks of the Omer.” 30th – “... forty-one days, which is five weeks and six days of the Omer.” Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has 11th – “... twenty-two days, which is three weeks and one day of sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us the Omer.” 31st – “... forty-two days, which is six weeks of the Omer.” concerning the . 12th – “... twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of On the following evenings in JUNE, continue: the Omer.” On each of the following evenings in APRIL, Say: Today is… 13th – “... twenty-four days, which is three weeks and three days of Today is… the Omer.” 1st – “... forty-three days, which is six weeks and one day of the Omer.” 20th – “…one day of the Omer.” 14th – “... twenty-five days, which is three weeks and four days of 21st – “… two days of the Omer.” the Omer.” 2nd – “... forty-four days, which is six weeks and two days of the Omer.” 22nd – “… three days of the Omer.” 15th – “... twenty-six days, which is three weeks and five days of 23rd – “... four days of the Omer.” the Omer.” 3rd – “... forty-five days, which is six weeks and three days of the Omer.” 24th – “... five days of the Omer.” 16th – “... twenty-seven days, which is three weeks and six days of the Omer.” 4th – “... forty-six days, which is six weeks and four days of the 25th – “... six days of the Omer.” 17th – “... twenty-eight days, which is four weeks of the Omer.” Omer.” 26th – “... seven days, which is one week of the Omer.” 18th – “... twenty-nine days, which is four weeks and one day of 5th – “... forty-seven days, which is six weeks and five days of the 27th – “... eight days, which is one week and one day of the Omer.” the Omer.” Omer.” 28th – “... nine days, which is one week and two days of the Omer.” 19th – “... thirty days, which is four weeks and two days of the Omer.” 6th – “... forty-eight days, which is six weeks and six days of the Omer.” 29th – “... ten days, which is one week and three days of the Omer.” 20th – “... thirty-one days, which is four weeks and three days of 30th – “... eleven days, which is one week and four days of the Omer.” the Omer.” 7th – “... forty-nine days, which is seven weeks of the Omer.”

Return this form early, as responsibility cannot be accepted for forms received at Lubavitch House after 4:00 PM, April 18, 2008. You may fax it to us at (414) 962-1740 or e-mail to [email protected]. CERTIFICATE AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF CHOMETZ Please print neatly or type, as illegible forms cannot be processed I (We)* Hereby authorize Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin to dispose of all chometz that may be in my (our) possession wherever it may be at home, at my (our) place of business, or elsewhere in accordance with the requirements of Jewish Law as incorporated in the special contract for the sale of chometz. Residence Address Apt. No.. City/State/Zip Business Address Suite No. City/State/Zip Signature(s) Date

Certificates must be received at Lubavitch House by April 18, 2008, 4:00 PM. * Husband and Wife, specify names. Must be signed by head of household and preferably by all . 31 Lu b a v i t c h o f Wi s c o n s i n Non Profit Org. 3109 North Lake Drive U.S. Postage Milwaukee, WI 53211 (414) 961-6100 PAID Milwaukee, WI Permit no. 2432 Address Service Requested

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