Some Rabbis also link the name of the Shabbat – The Great Shabbat- with the length of the Rabbi’s Sermon before Passover. It is a tradition that, on this Shabbat, Rabbis address their congregation about the different rules and traditions involved in the preparation of the Seder and the search, the burning and the selling of the Chametz. And that is what is happening now and will happen tomorrow morning in thousands of traditional congregations around the world. Rabbis will explain carefully, one more time, the several rules of Pesach, how important it is to clean the house well, to search for the Chametz, to sell it to a non-Jew and to prepare the Seder Table with all its ingredients.

Some colleagues of mine would suggest to me: ‘Manes, don’t talk to your congregation about the Pesach rules. If you want, clean your house, prepare the table at your home, buy your Shmurah Matzah, sell your Chametz, but don’t drive the people in your congregation crazy. Some people are not familiar with all these traditions and nobody wants the Rabbi to tell them what to do. People like the Rabbi to tell them stories, to explain to them how important it is to be free and to compare the slavery of the children of Israel in Egypt with other situations of slavery in the world’s history. You may have in your congregation people who are 80 or 90 years old. Do you know how many Seders they have had in their lives? You don’t need to tell them what to do. People may not like you if you suggest to them what to do’.

And you know what? My colleagues are right. People don’t like heavy sermons, people come to meet other people, to enjoy a one-hour-service to listen to short and nice stories, and not to hear from the Rabbi that the Torah tells us to not eat Chametz during eight days. And people may not like me very much if I suggest to them what to do.

And of course I want people to love me. However, that is not the reason I am here and that is not the reason I studied to be a Rabbi. A Rabbi is first of all a teacher. Teachers tell their students stories, teachers care about their students and share with them happy moments. However, teachers also tell their students what they expect their students to do and what they expect them not to do.

Rabbis may explain –like teachers- that there is a reason for everything. That the Matzah is the bread of poverty that our forefathers ate in Egypt, that the Maror reminds us the bitterness of their hard work and that the Chametz symbolizes the arrogance and false pride in our hearts. However, Rabbis also need to explain that the Torah doesn’t suggest to us to eat Matzah, doesn’t recommend to us to eliminate the Chametz and doesn’t advise us to tell the story of the exodus of Egypt. The Torah commands us to do all this things. God –like a charming father and a wonderful teacher- wants us to understand why we do what we do. However He wants us - also like a father – to obey His commandments even if we can’ not understand every single detail of them. When a child obeys his parents, he gets close to them, builds a relationship of confidence and trust, and expresses his desire to be part of a family.

And the same is true in our relationship with God. Fulfilling God’s commandments brings us closer to our Father in heaven and to our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world.

I could use this sermon to tell you a nice story of Passover (and I might do that the next week). I could use this sermon to tell you how important it is for every single person on this planet to be free and how it is our Jewish responsibility to fight oppression wherever it will be (and I believe in that responsibility).

However, I will use this sermon to encourage each of you to tell with as many details as possible the story of the exodus of Egypt. I will tell you to search for the Chametz in your homes, to put all the Chametz products in one or two cabinets, and to give me a power to sell it for you. I will remind you that the Torah forbids us to eat any leavened product for eight and a half-days, starting Wednesday, March 31 at 10 am, and finishing Thursday, April the 8th at 9pm. Finally, I will explain to you that we need (during the first and second night of Pesach), to drink four cups of wine and to eat one full piece of Matzah and three whole leaves of romaine lettuce or a generous piece of horseradish root as Maror.

Members of Beth Israel, who know me a little, know that I like to tell people that this is a free country and every single person has the freedom to decide what will do with his or her life. However, I –as the Rabbi of Beth Israel- have the freedom and also the obligation to encourage you and to invite you to experience the richness and beauty of Jewish rituals, with all their details. There is not such a thing as being "too Jewish", as there is not such a thing as being "too good" or "too honest", so don’t be afraid to try.

Pesach is a wonderful opportunity not only to keep the traditions we have had for many years, but also to increase them and to enrich them.

And may the Merciful one send us Elijah the prophet who will proclaim to us good tidings, salvations and consolations, and may He redeem us as He redeemed our fathers in Egypt, promptly in our days, Amen.

Shabbat Shalom!