Passover thoughts
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM OUR SPIRITUAL LEADER
Dear Temple B’nai Emet Family,
When you receive this, Passover, Pesach, is very likely to have just begun or is about to start. I strongly recommend you take another look at the Passover schedule I sent in last month’s Clarion and by email for a number of special opportunities to engage with our community and with tradition. Even though the official Q&A session is essentially done by the time you are reading these words, I remind you that I always welcome questions. Please don’t be a stranger in contacting myself or the TBE office.
(Also, please remember to save the date: Friday, May 22, 2026, we will be holding 9:30 am services for the Festival holiday of Shavuot, in addition to our regular Sabbath services. More details to come in next month’s article.)
As of the time I write this, much of the world, especially Israel and the United States, is still at war with Iran, and that very well may still be true by the time you receive this. Some of you by now have heard me talk about how our hopes and fears can, and often should, go beyond our differences: We all want a better, more peaceful world. Our hearts go out to innocent people that are threatened, injured, or killed, especially including our greater Jewish family (and literal personal families!) in Israel and elsewhere, but also including innocents the world over that may be harmed. And we still do not know what tomorrow will bring and can only guess as to what is the right path forward.
These are daunting thoughts, but there is comfort in being honest about what we do not understand. Jews have a lot of theories about what happens when we die, and our tradition teaches that there is so much more to come beyond life as we know it, but, ideally, we are also honest that we do not know what that “more to come” really is. And there are things in this life that defy our understanding. The Holocaust is less than a century old, and I am fairly certain that a century or two from now, we will still be trying to wrap our minds around how we suffered so much destruction and agony, as humans and specifically as Jews, and how God could allow a world in which it could happen. And the establishment of the State of Israel not long after, and the struggles and sacrifices that still involves, represent such a dramatic turn for our people exiled for millennia that I highly doubt any of us could truly comprehend what it has meant and continues to mean.
The calendar days to come give us moments to think about these things that are so obviously beyond our full understanding—but that nonetheless demand our attention. Like the other major Festival holidays, Passover’s last day in synagogue (Wednesday, April 8, 2026) features Yizkor, a time to remember close ones whose presence we can no longer experience in this world—even, perhaps especially, during our moments of joy. Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (from sunset, Tuesday, April 13 through daylight of Wednesday, April 14, 2026) demands our recognition of the unthinkably tragic, perhaps prompting ourselves to ask what we can do for a better world. And Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day (from sunset, Monday, April 20, 2026 through daylight of Tuesday, April 21, 2026) and Yom HaAtzmaut, which immediately follows (from sunset April 21, 2026 through daylight of Wednesday, April 22, 2026) challenge us to contemplate the wonder and the conflicts of the modern State of Israel and its history, as well as our prayers that it serve a redemptive purpose for ourselves and for the world.
Throughout every moment of these times, I ask that we come together as much as we possibly can. Yes, I do mean that literally—as in, I want you to come to our synagogue. And I mean that in a larger sense as well—as in, I want us all to feel and act as though we are all in this together, because, truly, we are. Current events or the Hebrew calendar may ask us to think about death, our people’s struggles, or the larger purpose of the Jewish mission in the world. As we have these thoughts, we are entitled to our individual beliefs and opinions. At the same time, we are obligated to remember the humility and curiosity that our religion requires. We cannot solve the world’s problems, or even our own individual problems, alone. We need God, and we need each other.
I wish us all a Chag Sameach, a joyous Festival, throughout our Passovers, and a brighter future ahead.
With love and hope,
Michael Feldman
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