Rabbi Knopf's Blog

The Talmud teaches that 30 days before Passover, we should start learning about the festival and its meaning. In that spirit, over the past several years, I have offered "30 Days of Liberation," a brief message on each of the 30 days leading up to Passover, drawn from the wisdom of the holiday and the Exodus story. I am thrilled to announce that I am in the process of completing my first book, which will be a compilation of those messages from years past. This year, for “30 Days of Liberation,” I will be sending out brief selections from the book. I look forward to sharing the book with you all in its entirety when it is completed. Meanwhile, I hope you find these messages meaningful and inspiring. Please feel free to share/forward.

Day 8: All Who Are Hungry
At the beginning of the Seder, we hold up matzah and say, “All who are hungry, come and eat!” It’s not enough to celebrate freedom from Egypt; we have to work to not be like the Egyptians ourselves. Having experienced the Egyptians’ cruelty, the Jewish tradition charges us to be magnanimous, to ensure that no one wants the way we did. Maimonides teaches, “While one eats and drinks, it is a duty to feed the stranger, the widow, and other poor and unfortunate people. For those who lock the doors of their courtyards and eat and drink with their families without giving anything to eat and drink to the poor are bitter in soul” (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Rest on a Festival 6:18).