PESACH MESSAGE 5763/2003

Rabbi Geoffrey L. Shisler

There is a short and rather enigmatic passage in the Haggadah that we sing while we're holding a cup of wine in our hands.

Vehi She'amedah La'avoteinu Velanu.....

"This is what has stood for our fathers and for us; for in each and every generation they stand against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, Blessed be He rescues us from their hand."

It's not clear what "this" refers to. Is it the promise made to Abraham, that we have just mentioned before singing this paragraph, or is it that Hakadosh Baruch Hu always rescues us from their hand?

An ingenious suggestion is that the word 'Vehi' is an acronym:

• Vav is 6, representing the Six Orders of the Mishna
• Hei is 5, representing the Five Books of the Torah
• Yud is 10, representing the Ten Commandments and
• Alef is One representing, of course, the One G-d.

These are the things which have protected and saved the Jewish people throughout the generations!

However there is another suggestion that perhaps, has a special relevance today.

In each and every generation there have been people who have stood against us to try and exterminate us. But, paradoxically, there have been times when it was this very fact that protected and saved us. However hard we may try to forget that we are Jews, and do everything we can to melt into our host nation, sooner or later they rise against us and remind us of our origins. And when we have been coerced by others to acknowledge our Jewishness, it has led to a reawakening of our commitment to Judaism.

How much happier would our lot be were we to be able to see in the first interpretation offered here the reasons for the continuation of Judaism. Sadly, too often it's in the second.

Let us pray for a time when all Jews will come to acknowledge the Almighty and His Torah and when, as a result, He will bring peace to His people and His troubled Holy Land.

Anne and I wish you all a Chag Kasher VeSameach.