April 19, 2025

Reb Zalman [a founder of the Jewish Renewal movement in the 1970s] taught that during Sukkot, we go into the mitzvah – the sukkah; while during Passover, the mitzvah goes into us – the matzah. This insight highlights the spiritual dialectic of inner and outer, interior and exterior.

In today’s Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover, we commentate and relive our moment of liberation at the Sea of Reeds. That reading includes the Children of Israel singing, led respectfully by Moses and Miriam, in praise of and thanks to God for our redemption and freedom from slavery. 

According to a midrash, when the angels wanted to also sing, God said: “The work of My hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea, and you want to say songs?” (Sanhedrin 39b). This indicates that God does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked.

It has been 559 days since Oct. 7 and the subsequent war. We continue to mourn our losses and carry the pain and anger for all that has happened: our dead, our wounded civilians and soldiers, missiles fired from all four directions, thousands evacuated, the gut-wrenching account of the hostages, and the rise of virulent anti-Israeli (and related anti-Jewish) sentiments around the world. 

In light of this agonizing and ongoing reality, the above-quoted midrash can be a challenge to embrace, as it forces us to think and look outward at our enemies in a different light.

To read more, go to Rabbi Cohen’s article “Passover 2025: A ‘midrashic’ lesson for these days.”