Pesach: Remembering Our Redemption At All Times

With Pesach around the corner when we will be sitting on comfortable chairs and recliners around tables laden with gold and silver tableware eating scrumptious Pesach culinary dishes and chewing on crunchy Matzo, we will remember the miracles Hashem did to us when he freed us from slavery under the evil Pharaoh in Egypt and chose us to be the “Chosen Nation” forever. We will recite the Haggadah and thank the One above for constantly staying beside us depite our sins. We will proudly state: ???? ????? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ????

It is more than just coincidence that I’ve just encountered the powerful and eloquent words of Mark Twain. It is befitting that I read these inspiring words, written by a non-Jewish author who remarks on our constant survival against all means, literally days before the day of our redemption. These are his words:

If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of . . . The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and agressive mind. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people . . . He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him . . . All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.

And this was written in 1897! Long before the Holocaust when the Nazi regime sought to make the world “Judenrein” and the mass exodus from Europe. This was writeen decades before Israel was founded and Jews were exiled from many Muslim countries. These are remarks from a century before the latest Haman started spewing his hate and makes attempts to obtain nuclear to “finish Hitler’s job” R”L.

Pesach is a time when we ought to share the stories of our redemption throughout out long and twisted history in Golus. It is a time when we can reflect on our lives and look for our personal redemption — the freeing of our Neshama to serve Hashem and truly be his servant. I opened this thread to get inspirational stories from others in the Coffee Room community that will enhance my Pesach Seder. I plan on purchasing “Witness to History” but I’d (and I believe many here in the CR) appreciate first-hand stories abour yourself or your Grandparents.