Do you ever feel like you aren’t maximizing your Seder? Like you can’t figure out how to access the inspiration you know is there?
The Seder has the power to transform us as Jews. To deepen our emunah and revitalize our relationship with Hashem. So why do we seem to miss that opportunity year after year?
Emunah – the heart of the Seder. People like to define it as belief in Hashem’s existence. But emunah is so much more than that. Emunah is a mindset. It’s the understanding that Hashem has a plan for our lives. He’s assigned us a unique mission, and He custom-designs every aspect of our lives to help us achieve that mission.
Emunah means living life through that perspective. If we can develop an unwavering belief in Hashem’s plan, we’ll change the way we look at life. We’ll change the way we act and the choices we make. That’s the goal of the Seder – to turn us into Jews who truly “live with emunah.”
This might sound like a lofty goal, but our path to achieving it couldn’t be more down-to-earth. We’re not being asked to cram our heads with novel information. We’re not expected to chase after dazzling new insights. Our only task on Seder night is to tell a story – the story of Hashem’s plan for us. The story of Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt).
Stories are incredibly powerful. Told well, a story draws us into a different world. We get absorbed, we identify with it – and suddenly we’re living it. That, explains the Ramban, is why we teach emunah through stories.
The story of Yetzias Mitzrayim is the quintessential story of emunah. It isn’t just the story of how some ancient slaves gained freedom. It’s the story of Hashem’s plan for the Jewish people. It describes the purpose for which He created us, and the endless ways He supports us in achieving that purpose. If we utilize our Seder to tell this story right, we’ll truly learn how to “live with emunah.”
But we have a problem. Maggid – our Sages’ script for telling this story – proves very hard to navigate. Reading through it, we see a string of seemingly unconnected ideas. We don’t see a flowing, coherent story. How can we relive a story we don’t understand?
That’s where this guidebook comes in. Based on the teachings of Rav Reuven Leuchter shlita, these pages enable us to make sense of Maggid. To hear the clear, uniform story it tells. To understand how each section fits into that story. B’ezras Hashem, “Maggid Made Meaningful” will help us walk away from our Seder with the feeling that this year, we truly strengthened our emunah.
Join us as we experience the Seder like never before. As we watch the real story of Yetzias Mitzrayim come to life.
Click here to read Maggid Made Meaningful
Rabbi Levi Lebovits is the Director of the Vaad Project, Yeshiva Toras Chaim of Denver.
