Shabbat HaGadol

Developing a Heart of Compassion

On Shabbat HaGadol, we put aside the physical preparations for Pesach/Passover and begin to prepare our hearts.

The Pesach Haggadah directs us to have a heart of compassion, even for those most different from ourselves. It offers us a series of imaginative exercises for practicing our ability to feel what others feel.

Jews have always defined idol worship as antithetical to our religion. Yet we begin telling the Passover story by acknowledging our people's past as idol worshippers. We can imagine what it would be like to be idol worshippers, because we once were.

Many human beings define the enemies of their nation as people extremely opposite to themselves, lacking in the basic moral characteristics that make someone human. Yet, when telling of the ten plagues against Mitzrayim/Egypt we diminish our joyful cup of wine by several drops. There is no enemy so distant that they feel nothing and deserve no compassion.

Many modern people distinguish themselves proudly from the ancients, whose thoughts and feelings were shaped in a scientifically and technologically backwards environment. Yet when we eat the symbolic foods on Pesach, we imagine ourselves to be exactly like our ancestors three thousand years ago. "In each and every generation," says the Haggadah, "a human being is required to see himself or herself as if he or she left Mitzrayim."

Prepare yourself today to receive these teachings of the Haggadah. As you move through the world in the next few days, be attentive to opportunities to change your perception. Bridge a distance in your mind between you and someone else, and offer a hand of compassion.

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