Dear all,
As families gather for the Passover Seder next week, we step into rituals that stretch back hundreds—even thousands—of years. And yet, each year, we are asked to encounter them not as relics of the past, but as living practices unfolding in our own time.
Near the close of the Seder, we open the door for Elijah the prophet. In Jewish imagination, Elijah moves quietly from home to home, bearing the promise that redemption is not a distant dream, but a possibility already stirring.
Whatever we believe about Elijah, the ritual itself is unmistakably clear: we are called to open—our doors, our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our hands—in this moment in time.
How many times have we shut our doors, closed our eyes, hardened our hearts, narrowed our minds, and tightened our hands?
Imagine what might happen if we dared to open the door. What might change—within us and beyond us—if we chose, even now, to open?
This Seder, I invite you not just to open the door, but to truly look—carefully and courageously—for Elijah.
And here is the deeper truth: Elijah may not be waiting outside.
Elijah may be waiting within you.
Ron, Maya, and Eli join me in wishing you and all you love a meaningful Passover season.
With love and Shalom,
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
