Pesach

CRRI Yael Werber considers letting go, externally and internally, during Pesach. 

“On Passover, we pray to be let go from evil and from oppression, which is one variation of ‘let go.’ And then there’s the other variation of letting go—the letting go which we do to ourselves, where we try to take a deep breath and slowly let go of everything we’ve been holding on to.

Loosening our hearts is synonymous with acknowledging that we are not in control, that God is in control. … We do not have to carry the weight of the world alone.

The antidote to harshness and heaviness is something much slower and softer, a gentle loosening of everything that is holding us too harshly in place.”

Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern Yael Werber (who will become CBST’s Assistant Rabbi on August 1, 2022) delivered this drashah on April 16, 2022 / 16 Nissan 5782.