Rabbi’s Shabbat Message
“A Message of Strength and Freedom This Pesach” Chag Kasher V’Samaich!
There’s a fascinating principle in physics: to strengthen a fragile arch on the verge of collapse, one adds more weight.
It seems counterintuitive. Logic says if something is fragile, you would lighten its load. But an arch, by design, is not held up by its individual stones but by the pressure binding them together. The more force pressing down, the stronger it becomes.
And what’s true for arches is true for us. Pressure doesn’t break us, it fortifies us.
Think back to a time you faced something daunting: a deadline at work, a personal crisis, something that felt insurmountable. Somehow, you found the focus, drive, strength and resilience you didn’t even know you had.
Contrast that with a lazy Sunday morning: no urgency, no challenges, no goals. You sleep in, hit snooze, lay around scrolling your phone, feeling uninspired—maybe even a little empty. Because people don’t break from pressure. People break from a lack of purpose. It is boredom, not hardship, that weakens us.
This idea is not new to the Jewish People. Take Egypt for example: Pharaoh attempted to break us with relentless oppression, harsh labour and cruelty. Then the Torah records something astonishing:
וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנּוּ אֹתוֹ כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ “The more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and the stronger they became.”
We were supposed to be weakened, but instead we flourished. The very pressure created to break us became the force that made us unbreakable.
This is the remarkable story of the Jewish people. One which we will all relive in coming days at our Pesach Seders. We will retell the stories of our journey to liberation, faith, redemption and freedom granted to us by Hashem under Moses’ leadership. At the end of the night we will joyfully shout L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim– Next year in Jerusalem! It’s not just a line, it’s a declaration. A declaration of hope, for our physical and spiritual return to Jerusalem and our Temple. A prayer for spiritual renewal, unity and rebuilding.
Speaking of rebuilding, earlier this week President Trump, with Prime Minister Netanyahu by his side, told the world of his hopes for Gaza, describing it as “an incredible piece of important real estate”, to be transformed into “the freedom zone. A free zone, a zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day”.
This Pesach we reflect on our very own “freedom zone”, in the face of the world’s growing hostility this past year and a half. Since October 7, antisemitism has surged in ways we haven’t seen in a generation. Jews attacked in major cities, major universities and major institutions, across all seven continents.
And yet again, we witness something extraordinary – instead of driving us away from Judaism, it’s pulling us towards it. Jews who had never set foot in a synagogue are regularly showing up on Friday nights. Young men are putting on tefillin for the first time. Parents who never thought about Jewish education are enrolling their children in Jewish schools.
Jewish communities continue to thrive in our freedom zone. The pressure we feel today isn’t here to break us, it is here to strengthen us. We are the arch that will not collapse under pressure, we will rise because of it.
This Pesach let’s tell our story with renewed energy and pride. And when we reach the end of the Seder and cry out “L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim” – let the whole world hear it!
Below are the Pesach service times. We look forward to welcoming you in Shule tomorrow evening at 5:30pm to wish you a Chag Pesach Kasher V’Sameach in person. Please note our new earlier starting time for the winter months.
Wishing you and your loved ones a powerful, meaningful and liberating Pesach.
Rabbi Levi and Chanie Wolff