Dear Friends,

Before we start the celebration of Passover, the Festival of Freedom, I would like to reflect with all of you about the importance of being grateful even if we don’t necessarily have everything we think we need or want.

The reality is that we all have things in our life that are incomplete and the key to happiness is, as the Dayeinu song is teaching us, to celebrate partial successes along the way.

The Haggadah is telling us “If God had taken us out of Egypt but had not given us the Shabbat, Dayeinu, it would have been enough for us!

If God had given us the Shabbat and had not given us the Torah, Dayeinu, it would have been enough for us!”

You get the idea, we should be thankful for everything we have, even if there is still much that we haven’t achieved yet.

This applies to our Jewish life. Judaism is not all or nothing. Be thankful for any Jewish experience you are going to have this Pesach, even if you don’t observe every aspect of it yet.

Maybe not every family member will be at the Seder this year. Be thankful for the ones that will celebrate with you.

This also applies to our Shul.

We have great dreams and projects, but we are not quite there yet. Nevertheless, we are thankful for being able to gather at alternative venues to celebrate as a community.

This also applies to our personal lives. Have you made any small progress in your life since last Pesach? Take the time to acknowledge that and above all, be thankful.

Are you complaining about the partial, or are you celebrating the partial? You don’t have to wait until you have everything to thank God, to be grateful.

There are always plenty of things to complain about if we look hard enough, but I challenge you to shift your focus and find one thing that is right, thank God for it and let us sing together: Dayeinu!

Ashira, Ronen and I wish all of you a Chag Pesach Kasher v’Sameach.

Rabbi Anibal Mass
Spiritual Leader
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
RabbiAnibal@szwinnipeg.ca
204-287-5138