Commentary on the Haggadah of The Weber School by the Class of 2023 - Passover 5780/April 2020

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Introduction from Rabbi Ed Harwitz, Ms. Michal Ilai, Ms. Chaya Lieberman

Pesach 5780, April 2020:

When we launched our virtual learning classrooms nearly three weeks ago, students from the Class of 2023 at The Weber School in Atlanta, GA assumed an ambitious project - to create a communal commentary of the Passover Haggadah for 5780. We considered the following: what section of the Haggadah most interests, intrigues and (most of all) bothers us? Throughout this specialized Haggadah, created by the Class of 2023 under the vision and leadership of their classmate, Sam M, students developed personal commentaries on the Haggadah that integrate their study of Rabbinic sources with interpretations informed by their contemporary lives and experience. In short, this Haggadah commentary will present a snapshot of how to experience and celebrate Pesach in the age of COVID 19 through the vantage point of highly intelligent and committed Jewish teens.

As an introduction to this Haggadah commentary, a number of students learned from a source, “Avodat Yisrael,” written by by the Chassidic master, Rabbi Yisrael HaMagid of Kohznitz (1737-1814). In this, the Maggid suggests that the process of ridding our homes of “Hametz” (foods prohibited on Passover) should be used as an instrument to fulfill a higher purpose - to rid ourselves of the “Hametz” of our spirit and souls, discarding the negative emotions and bad behavior that causes harm ourselves and to others. The following are a selection of responses to the charge of the Maggid of Kohznitz: what personal “Hametz” do we wish to discard this year?

“This year I want to get rid of my tendency to procrastinate. I hope to get better at getting work done before the last minute. I am going to get rid of my hametz by doing a better job planning and focusing on getting work done.”

“This Pesach, I would like to discard my personal chametz, which would be my יצר הרע to snap at my brother and sometimes parents when I am in a bad mood. I would also like to get rid of my natural tendency to think that I’m better at something than I actually am, and I hope that will allow me to actually get to the place I want to be in terms of being efficient at something in which I take pride.”

“I don’t typically like the idea of regret because I cannot change my mistakes and there is no use worrying about them, but going into the second (or first) six months of the Jewish calendar and looking forward, I would like to assume positive intent. Often I don’t think about why people do what they do and as a result, I get annoyed at them even though they are trying their best to be a good person and it just is not coming out right. Trying to assume positive intent can prevent useless miscommunications and undeserved anger.”

“The personal chametz that I would like to get rid of in advance of Pesach is procrastination. I have always had trouble procrastinating, even writing this paragraph I am procrastinating, and now that school is online for god knows how long, I will be very easily distracted and leave everything to the very last minute. So in preparation for Pesach, I want to eliminate that tendency so that I can succeed for the rest of the school year, and beyond.”

“During Pesach this year, the personal spiritual Chametz that I would like to clean out is as follows:

-The doubt and lack of confidence that I unfairly impose on myself

-My tendency to be either too indecisive or too decisive

-My inclination to keep thoughts and feelings inside instead of talking openly and freely about them

-My earnestness when it comes to many things. (Instead, I would like to just have fun and live)”

“My ‘chametz’ is negative thinking. This is not something I generally struggle with but, with everything going on, I find myself thinking very negatively. I have been trying to be positive and optimistic but find myself being more of a downer recently.”

“I think that my personal Chametz that I want to throw away is procrastination. I am not doing terribly in school, but I know that if I focus more and get my work done faster I could be a straight-A student. I want to do my hardest to get good grades for the rest of this semester as well as the rest of high school. I will try and work on my procrastination skills and do my assignments right when I get assigned them. I hope that during Passover I will remember how important getting good grades is to my future, and that will inspire me to do better with getting things done quickly, efficiently, and well. “

“This year the metaphorical Hametz I want to get rid of before Passover is stress over small unimportant details of life, As the virus and gravity of the quarantine developed, I have begun to think more and more of what my priorities should be and what problems actually matter. I hope my Matzah, or what I can learn by getting rid of all of my Hametz will teach me to understand the size of my personal problems and stay grateful for my life in comparison to the large world problems occurring everywhere today.

haggadah Section: Introduction