Since the days of Abraham, hospitality and kindness to strangers have been paramount Jewish values. After all, as in the book of Genesis, a stranger may be an angel in disguise. We begin our telling of the Pesach story with an invitation to all who are hungry to come and eat. The pandemic has made it harder to practice this kind of hospitality. The necessity of social distancing has not only made inviting the needy into our homes risky and logistically difficult, but it has fanned the flames of fear and suspicion and caused many to perceive homeless people as a potential ‘threat.’  This fear has made the already precarious lives of housing insecure people even more dangerous, and has been used by cities as a pretext to evict squatters, demolish homeless encampments, and send the vulnerable to prison rather than giving them a place to live.

Jews traditionally believe that the prophet Elijah will return to earth to announce the arrival of the Moshiach, the Messiah, and herald the world to come. According to Jewish legend, Elijah has already returned and he walks among us, disguising himself as a poor beggar, wandering the earth, waiting for someone to treat him with kindness instead of fear or contempt and invite him into their home so he may tell them the Moshiach is coming. This implies that the world to come, a world without police or prisons, is always possible, and all we need to do is recognize the opportunity to bring it about. The opportunity to spark the revolution is always within grasp, hidden in plain sight. 
 


haggadah Section: Bareich