This is a very, very difficult time and it becomes really acute when we see it from the perspective of Pesach.

Ma Nishtana hashana hazot mikol hashanim? What makes this year different from all other years? I think the answer is that we have never been more alone and we have never been less alone. What do I mean? We have never been more alone because the social distancing and the isolation that we've been practising mean that we are unable to celebrate Pesach the way it should be celebrated, in the way it has been celebrated ever since Pesach Mitzrayim, ever since the days of Egypt itself. It is usually celebrated around large tables, with extended families. And of course, this year our families are mostly going to be fragmented and so many of us will be alone.

But at the same time, we have never been less alone. The whole world is today eating lachma anya, the bread of affliction. The whole world is tasting maror, the bitterness of suffering. The whole world is in Mitzrayim, in the sense given in Psalm 118, “Min hameitzar karati ka”, meaning “from the confinement, from my isolation, I have called to God.” And it is as if all humanity is suffering the penultimate plague, the plague of darkness about which the Torah says “lo ra’u ish et achiv, v’lo kamu ish mitachtav”, meaning, no-one was able to see their closest friends and relatives, and no-one was able to get up and leave the house. That's how it feels right now.

Rabbi Sacks’ Shiur for Shabbat Hagadol 5780


haggadah Section: Introduction