Matzah is a paradox. It represents freedom yet is the “bread of slavery,” as if to say that in exile we need to move toward Redemption. But how? Eat it, the Haggadah instructs, with marror, bitter herbs, and sweet charoset, and remember the Pesach sacrifice offered in the Temple in Jerusalem – a place that might be far away and nearly forgotten, yet which connects us to God, the Jewish People and Eretz Yisrael.
Amid destruction and chaos the Haggadah asks, Where have you come from and where are you going? Pesach reminds us not only of our mission as messengers of Torah, living examples of ethical monotheism, but of our heritage and our homeland.
Moreover, Pesach is not an isolated holiday but is the beginning of a fifty-day period that culminates in Shavout, the commemoration of God’s giving us the Torah. It is also a time when the first fruits of Eretz Yisrael were brought to the Temple in offerings of thanksgiving and faith that resonate throughout the year.
The Haggadah teaches us the history of Jewish persecution through songs about animals and natural symbols and reminds us that “once we were slaves,” dispersed and in exile, but that’s not where we belong. Pesach both transports us back into history and propels us toward “Next Year in Jerusalem” – our future in Eretz Yisrael.