Pesach Is Never Over
by Wally Spiegler

Passover is the eight day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt. It is a time of family gatherings and lavish meals called Seders, the story of Passover is retold through the reading of the Haggadah "the Telling of the Story" . With its special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration. Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. As the Jewish day begins at sundown the night before, for the year 2010, the first night of Passover will be March 29th. There are essentially only two Mitzvot for Passover. 1." Hear the "Telling of the Story" from the Haggadah and 2. to eat Matzot for the eight days; all the others are just an expansion of these two.

If you think you already went through Seders, drank four cups of wine and consumed  sumptuous Passover dinners.  You're wrong! There's much more to it than that. This holiday and its linkage to Shabbat and Rosh HaShanah is truly a mystic journey. The excursion begins, as in all spiritual travels, in a state of bondage; a circumstance by which one is enslaved to a number of contents of consciousness--thoughts, desires, and emotions.

If we focus on the bondage of, let's say, the Jews in the Soviet Union, the Jews of Ethiopia, the blacks in America, the rights of women and minorities, we than pay homage only to the outer value of these issues. Spiritual work dictates that we concern ourselves with the inner values. One can be a slave to desires such as money, possessions, relationships, and the lack of which tends to generate emotional issues. We can be enslaved to our thoughts or beliefs as, say, one whose political affiliations or scientific theories become his master.

We go through the first step of the process at Passover with an attentive reading of the story, focusing upon the Pascal sacrifice.
The Jewish sacrificial laws are an instrument of spiritual growth, personal change and transformation. On Passover, it's the sacrifice of the Pascal lamb, represented by the Matzot and the roasted lamb shank that's symbolized in our imagination as the redemptive sacrifice.

The work that began at the Passover Seder needs to be completed during the rest of the Festival year. In the Shabbat evening kiddush we encounter the reference to "recalling the Exodus from Egypt" and a "remembrance of the work of creation." Shabbat links Pesach (the Exodus from Egypt) and Rosh HaShanah (creation) together. Interestingly, the Haggadah explains that the Exodus is to be remembered not only on Pesach, but twice every day, as well.  On Shabbat we are freed of our everyday activities to experience the freedom of Redemption and to the primordial experience of the Garden of Eden.

That period between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur is commonly referred to as the Ten Days of Repentence (T'shuvah). As we are bound to begin redemption on Pesach, we now continue the work of repentence, which culminates on the High Holy days.
The question of T'shuvah or coming out of Egypt centers on what's going wrong in our lives. Traditional sources regarding T'shuvah seem to oversimplify the matter. They suggest that all that is necessary is to recognize the offending behavior and vow not to repeat it. The problem really is that we don't see our own failings, but others observe them clearly. To identify with what's going wrong in our lives is to detect where our lives are not working. Take, for example, a person who just got married for the third time. He believes his previous mates were at fault, not seeing how he contributed to the failed marriages. Other self-defeating behaviors are often a result of some kind of fear. This would be like a person who has to please everyone for fear he wouldn't be liked or accepted. What in your life isn't working and what holds you back from living life to its fullest? The answer to these questions is the next step in completing the Passover process.