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Created: 27 March 2025

With Pesach just two weeks away, all of us are busy with our pre-Pesach prep. However, there is something very important we need to address.  Let me begin with a short story, which is attributed to a number of different great rabbis. There was a woman who approached her local rabbi with a somewhat unusual halachic query. She wanted to know if one could use milk instead of wine for the “four cups of wine” at the seder, as she simply could not afford wine. He answered her by giving her a rather large amount of money to go buy wine. The rabbi’s wife was a bit confused and asked him why he gave the woman such a large amount of money to buy wine. The rabbi explained that if she is intending to drink milk at the seder, it is clear that she has no money to buy meat for the holiday either. Therefore, he gave her enough money to purchase both. 

This story demonstrates the need for Ma’ot chittim (wheat money), also known as “kimcha d’pischa” (passover flour), which refers to the obligation upon everyone to donate funds prior to Pesach to help the poor to cover their holiday expenses. 

Not only is Pesach the festival of freedom, it is also intended to impart within every person a feeling of royalty. As such, efforts must be made to ensure that even the poor can feel this way. It is for this reason that Pesach is the only holiday that merited having a specific charity collection. While on most other holidays, one is encouraged to invite the less fortunate to eat their holiday meals in one’s home, on Pesach one should ensure that every person has the means and ability to experience their own seder in their own home. 

Only those who try to help others have the right to begin their Pesach seder with the words: “Let all who are hungry come and eat with us.” 

Therefore, if you would like the shul’s assistance in fulfilling this mitzvah before Pesach, please send funds to the shul marked “Maot Chitim” ASAP. 

This week we will conclude Sefer Shemot. Upon finishing the reading of the last verse everyone will call out “Chazak Chazak V’nitchazeik” – “Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened”. Why do we repeat the word chazak? Perhaps the idea is that we need the strength of others. When I am strong and you are strong, then V’nitchazeik. Our strength comes from our recognition that we need others to help us accomplish our goals.