Despite the many challenges we collectively and individually face we forge onward. Whether it be physical ailments; loneliness; emotional strife; financial difficulty; struggles with children; aging parents; marriages in crisis, and the list goes on, somehow, we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and joyfully celebrate the wonderful Yom Tov of faith — Pesach.

Where does this resilience stem from?

One of the highlights of the Seder night, is the moment we dispatch one of the children to open the front door to allow Eliyahu HaNavi enter our homes.

The Saintly Reb Yissocher Dov of Belz, the third Belzer Rebbe, suggests we specifically ask a child to fulfill this task based on a verse in the Haftorah of Shabbos HaGadol.

The Prophet Malachi, the last of the prophets to have his prophecies recorded into the canon of Tanach, in the very last verse of that book, describes how G-d will send Eliyahu before the ‘great and awesome day of Hashem’. He will restore the heart of fathers to children and the heart of children to their fathers...

Since the children are the ones who will compel their parents to return, we honor them with privilege to greet Eliyahu HaNavi.

What strength do they possess that so inspires their fathers to ‘restore their hearts’?

Today I listened to a beautiful song whose lyrics are based on a true account that took place many years ago.

One Seder night, a Yid who had lost his entire family during the Holocaust yet survived and succeeded to restore his family anew, was approached by one of his many grandchildren. “Zaidy, tell me how is it that despite the tremendous difficulties you faced you found the strength to overcome and not fall to despair?”

His grandfather warmly responded, “It was very hard indeed. But I once merited to attend the Seder of the Holy Belzer Rebbe, years before the war. When the Rebbe came to the Mah Nishtanah, he waited for his son to ask the Four Questions. But the child sat there silently. The Rebbe began to move plates from one place to the next to provoke the child’s curiosity and be prodded to ask. The Rebbe finally moved the entire table without a reaction from the child. Exasperated, the Rebbe finally approached his child asking him straight out, ‘Don’t you see I am doing so many strange things, why aren’t you asking me, ‘Why?’

“In all innocence the child looked lovingly into his father’s eyes and simply stated, 'On a father, we never ask any questions.'”

The Zaidy gazed at his grandson and emotionally began, “After the war and enduring indescribable suffering and loss, I certainly had many questions. But from that memorable Seder and that pure and genuine response of the child, I too never asked questions of my Father! Whatever a father does is for the best. Our Father in Heaven knows best. In the merit of that attitude and understanding, I could accomplish all that I did until this very day!”

A powerful tale and message. But how do we raise children to possess such faith?

Why do we greet Eliyahu in a display of great faith at the end of the Seder not at the start?

Why do we do this specifically in conjunction with a prayer for G-d to ‘pour out His wrath upon the other nations’?

Do we really expect to see Eliyahu HaNavi or is this some type of spiel?

Join me this Shabbos afternoon and let us together open new doors of meaning and inspiration!

באהבה,

צבי יהודה טייכמאן