2 days ago i was sitted at the table with 30 memebrs of my family, celebrating the Jewish holliday of Passover.
The celebration entails a feast which follows precise indications, step by step over several hours, with various texts which are read, toasts consecrated and symbolic gestures. For most this is just tradition - and tradition is not small matter for Jews. but for those who know the esoteric secrets behind this ritual - this festivity is full of deep meaning.
To begin with - passover is also called the holiday of freedom. Most people believe this is about the freedom of the Son's of Israel from Egypt, but in fact the biblical story is not just history but also an analogy to the story of Spiritual Liberation. The initiates say that in this holliday, those who are preapred and know how can easily transcend all the blockages and achive spiritual liberation.
In the biblical sotry it is said that the son's of Israel left Egypt. the word Egypt in Hebrew is MITSRAIM which also means the narrow straits - a referene to the neck area and the energetic blockage located there (accroding to Yogic teachings) which maintains the human being in a state of discursive thinking.
In ordinary times, the Hebrew tradition preaches that silence is for the wise (i guess that means that i am not among those wise), yet on Passover it is said that the more you tell more of the story of the exodus from Egypt and the more you sing and pray and debate on that night, the better. Some initiates say that this is because on that night, through the redirecting of the power of speech upwards, we can pierce through the blockage at the area of the neck, transcend the mind, through sublimated speech and attain transcendence.
These are only a few of the esoteric elements about passover - a forkful if you will. It is enough for now - though if enough of you will request here on the blog to know more, i may dedicate for this topic more posts.
However, what i truly want to share with you today is one specific line from the text which is read by my family on the night of passover - a line which holds deep significance for me for many years and moves me each time. It is taken from the Talmud and are the words of Rabi Johanan.
The bible tells us that when the son's of Israel left Egypt, the Egyptian army pursued them and cornered them on the banks of the Red Sea. Then God made a miracle and parted the sea in two. The sons of Israel walked in between the 2 parts of the sea and made it safely to the other side. When the Egyptian army entered the miraculous passage in pursuit, God brought the sea down on them and drowned them all.
Rabi Johanan tells us that after this had happened, the angels in Heaven were marching in celebration, singing the Glory of the Lord, whose almighty will has triumphed. Then, the Good Lord hushed them all, saying ''My creations are drowning in the sea and you wish to sing?''
The first time i read these words i felt like electrocuted. In some ways, that moment formed my perspective. Even the worst enemy, even the most evil of persons, they are all God's children no less then myself, and He loves them all, no less then he loves me. Victory is something to rejoice, but not the same is the defeat of the others. Every being is an entire universe, more vast then we can comprehand. in every being there is good and bad combined. The one who does evil things is not evil, he just does evil things. his actions do not define him at the most deep sense. the true identity nothing can ever take away - and that is that he is a child of God. We must appose the actions of evil, we must aim to correct them in any means, and to let good triumph, but no being is eternally evil and no being is beyond redemption.
Evil tends to destroy those who let it work through them, therefore the demise of those who do evil is only a matter of time, and this is their tragedy. It is simply what has to be done, but i cannot take pleasure in that.
Not as long as God loves us all.
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