What, No Shehecheyahu?

There is one Holiday on the Jewish calendar when we don’t say the blessing Shecheyanu when we light the holiday candles or say Kiddush. This is a blessing of thanks to Hashem that we say whenever we reach an annual event, thanking Hashem for giving us another year and bringing us to this moment. Examples of when we say Shehecheyanu are when we eat a new seasonal fruit for the first time each year and for all Holidays except one. That is the final days of Pesach.

Why not?  A basic explanation is that it is not a new event since it is a continuation of the Holiday that began six days ago. As opposed to Shmini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot, which is actually a distinct Holiday from Sukkot.

(Pardon the interruption. I am very much looking forward to teaching the course “Jewpernatural,” among other things discussing what Judaism teaches about the occult, evil eye, and supernatural things. Chabadpaloalto.com/JLI.)

As in all Torah matters, there is also a deeper explanation that Chassidus gives that illuminates and brings more light to the above question. The explanation is that while the first days of Pesach celebrate the past, the Exodus from Egypt, the last days celebrate the future redemption by Moshiach. We see this especially in the Haftorah (reading from the Prophets) that we read on the last day of Pesach, Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of Moshiach. The blessing of Shehecheyanu is recited when the cyclical event happens. Moshiach’s redemption hasn’t happened yet, so we don’t say the blessing.

Nevertheless, the saintly Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, established a special feast in the afternoon of the last day of Pesach that he called “Moshiach’s feast.”  Over the generations knowledge of this feast has spread, and many diverse communities observe it. We eat Matzah and whatever other delicacies we wish, and we drink four cups of wine.

At the Seder we have four cups reminding us of the four terms of redemption that Hashem promised before the Jews left Egypt. At Moshiach’s Feast we drink four cups representing the “four cups of comfort” that Hashem will give our people when the bitter exile finally ends. 

So if the redemption hasn’t happened, why are we celebrating?  There is a lot to say on the subject, and I hope you will attend Chabad’s Moshiach Feast and discuss it more, but let me just give a very brief thought that speaks to me.

We are definitely still in exile. A few days ago a horrific attack happened in our own holy land and three women were killed by one of our many vicious enemies. May Hashem avenge their blood. Many other such events have happened recently and it is another bitter reminder that we are still very much in exile.

So it’s natural to throw our hands up and just resign ourselves to the same cycle of negativity and antisemitism. How can we talk about redemption when there is so much hatred in the world and Jews are being killed while many around the world cheer on the monsters who perpetrate it. It’s painful and upsetting and frightening.

But the world is not just going around in a continuous cycle. There is a destination that we are heading to. The Talmud predicted many things that would happen right before Moshiach comes. Those predictions sounded fantastical even a generation ago. They have all come true in stark reality.  (See for example Talmud tractate Sotah 49b.). The prophet Malachi prophesied that before the redemption everything will be clarified, and the Rebbe said 50 years ago that we are approaching a time when everything will be revealed and there will be no secrets.

I don’t know why Moshiach hasn’t come yet and neither does anyone else. But once a year we have a feast to celebrate him and the redemption. We can live in the pain of exile and feel depressed, or we can live with the recognition that despite all the negativity we know that we are moving forward. One reason this is so important is that we do matter and what we do makes a difference.

Rambam says in his book of Mishneh Torah that every person should see the world as perfectly balanced and themselves as perfectly balanced between good and not good. A single act of goodness, a single Mitzvah no matter how big or small, will tip our scales and this tip the world’s scales, bringing the redemption.

By celebrating the future redemption with a tangible meal and four cups of wine, we lift ourselves out of whatever we are stuck in and look ahead with optimism and hope. We focus on the fact that we are still here as a nation against all odds, and we rededicate ourselves to make a difference and do our part to bring a little more light. This sense of optimism, living with redemption as opposed to with an exile mentality, carried through to the entire year. It is possible to live in that Moshiach frame of mind, and that itself moved us to excitement and a positive attitude.

Imagine: you do that one Mitzvah that tips the scales, and Moshiach comes and the world is transformed. How would that feel?

Happy Pesach and happy “living with Moshiach.”

(As always comments and questions appreciated.)