Kol Dichfin Yeitei v\u2019Yeichol, Kol Ditzrich Yeitei v\u2019Yifsach<\/em>\u201d at our Seders (\u201cLet all who are hungry come and eat, all who are in need come and observe the Passover\u201d), we have already recited Kiddush, drunk the first cup of wine, ritually washed our hands, eaten \u201cKarpas\u201d (the green vegetable), and prepared the Afikoman! Why invite needy guests to join us so late in the process? What kind of insensitive, hesitant hospitality is that?!<\/p>\nThe late super-centenarian, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (1910-2012), taught that the Haggadah\u2019s words of generosity are directed not at needy passersby, but at those already participating in the Seder. We are the ones in need. We must be reminded \u2013 especially during the course of a sumptuous and indulgent festive meal \u2013 that we have a year-round obligation to feed the hungry, and appropriately to provide for the religious needs of those who might otherwise be deprived of their religious tradition and spiritual fulfillment. This, according to Rabbi Elyashiv, is one of the essential lessons of our own historic experience as outcasts and refugees. This awareness is the very goal of recalling our Egyptian enslavement. \u201cKol Dichfin\u201d is the moral heart of \u201cMagid\u201d \u2013 the ritual re-telling of the Exodus.<\/p>\n
Such an invitation to social conscience could not be more timely.<\/p>\n
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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