Moving the Mountain

By Rabbi Jordan Helfman.

In Chelm, as the people were pushing the mountain away, they got so hot and sweaty that they dropped their nice coats with their heavy wallets on the ground behind them so they could put their ‘all’ into creating more space for their city.

After a few hours of heavy exertion, they looked back. Though it had felt as if they hadn’t moved an inch, miraculously it appeared to them that they had moved the mountain such a significant distance their coats were no longer in sight!

Somewhere else in the world, the robber who had happened across a pile of beautiful coats with full wallets left a few feet behind some fools who were pressing up against a mountain will all of their concentration was selling those coats for a good price.

Helping to push

We are nothing like the people of Chelm – we never try to push mountains.  Except when we do.

Passover is right around the corner, and this year, help us try to move some mountains.

While we need years of advocacy work in order to reduce poverty in Toronto, in Canada and around the world – you can shift the mountain just a little bit on the third night of Passover.  Even if it is just for one individual, breathing life into the words of the Passover Haggadah, “Let all who are hungry come eat” can be as hard as shifting a mountain.  We are partnering with Ve’ahavta – an organization which tries shifting the mountain of poverty through both direct donations and by ending the cycle of poverty through counselling and advocacy.   To sign up and help feed one of our 100 Ve’ahavta client guests, click here.

This Passover, some of our young families (JK-6) will participate in a chocolate seder.  While we will celebrate our own move from slavery and degradation to redemption, we know that much of our food supply- including chocolate – is produced by farmers in difficult positions.  While our seder will focus on the joy of the holiday, we’ll make sure that our young families think about how they can shift the mountain of poverty by considering the ingredients to the food they eat.  For more information on Holy Chag! Pesach, click here.

While Chelm is ages away from our reality, we know that those with less education are often put in positions where it seems like their wallets are readily available to those with more wisdom.  As you plan your family’s Passover seder, think of ways that you can help shift the mountain of poverty – moving our world closer to a time that Elijah the Prophet would recognize as a more perfect world.