 Okay, we're back. It's only a few more days to pass over. We should talk about pass over with Rabbi Itchel Krasnijansky. And guess what, Rabbi? Today is Rabbi Schneersen's birthday. Am I right? Yes, you're right, Jay. First of all, thanks for having me on again. Yes, today's a very special day. It is the Rebbe's birthday. In the Hebrew calendar, the 11th day of the month of Nisan is the Rebbe's birthday. The Rebbe was born in 1902. And it is commemorated and celebrated throughout the world by many thousands and thousands of Abad followers, as well as in the wider Jewish community. It really made a very, very huge contribution to the Jewish world and to the world at large. And in fact, in the 1980s, and I'm not sure exactly when, both the House and Senate passed a resolution calling it Education Day USA to coincide with the Rebbe's birthday. Because the Rebbe was a very, very great advocate for education. And as education as being the foundation of moral society, not just education so that one can learn a skill in how to earn a living, but education in how to form a mensch, the Yiddish word for being a good person, an upright good person with good morals and good values. And someone whose goals and aspirations are greater than oneself. So they instituted this day of US day of education, Education Day USA. And every year they they they they sponsor it. And it's probably one of the few bipartisan legislation. And even here, in every single state, all 50 states in the US, the governors, including Hawaii have recognized this day in honor of the Rebbe as Education Day USA. I've been to some of the Education Day programs in the state capital, for example. Yeah. So Rabbi Schneerzen was huge, larger than life. And he even now decades after he died, he's a leading light, at least for Chabad and maybe others who are, you know, in the Hasidic movement. But but question, you know, will there be a successor? Will another rabbi ultimately step up and take that role? The answer is yes. And we in the Jewish world, we call that person the Messiah. Okay. But you're right, the rabbi was a great, great light and perhaps the most important Jewish leader of our century. Our generation. But it wasn't just for the Chabad followers. It was a leader of world Jewry, because the rabbi emphasized, and perhaps the most important revolutionary idea that the rabbi had was that we're all Jewish people, we're all one. And irrespective of our affiliation or lack of affiliation or background, or we're all part of the Jewish people, and inherently, we're all, we'll have a part of God within us, and we're all connected. And the rabbi's message was not just the Jewish people, but just the world at large, too, that, you know, God, God, you know, endowed us with the tools we need to be able to live full lives and moral lives and lives that we can contribute to society. And there we would stress how education in the earliest ages is really the stepping stone and what makes it possible to develop into a functioning positive. Did you know him, Rabbi? Yes. I grew up in the area in Brooklyn where the rabbi was. I was born in 1960, where he passed away in 1992. I would attend the rabbi's public talks, which was every Sabbath, as well as the holidays, or other occasions. And the rabbi's talks were usually attended by thousands of people. And they were very, very uplifting and inspiring talks. The rabbi actually inspired thousands of people to go out into the world, to open Chabad houses, places where Jews can feel at home, irrespective of connection or not, and partake in the teachings of Judaism and the message of Judaism. I know that's the message from Chabad. I actually knew that even before I met you, even before I saw a Chabad of Hawaii, you know, doing its activities here. I ran into Chabad in New York City. And it's always that same welcoming message. So speaking of which, Passover's coming up. And you have a public Passover. Is that a fair way to say it? Yeah, we have a public Passover. Can you talk about it? Yeah, sure. I just want to conclude in talking about the rabbi. It was a rabbi. There is a rabbi. He used to be the chief rabbi of England. His name is Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks. He once wrote an article about the rabbi. And he surmised that the rabbi's life's mission, he explained, was in the context of the Second World War, the world from which the rabbi came. The rabbi narrowly escaped the Nazis and survived the war. Millions of Jews didn't survive. The whole Jewish world was devastated and annihilated. It was annihilation. And the question is, how do you heal from such a profound black hole, a profound devastation like that? So while the Nazis, may the names be erased, hunted down Jews in hate to kill and annihilate them, the rabbi went the other extreme to reach out to Jews and to people at large, in the larger community, in love and acceptance. And in that way, the rabbi, you know, built from the ashes of World War II. And the Jewish world and Jewish life today is thriving, perhaps more than ever in our history, all throughout the world. And in large part, it's due to people like the rabbi, the leadership of the rabbi, that was really a global reach. It wasn't just the rabbi of a congregation or of a community, but it was a rabbi had a global vision for the world. I'm glad you raised that, because I was telling you before, I do think about that, especially in the context of Passover, which is a celebration of freedom and being, you know, liberated from bondage in Egypt. But, you know, we're still working through the Holocaust. We're not done thinking about it. It still leaves scars. The wounds are so profoundly deep that neither we nor our children's children's children will ever forget what happened. And what is really chilling is that there are people who deny the Holocaust an incredible anti-Semitic statement to make. And there are people who are reliving anti-Semitism now. Just as you say, Judaism is thriving in its own way around the world. So is anti-Semitism expanding around the world, especially in this country and also in Europe. And I just wonder what Rabbi Schneersen would say about that, where he alive today. Well, the rabbi would say, I think, as he said on many occasions, that in the Zohar, there's a saying in the Zohar, which is the main book of Jewish mysticism. And over there it says translated in English would be a little light that spells a lot of darkness. That the only way to rid the world of the darkness of hatred and anti-Semitism and all of these issues is only through positive, positive education, light, by example, by teachings. And anti-Semitism specifically is, you know, has been around forever, unfortunately, in the times of the first Jew Abraham, to read how he was thrown into a fire for his beliefs. His beliefs of monotheism, that is a one God who lords over the world. And, you know, I think it's really an expanded view of the view that he expressed while he was alive. It's the view of his followers like you, who have incorporated his system, his beliefs into your life. And that's worthy. And I just hope I'm outside that world, although I identified Jewish. And I just hope that's a solution going forward because this dynamic here, it isn't static. There's dynamic. We say on Passover night, we read the Haggadah. The Haggadah tells the story of our exit from Egypt and that which our rabbis added and which we say it at the Seder table. The Seder in Hebrew is a word for order because there's an order as a definite order to the whole evening. But there's one passage there which is very, very apropos to what you're saying and it's also very chilling. And that is that in every generation, they rise up to hurt us, to kill us. And it is only but for God's protection that we have survived. So, you know, that's true, Rabbi. I mean, I've been going to Seder's for, oh, gosh, more than 60 years, you know, pretty much every year. And that language is there every year in the Haggadah, right in the middle of the Haggadah, in every generation. The paragraph begins in every generation. The people who would annihilate Jews rise up. And, you know, after a while, it gets to be part of your thinking, but you don't see it, you know, as a new statement. It's an old statement. It's a statement that's been going on for a long time since Egypt. And I think we have to read the Haggadah fresh every year. We can't let it be an old statement. We have to make it relevant today. You know, there are many versions of the Haggadah printed in many, well, in every language you can think of. And it always rotates between Hebrew on the, what, the right side of the page and the other language English say on the left side of the page. And people read it in an alternating verse, you know, around the table, which is always a way to invest people in exactly what it is saying. But what I like most about it is the commentary, depending on the version you look at, the commentary that makes it relevant today. And certainly there's a lot of commentary about the Holocaust in World War II in any addition of the Haggadah, because it is, it runs a parallel track of what happened in Egypt, or worse. But I think it's also relevant what's happening right now. I don't think the Haggadah should be carved in stone. The prayers, you know, the Hebrew, the songs, the rituals, yes. But the references have to be very, very relevant every year. Very relevant and contemporary. And you're right. And actually, that's the, that's the main purpose of the whole tradition, not just to recall what happened in the past, but by so doing to reflect on the present and build towards a better future. And that's really, that's the optimism that comes out of reading the Haggadah. That we were in a bind. We tried to kill us. God saved us. We're here. We give thanks to God. And we continue. And that's the story of the Jewish people, the survival of the Jewish people. Yeah, the story in Egypt is, I don't know, I think it's a special story, but it resonates with all the other stories that you hear about somebody rising up and trying to kill the Jews. And the one in Egypt is maybe best remembered in the sense that it's, it's repeated every year. It's part of the ritual. It's part of the national memory of the Jewish nation. And you go through it. You actually go through it. The Haggadah is a very rich statement of that story and the prayers that go with that story, the lessons that come out of that story, and the engagement of everybody at the table no matter what age or inclination about that story. It's an attempt to bring everybody at the table together and remember it. Right. And what's remarkable is we see it at the Stater Night, the Stater Table, but it's also true in every other Jewish tradition is the is the inspiration and the optimism. You know, we talk about difficult times, you know, in difficult history, but it's not a somber, sad gathering of people. Although there were very serious somber moments, and I remember Anima, I mean, you know, that song about I believe we still believe walking to the gas chamber, we still believe. That's there. But that I agree with you that that doesn't dominate the stater. Just point of reference. What dominates the stater in terms of the liturgy is uplifting. The songs are happy. They're fun. They're memorable. They're good music. Creative lyrics, all that. It's their rebirth, really, that's emphasized the renaissance. And that's true about Judaism in general, even though we have in our history so much suffering. There is, you're mentioning about the many different Haggadahs. I saw a Haggadah once. That's the book from which you read. In Hebrew, Haggadah means to tell the story. This whole narrative tells the story. And this particular Haggadah had a fold out of about 10 pages that went through the different hagrams that the Jewish people suffered in the 15th, 16th, and 17th century. This is even before the Holocaust. It's like this date, this year, this community, this day that pages and pages long of what our ancestors suffer. So Judaism, our history is one of long suffering, but we don't we don't elevate suffering, you know, and make it, you know, something special and holy. On the contrary, we're loving, you know, we love joy and happiness. And that's the emphasis in Judaism. And you think about it's very remarkable how how we Jews were able to keep our heads held high and joyous and happy, in spite of all the history. That somehow is a commentary on Jewish humor. Yeah, also, when you have tragedy, then humor has a place. I also want to mention here in Hawaii, Abad will be having, like you mentioned before, public satyrs where everyone is invited and welcome. They can call our office, which is 808-735-8161 or go online, khabadofawai.com. And we not only have daydors here in Honolulu, we also have an all the outer islands as well. There's khabad houses, khabad rabbis on the outer islands, the Big Island, Kauai, and Maui. They'll be having public satyrs as well. And it's a very, very meaningful experience and a joyous experience and encourage everyone who doesn't have a place to go, to lift up the phone and call khabad, and you'll be happy. I can vouch for that. I was at your satyr last year. Wow, it was a lot of people came. A lot of them didn't know each other. I mean, some of them were tourists, some visitors. I sat at a table with a woman who was an Israeli military person. She was really very military. She was really smart and focused and all that. She was a very interesting person to meet. I hadn't met anybody like that before. And Alinda Lingle was there too last year. And there were a lot of people who made friends that night. Since they're coming together, it's a family kind of thing. And at your table, you tend to meet them. And you have some fundamental familiarity with them because of the satyr, which always brings people together. It was very nice, very impressive. And the food was out of this world. Really good. Please come in this year. The Rebbetson has something to do with that. So, what is the track of a satyr? As I recall, and should recall in more detail, as I recall, there's a lot of prayers in the Chabad would be a lot of prayers in Hebrew or Yiddish. Yeah, you can say it in any language. We say it in Hebrew and in English. You can follow in English or in Hebrew. And it basically tells the story, but it tells the story not from the exile and the bondage and the slavery in Egypt, but it goes to the very beginning of our history with Abraham. And then how, and God, when he revealed himself to Abraham and entered into a covenant with Abraham and his children, God prophesied that your children will be in a strange land. The exile was prophesied from the beginning. And this is very interesting in the mystical teachings of the Torah. It's explained, you know, we understand exile to be something negative, a punishment of sorts. And that's true on a certain level, but on a deeper level. The exile, today what we call the diaspora, is actually part of God's plan for the Jewish people. And specifically, it is the means and the way to which we, the Jewish people, are able to get the message to the entire world. The exile was directly related to that because, you know, we were slaves in Egypt. That was the Jewish people. That was the, you know, Israel, so to speak. And when we left with our unleavened bread, walk in the desert across the Red Sea, walk in the desert, that was the beginning of the diaspora, wasn't it? That was it. That was when it started. Yes, yes. The first diaspora was in Egypt. That's why I passed over this. By the way, something very, very fascinating for all those that doubt the literal truth of the Bible. I was reading, and you can see it on the YouTube video, that there's some archaeologists in Egypt, actually an Egyptian archaeologist, recently made a finding at the bottom of the Red Sea. And they found remains of many, many people with remains of what they describe as chariots, these wheels and parts of wheels. Basically, everything that we read in the Bible about the miracle, the crossing of the Red Sea and then how the Egyptians came chasing the Jewish people and they drowned. This archaeologist claims to have found evidence. This is the way he says, the way their bones were remains were were found in clusters of many people together. He confirms from his findings that what the Bible says has actually happened. So interesting, you know, there's an archaeologist from UH who's working on a dig right now, Robert Whitman, I know in Egypt. But what strikes me, though, is this and I don't I don't remember if a lot is different from other satyrs I've been at in this regard. But my favorite satyrs have been where the people at the table would make commentary. In other words, so you're reading a particular passage and somebody says, you know, did you know what happened with archaeology in Egypt? How they have confirmed, you know, these, you know, these, these stories in the Bible and everybody says, wow, they move on. And so and so my favorite satyrs have been where people had the opportunity to be that different satyrs, different strokes for different folks. You know, you know, they say, you know, in the joke that, you know, God has a tremendous sense of humor. He made all archaeologists atheists. So they find everything it says in the Bible, but they're atheists. And then they become religious. Well, and then at the end of the satyr, there's so much singing. And you have to drink so many glasses of wine and how many glasses? Four cups of wine. Four cups of wine. And each time you drink a cup of wine, it's like a milestone in the liturgy. Then at the end, you're you're singing is better next year in Jerusalem. That's how we conclude next year in Jerusalem. What does that mean? Tell us, you know, there must be, you know, overlays and implications to that statement. What is there is? And this is perhaps one of the most foundational ideas of Judaism. And that is that at the end, all going to work out. That what's, you know, what's good and godly will triumph. And the world will be transformed to its fullest potential, which is the messianic era coming of the Messiah as the prophets prophesized. So next year in Jerusalem is that, yes, we're not there yet. Next year, our hope and our faith in the redemption in that it's at the end, it's going to work out. Not that the end is doom, gloom, as unfortunately some people feel. But Judaism teaches us now that it's all going to work out. The good will triumph over evil. And that God will through the Messiah will will will transform the whole world. And evil will be removed from this world. And what about the on the face of that language? What about that language is signifying a call? You know, Israel, you know, Jerusalem is the center of Israel, at least for the Bible. And now for this country, Israel is our ultimate home. We've been there or aspiring to be there since since the since we left Egypt. And and so we every year at the end of the Seder, we remind ourselves that next year, maybe next year, we'll finally get back there. It's something to aspire to. It's something it's on your bucket list. Something you need to do in this life is reconnect with Jerusalem and Israel. Right. And we're talking about on the highest levels, you know, not just, you know, a flight to Israel for a week and come back. We're talking about all of the prophecies in the Bible about Israel and Jerusalem and all the good and the light that will come from Zion and Jerusalem. That's what, you know, that's what the aspiration is for. I called my brother this morning and I said, you know, can you talk? He said, I can't talk. I'm negotiating. I said, what are you negotiating about? He says, well, I made my search for roommates in the house. That's leaven bread. And then I put it in a bag and I'm selling it now because that's the tradition. As you search, you find you don't throw food away. You sell it. And he was in the process of negotiating a sale for the leaven bread to get it out of the house and do the right thing. And the house will be purified, sanctified for Passover. And so, you know, I don't do that, but I know about it. Do a lot of people do that. And and what's what's a pound of homemade's worth in the market, Rabbi? Well, first of all, yes, many Jews, traditional and observe the laws of Passover. Biblically, the Jewish people on Passover were not allowed to eat any comets, any leaven bread. But leaven bread is not just bread. Bread, cakes and almost any product you buy in the supermarket. Because, you know, one of some of the ingredients, perhaps are leavened and they wouldn't render it like like leaven bread. Not only are you not allowed to eat it, but you're not allowed to possess it. You're not allowed to own it. And henceforth, the custom is for Passover, we sell all our comets and interestingly, according to Jewish law, it's not just the food, but also the pots and pans that have absorbed, you know, while cooking this food. So, you know, that's why in traditional Jewish homes, there's a separate set of dishes for Passover and the rest of the year. And you wash out all the shelves where the food used to be. They clean everything. Clean everything up. I wonder what would happen if I went down to Fuland or Safeway with my bag of leaven bread and I asked them, would you take this leaven bread and how much would you pay? By the way, the way it's done is you sell it to a non-Jewish person and then you immediately buy it back after Passover. Oh, is that right? Yeah. It's a storage range. It's a real sale and a real repurchase. That's wonderful. I didn't know that until now, Rabbi. There's much to learn about Passover and every time you go to a Seder, you'll learn more and every time they go through the Haggadah, you'll learn more and every time you look at the prayers and the recitations and the implications, every time you sing the songs, you'll learn more. Right. And just one more last thought in that is essential part of the whole Haggadah is the children, you know, the four sons in the Haggadah and the children are like the center of the purpose of the whole Seder because the purpose of the Seder and Passover Eve is to pass it on to your children. You'll teach it to your children, pass it on to the next generation. And that's why many things are done just to arouse the interest and the curiosity of the children. I know there are a lot of, you know, good songs in the Haggadah and some serious songs. But the one and of course, the four questions stick in my mind, I think we're a long time, you know, I favored myself. I'm singing that. OK, I really, I really enjoyed that. Even now, it's supposed to be the youngest person in the room, you know, makes the four questions. But, you know, older people can do it, too. And then am I right about the holidays here? It was one only kid. Yes. Haggadah. Haggadah. So why don't we sing that you and me together? Can we do that now? I don't have the words here, but we can just sing it. Haggadah. Haggadah. Desolving. Abobbi. Jesus. Haggadah. Thank you, Rabbi. Wonderful to have you on the show. Jay is always wonderful. I wish everyone a happy Passover and enjoy your status. And everyone is invited to come join us. Thank you, Rabbi.