Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
We spent Shabbat with my parents in Herzliya. On Shabbat morning we passed by the primary school that I attended and ran into the mother of someone who was in a class ahead of mine. I did not remember her name but it was immediately clear that we had something fundamental in common, having shared the same experiences years before. We brought up memories of teachers, of ceremonies held in the schoolyard, and of the kiosk opposite the school that had since closed.
Afterwards, when discussing Pesach at the Shabbat meal, I suddenly recognized what happened that morning had given me a new appreciation for the holiday we were about to celebrate. On Pesach, we recognize that all members of the nation of Israel are familiar to one another since all of our souls had once been together -- in the Exodus from Egypt and at the revelation on Mount Sinai.
Therefore, before sitting down at the Seder we need to remember the main thing, our shared past experience that is seared deep within our souls. This experience connects us to all past and future generations, and certainly to all Jews living today. Pesach is a reunion in which all Jewish souls feel connected to one another, from that first Pesach to the one that starts on Wednesday night.
