Compassion During Passover

The essence of the festival of Pesach is to practice compassion on ourselves and others. When we commemorate Pesach, in truth we are commemorating compassion, and reminding ourselves that without it, we would still remain enslaved.

In the present moment, we can also recognize that our awareness is already free — even in quarentine- which gives us the freedom to choose how to respond inwardly to our circumstances--with compassion--even if our outer circumstances are beyond our control. 

Transcript

Achai v'rei,

This is Benji Epstein sharing a short thought along with a guided meditation for the upcoming holiday of Pesach.

Thinking of all of you and blessing myself and all of us to hear B'soro's tovo soon and see revealed good.

The verse in Shmos,

You'd bet,

On Exodus 12,

Writes that the blood will be a sign for you upon the houses where you are.

And I will see the blood and U'fasahti aleichem.

What does the word fasahti mean?

Our conditioned reaction is to say it means to pass over,

Hence the name of the holiday.

But the first time that the word is used,

We know that the first time a word is used is the esod,

The foundation for what that word really means.

So what really is the essence of Pesach?

The Targum Unclus translates fasahti to min va'echos aleichen,

And I will have compassion on you.

Rashi follows suit,

Bringing two translations,

But the first one being v'chammalti,

And I will have mercy.

And what this means is that the whole essence of the upcoming festival of Pesach is that even though we might feel unworthy at times,

Perhaps we've done things that weren't in line with our higher values.

Nevertheless,

Hashem says,

I have compassion on you.

The essence of the festival of Pesach,

From the preparations beforehand all the way through the last day of the Chag,

Is to practice compassion on ourselves and others.

When we commemorate Pesach,

We are commemorating the festival of compassion and reminding ourselves that without it,

None of us,

None of us would be here.

On the night of the Seder,

We need to remind ourselves in the most intimate way possible that when Hashem redeemed us from Egypt,

Despite whatever had transpired in our lives,

Hashem gave us a gift and He showed us that He cared about us and He will continue to do the same for us.

We have to remember the miracles that Hashem did for each and every single one of us in our lives with love and compassion.

And so in the present moment,

We can always recognize that our awareness is already free,

Even in prison,

Even in quarantine.

What gives us freedom is to choose how to respond inwardly to our circumstances,

Even if our outer circumstances are beyond our control.

Viktor Frankl writes in Man's Search for Meaning,

When he's describing his own experiences in the concentration camps,

That everything can be taken from a human being but one thing,

The last of human freedoms,

To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances,

To choose one's own way.

But we have to know,

What we have to reiterate,

Remind ourselves on Lehel HaSeder,

On Pesach Night,

Is that Hashem took us out of Egypt and we must believe with all of our hearts that we can leave any constricted consciousness we find ourselves in.

Any situation we find ourselves to be in,

We can be free.

Everyone,

And this rings truer now than ever,

We can all be redeemed out of our own loneliness,

Out of our own exiles,

Each of us in our own spiritual or physical galus exile.

We could be lonely,

We could be missing family,

We might not be getting along with family,

Pardon us,

Guilty about things we've done in the past,

Things we've tried to change,

And it just hasn't been so easy.

There's so many different levels of exile.

But on the night of the Seder and on the festival on the holiday of Pesach,

We tap into the source of all redemptions,

To the springtime of the world.

Uffidu yeh Hashem yeshuvun uva'ot siyum berina.

May those who are in exile be redeemed to Zion with joyous song,

And then may we all sing LeShanah haba'ah bi-Rushalayim next year,

This year,

In Jerusalem.

It's the simple message of this night that we need to repeat to ourselves over and over again,

Just as we would speak to a young child,

But in this case that child is ourselves,

And to say during the Seder,

Whenever you find an opportunity,

Ani ma'amin be'munashalayma,

I believe with absolute faith that the same way that God took us out of Egypt,

He can take us out of any constriction,

Any meitsar,

Any mitzrayim,

But that can only be done with compassion.

Now this practice that we're about to do together is very similar to mindfulness of breathing,

Because we're going to use the felt sense of breathing as our anchor to the present moment.

So each time our minds may wander,

As it certainly will do as minds are known to do,

We're going to simply bring it back to the physical sensations of the breath with kindness and without judgment.

But in the typical mindfulness of breathing practice,

We're going to allow whatever is present to be just as it is.

But in this practice,

We're going to actively try to warm it up a bit,

And we do so by inviting our awareness to explore the nourishing qualities of this breath,

Of just this breath that's available to you in this practice.

We also bring an awareness of the compassion and kindness that surround us each day,

Starting with the kindness in the room right now.

Begin by sitting in a comfortable yet dignified posture,

And if you feel comfortable,

Allow the eyes to gently close.

Taking a few deep and easy breaths in and out.

Bringing awareness into the body,

Into the felt sense of the breath in the body.

Bringing awareness into the body,

Into the felt sense of the breath in the body.

Allowing yourself to drop into the awareness of being alive,

Of breathing.

Checking in with your body to notice any tension or stress,

And if you find any physical discomfort or stress,

Simply making note of it.

And if there isn't any,

Make note of that too.

When you feel ready,

Check for the presence of any difficult or stressful emotions you might be experiencing.

Explore your chest or heart space and see what's there.

Meeting either physical or emotional distress is the occasion for our compassion practice.

We have a tendency to want to avoid that which is difficult,

But in this practice,

We actively meet any suffering or discomfort with compassion.

If there is no suffering in this moment,

Simply noticing that experience as well.

Now take a nice deep breath.

Now take another one.

Notice how the body is being nourished with this breath.

Gently shifting the focus of your attention to the inhale part of the breath cycle.

Just feeling the air coming into the body.

Perhaps you can even sense how this feels nourishing,

How this feels replenishing.

If this works for you,

Imagine breathing in compassion as if the oxygen molecules were carrying compassion into the body.

Or it could be a word with each inhalation,

Like love or gentle or freedom.

You could also imagine inhaling light or warmth.

Whatever works best for you.

Whatever you need in this very moment.

If for whatever reason you're having a hard time connecting to compassion,

To kindness,

See if you can imagine what it would feel like to be surrounded by love and compassion.

Allowing yourself to be nourished if possible.

Taking in the kindness that's around you.

Breathing in the kindness and the compassion with each inhale as much as possible.

Simply allowing yourself to be soothed with each compassionate inhale.

Just taking it all in.

Just for you.

When you feel ready,

Shifting your attention to the exhale portion of the breath cycle.

Feeling the air leaving your body.

Allowing any tension to melt away with each exhale.

Now with each exhale,

Imagine exhaling compassion with each breath.

You can extend this compassion to someone you know who might be suffering and needing some compassion right now.

Or perhaps you might prefer sending out compassion to everyone around you.

With each exhale,

Allowing some of the abundant compassion that is within you to be transmitted to those in need.

Continue to exhale with ease.

Extending all the kindness and compassion so plentiful in you out into the world.

And when you're ready,

Shifting your attention to now notice the entire breath cycle.

Noticing both the inhale and the exhale.

Breathing deeply in and completely out.

With each inhale,

Taking in some compassion that is just for you.

And with each exhale,

Sending it out to everyone else.

As best you can,

Allow yourself to savor all of this kindness,

All of this compassion coming into and leaving your body.

Finding a sense of ease and balance.

Taking in compassion just for you.

Sending out compassion for everyone else.

And now simply allowing the breath to find its own natural rhythm.

Breathing in and breathing out gently and with ease.

Compassion breathing in just for you.

Compassion breathing out for everyone else.

With each inhale and exhale,

Feeling a sense of ease,

Feeling the compassion all around you.

Feeling whole just as you are.

Breathing compassion in,

Breathing compassion out.

Breathing compassion in and breathing compassion out.

One for you and one for everyone else.

Allowing the soothing sense of compassion to penetrate every organ and every cell,

Every fiber of your being.

Allowing the care and comfort to be felt in the body and then sending it out for everyone else.

Inhaling care and exhaling care.

Loving God,

You who are full of compassion,

Teach me to be like you.

Teach me to be kind and generous and loving,

Just as you are kind and generous and loving to all of your creations.

Please help me develop true sensitivity and genuine compassion toward everything,

Toward everyone in creation.

Allowing the soothing sense of compassion to penetrate every organ and every cell,

Every fiber of your being.

Sending love and compassion.

Allowing the soothing sense of compassion to penetrate every organ and every cell,

Every fiber of your being.

Reviews

So beautiful! So very needed right now. Compassion arose in me during this meditation. Not sure why it had been so hard to access, but I found it. Self compassion and compassion for others in a dark moment in the world.