Opening the Door in Dark Times
Rabbi Gordon Tucker , PhD
There is a moment in the Passover Seder that I always find very poignant , though I suspect it is not for the same reason that it moves so many others . It is the opening of the door for Elijah , just after we ’ ve given thanks for the festival meal , and before completing the uplifting songs of Hallel . Elijah is anticipated as the herald of the Messiah , and so opening the door , especially at the Feast of Redemption , is to welcome the long-awaited Redemption . 14
The poignancy of that ritual moment for me is , alas , downbeat in nature . For we know , by induction from centuries of experience , including the worst of times , that it is nearly certain that there will be no one at the door . We may indulge a fantasy , imagining an invisible visitor somehow sipping wine .
But invisible redeemers , though they may fascinate and delight our children , are no substitute for the real thing that the world so desperately needs . And so , I sadly see the
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Such is the understanding of the pracmce by the Maharil in the 14th-15th centuries .
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