The Beginning of the End: The Song That Never Ends

Does Passover sometimes feel like that guest that is perpetually going but never actually leaves?

The first Seder has a major "ending" as does the second ... in its own way. After each, we bid our farewells, amid a flurry of promises to regroup once again in a year, in Jerusalem no less...! But then, a night later we are at it again for the second Seder. Then we have the end of the "first days" followed by the end of the "middle days," bringing us to where we are now as we prepare to ride the Shabbat wave into yet another micro beginning known as "Shevii Shel Pesach," the seventh day of Passover! Who can resist celebrating the splitting of the sea? Then that ends too. Then, the "final end" known as "Acharon Shel Pesach" begins! That's right, Passover is serious: "I mean it... I'm really leaving." Really? I'll believe it when I see it. Pesach as "Groundhog Day" meets Adam Wingard's The Guest! (minus all that killing of course) is always a box office hit!

Yet, Passover is ALSO like that guest who doesn't leave but manages to pull it off because we love him way too much to be annoyed.

In fact, on a certain level, (I know, I know, everyone is done at this point ...but still..) we are stressed because we don't WANT the guest to leave. Despite its endless list of special requirements, we are strangely upbeat, knowing how much THIS guest "brings to the table," like an emotional buoy that keeps us afloat and helps us figure out where we are supposed to be.

Perhaps that's why Chabad Chasidim don't recite the classic "grand finale" verse "CHASAL SIDDUR PESACH" - ("we have finished the order of the Seder").

So, here's my little blessing. May we never seek closure on our most cherished celebratory moments!

If this holiday is that "song that never ends" then we must be the ones singing the song.