It’s been a crazy week. The world with all its worries and bothers is still
clamoring for your attention. The first step is to forget all that. Leave it
behind. Enter into a timeless space, where you, your great-grandparents and
Moses all coincide.
Begin with a full cup of sweet red wine. A full cup of hundreds of
generations of rejoicing and tears and celebration and wisdom and… of doing just
what you are going to do tonight.
Fill cup with wine. That’s cup #1.
Have someone else fill your cup. Return them the favor. This way, we are all
like nobility, whose cups are filled by someone else. Make sure your cup holds
at least 86 mil. (a little more than three ounces).
Everyone stands and says the kiddush together.
The rest of the year, when the sanctity of Shabbat or a festival is pronounced upon a cup of wine in the kiddish, one person says kiddush for everyone else. Tonight,
each man, woman and child recites every word together.
Drink. And get ready for some serious relaxing: Recline on a cushion to your
left side.
Remember the ancient times, when we used to recline on couches while stuffing down grapes? That’s what we are dramatizing by reclining now. We are not just
free, we are masters.
The beginning of all journeys is separation. You’ve got to leave somewhere to
go somewhere else. It is also the first step towards freedom: You ignore the
voice of Pharaoh inside that mocks you, saying, “Who are you to begin such a
journey?” You just get up and walk out.
This is the first meaning of the word, “Kadesh” -- to transcend
the mundane world. Then comes the second meaning: Once you’ve set yourself free
from your material worries, you can return and sanctify them. That
is when true spiritual freedom begins, when you introduce a higher purpose into
all those things you do.
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