• March 10, 2026
  • 21 5786, Adar
  • פרשת ויקהל-פקודי

Netivot Shalom's Intro to the Haggadah

Netivot Shalom's Intro to the Haggadah

Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman as he explores the Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe’s commentary to the Haggadah. Describing the Pesach Seder not only as a historical commemorative holiday but a perpetual celebration, the Slonimer details how the festival of freedom for our ancestors is also a festival for our own freedom. It is the festival when we are given the opportunity to free ourselves from our negative habits and to remake ourselves as better Jews.

For the full 2026 pre-Pesach program please CLICK HERE

Next Class

March 10, 2026
0
Days
5
Hours
32
Mins

Timezone

Time of Class

Tuesday 06:00PM
March 10, 2026 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Netivot Shalom's Intro to the Haggadah: Netivot Shalom’s Intro to the Haggadah
Class description

Hello Everyone,
In our prayers on Pesach, the holiday is described as “the festival of freedom.” Many of the customs which we observe at the Seder meal are meant to emphasize that on Pesach our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt. The Rambam says that the mitzvah of the Seder Pesach requires that we internalize this idea of freedom (from the Sefaria site, Rambam chapter 7) :
In each and every generation, a person must present himself as if he, himself, has now left the slavery of Egypt, as [Deuteronomy 6:23] states: “He took us out from there.” Regarding this manner, God commanded in the Torah: “Remember that you were a slave [Deuteronomy 5:15]” – i.e., as if you, yourself, were a slave and went out to freedom and were redeemed.
The mitzvah of Pesach is to appreciate our being freed from slavery by Hashem.
But there is another dimension to this idea of freedom. Rabbi Shalom Noach Barzovski zt”l was the Rebbe of the Slonim community of Chasidim. He wrote drashot on the Torah and holidays titled Netivot Shalom. In his essays he provides guidance on how to find personal meaning in the holidays. With regard to the holiday of Pesach we of course need to thank Hashem for taking us out of Egypt to be His nation. But the Netivot Shalom says that the freedom of Pesach is not only national freedom. On Pesach each and every one of us is given an opportunity to be freed spiritually from everything that keeps us from being free to find Hashem. There is a freedom in the past but there is freedom to gained in the present.
This is the great insight that I wish to share with you in these two meetings.

March 16, 2026 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Netivot Shalom's Intro to the Haggadah: Netivot Shalom’s Intro to the Haggadah
Class description

Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.