Pesach (Passover) is near, and the Parashiyot (portions) speak about Korbanot (sacrifices). The Pasuk (verse) tells us that yeast and honey may not be put on any Korban, but salt must be put on every Korban. Every Jewish table is considered a Mizbeach; it’s an altar before God, and we put salt on the table to remind a person of this law: salt may be put on every sacrifice. Now, when the Pasuk tells us, “You cannot put yeast and honey, but you must put salt,” it is teaching us how to work on their character traits. How does that teach us to work on their character traits? Yeast and honey are outside additions. Yeast makes bread, or food, look puffy on the outside. And with honey, when you put honey on the food, it makes it sweet because the honey is sweet. But when you put salt on the food, it pulls out the flavor that’s already in the food. It teaches us not to look at other people and try to be like other people. You have to learn to be happy with the character traits you possess. Maybe you know how to make people smile. You know how to make them feel good. So bring those character traits up.
Now we have a question about Passover. On Passover we read the Haggadah. So the question is: Why does the Haggadah start off in Aramaic instead of Hebrew? Right, everything is in Hebrew, everything we do. We pray in Hebrew. So why does it start off in Aramaic? So the answer is, the answer is because angels do not speak Aramaic. We want to learn the lesson that on these sacred nights Hashem is right on our table, and we need no intermediary to send our bakashot, to send our prayers up to God. He is here. And that’s why we start the Haggadah off with a prayer that only God comprehends. Angels—we don’t need angels. So every person needs to ask for what they need from God, whether it’s health, whether it’s money, whether it’s kids. And we have to do this on Passover night. It’s such a tremendous opportunity. Thank you. Have a great Passover.