A story is told of the Chassidc master, thee Bnei Yissoschor, that on the first day of Pesach follwoing the Seder, some chassidim came over to the Rebbe and said, “Thank you Rebbe for the Seder, We have never seen such a beautiful Seder in our lives.”
The Rebbe replied, “What do you mean? Have you never seen Moshe the water carrier’s Seder?”
The chassidim did not understand this, so they went to ask Moshe what the Rebbe meant.
Moshe was immediately very embarrassed and begged the Chassidim,
"Please don’t make me tell you, I’ll never do it again.”
After much pressing Moshe informed them that he was the town drunk. “Yesterday I realised that I couldn’t drink for 8 days so I drank during the day until I couldn’t drink any more. As the sun began to descend I found myself by the door of my house – everyone was going to shul. I made myself to bed by the time nightfell but my wife wanted to start the Seder. She screamed,
“The children are waiting, and everyone in town is having Seder.”
I was woken up in the middle of my sleep. I was so upset – I couldn’t come to the Seder , but I wanted to tell my children just a few words. My wife brought all the children in. I told them
“You should know I have drunk all my life, I’m sorry and I will never do it again. I know you have missed the actual Seder, but let me tell you something. You should know that there is one God in the world Who created the world; but God had to bring the flood, the generation preceding the deluge destroyed it. The forefathers and mothers rebuilt the world but Jacob and his sons’ families were slaves. Yet God took us out of Egypt, and He will take us out again. We sing Ve’hi she’amdah, that in every generation they stand up against us and He takes us out. Always remember that you are Jews and swear to me that you will be loyal to the Jews and Hashem.” That was it - I fell asleep.
Moshe said regretfully “I will never do it again.”
Upon returning to the Rebbes court, the Bnei Yissoschor told them “I wish I could have been a guest at that Seder – to tell his children so clearly about God. With no maror, no wine, a simple Jew was telling his children to be good Jews and that God has a special plan.”
On the night of Seder, with so many people sharing different ideas we forget what it is that we are celebrating.
To quote Rabbi Naftali Schiff, CEO of Aish UK,
"We sing that we are proud bearers of the torch; we know that in every generation there will be those who rise up against us, because of what we represent. At the same time, tonight we re-affirm our trust in the G-d of Israel; we know who we are; we are aware of our responsibility and we live with a confidence that ultimately the Jewish People will always prevail."
