ברך
Barech
-Arie Stark
At the Passover Seder, as we gather with our family and our friends, we read the Haggadah and we come across Barech, which lies in between Hallel and Tzafun in the order of the Seder. Barech is grace after the meal, which was introduced by Abraham 4000 years ago, when he would welcome idol worshipers into his home for a meal and than tell them to bless G-d as a form of gratitude to Him. They were shocked and appalled of his words because no one believed in God and they considered him a social outcast because of it (Ha’Ivri, the one who stands on the other side).
How was Abraham able to stand up and voice his opinion and risk rejection and isolation?
When the Jews left Egypt they became liberated from the restrictions that were imposed on them as slaves. Freedom gave Abraham the opportunity to risk being socially unpopular to do the right thing. In our times, which are dominated by the media, violence, sex and drugs, we should learn from Abraham. We should speak out and make the right choice rather than sit idly while our future of maintaining Judaism could soon fade away.
As we get to near the end of Barech we drink the 3rd cup of wine, fill the fourth cup and then open the door for Elijah the Prophet. But why must we open a door? Why not drink the fifth cup of wine?
Opening of the door on Passover is supposed to express our faith in G-d that on “Layl Shimurim,” the night of Divine protection, nothing will happen to us. As well, we allow the prophet Elijah into the house at this time. Unfortunately there is another more depressing reason as to why we open the door. During Passover time in the Middle Ages, there were absurd accusations of Jews stealing Christian children and using their blood to bake Matzah. As a result many riots broke out, resulting in the many Jewish casualties. From this we have the custom of opening our door to expose our tables and show our non-Jewish neighbours we are not doing anything unseemly. While we open the door on Layl HaSeder, we call upon God to “Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations that know Thee not”.
Sources:
http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/pesach/pesseder.htm
http://www.aish.com/holidays/passover/last/insights_15.htm The article on the Aish site is called "15 Steps to Freedom"