Shavua Tov. Mo’adim L’Simcha, Happy After-Seder!
If we were in Egypt, would we have left? Would we have recognized the great opportunity and seized it? Many, in fact, stayed in Egypt. Many missed the opportunity and stayed enslaved.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt teaches us to be alert and attentive to “windows of opportunity” that appear in our lives – and seize them.
Shlomo Ben Dahan (father of Deputy Minister of Defense Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan) was an illegal aliyah activist who brought immigrants from North Africa, especially Morocco, to Israel.
An aliyah operation was once planned to the smallest detail; the boat was supposed to dock near a beach in Morocco, clandestinely, and collect the Jews waiting there to go to Israel. But
the nighttime navigation led them by mistake to the wrong city on the Moroccan shores.
What should they do? Shlomo Ben Dahan got off the boat, knocked on the doors of Jews in
the middle of the night and announced:
“We’ve arrived here unexpectedly. The boat is docked right now close to the shore, and in a few hours the sun will rise and we will have to leave. Who is coming now to the Land of Israel?”
What ensued was remarkable. Within a few hours, the boat was filled with Jews who had quickly gathered some personal belongings together.
They knew how not to miss the moment.