Posted on April 3, 2026 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Moadim l’simcha, friends!
That is a special greeting that I can only bring you twice a year on the days of Chol HaMo-eid, the intervening middle days of our week-long festivals of Sukkot and Pesach. As I wrote in my remarks last Fall on Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot, on these days we greet each other with the words, “Moadim l’simcha!” which means: “May this special time be joyous!” and if you’re greeted that way, you would respond: “Chagim uzmanim l’sason!” which means: “Holidays and times like these are meant for joy!” It’s sort of like one person saying: “Happy holiday!” and the other replying with a smile, “Isn’t it though?”
The Pesach Haggadah is a text that highlights the importance of seeing ourselves as though we personally made the Exodus from Egypt. It is exactly this ethos that is meant to inspire our ongoing work to ensure freedom for all in the current day. While it is important to think about how each of us would have behaved during the Exodus, one can’t help but meditate on the leaders and heroes of the story. Prophetic leaders like Moses and Miriam, priestly role models like Aaron, master craftsmen like Betzalel and Oholiav, and courageous crusaders for justice like the midwives Shifra and Puah. How would we have fared were we in their shoes?
Since Shabbat Shirah I have been meditating on the heroism of one such leader in particular: Nachshon Ben Aminadav. He was, per our midrashic tradition, the first to jump into the water, full of faith and hope, leading us toward freedom’s promise. He did not wait for Moses’ command to step forward, he simply saw a need among his community, and chose to act.
One such leader among our congregation today is Steve Weitz. Steve has stepped up to lead our congregation as President and on the Temple Board, he has worked on committees and as a volunteer at events, he has served our wider movement as a member of the URJ’s Executive Board, he led the Settled Rabbi Search Committee which found and hired me (Thanks, Steve!), and to top it all off, his professional expertise makes him a compassionate listener for any member of our community to come to with an issue.
Our Brotherhood Person of Honor Breakfast is coming up on Sunday April 12th, and the Brotherhood will be honoring Steve that morning. RSVP here! If you can, I urge you to please come and help us lift up this amazing leader of our people. Steve is a modern Nachshon, and a mensch–a model for the kind of community member we should all aspire to be.
Here’s hoping your seders were joyous and beautiful, and that you don’t suffer too much not eating bread this week!
Chagim uzmanim l’sason,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein