Congregation B’nai Avraham and Chabad Lubavitch of Brooklyn Heights was the center of attention for the whole local community of Downtown Brooklyn this morning.
The Congregation Chometz was sold to Captain Adeel Rana, the executive officer of the 84th precinct, since the prohibition of Chometz is not only to refrain from eating it, but from owning it as well.
Outside in the front of the Congregation brownstone building, the flames of Chometz burning were seen for miles away and brought many community members over to join the scene.
Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin and wife Shternie and their children all gathered around to burn for the traditional burning of the Chometz along with the local Jewish community.
People gathered from all over the neighborhood with bags of Chometz at the brownstone building of Congregation B’nai Avraham located on 117 Remsen street. This is a yearly ceremony that the Synagogue holds with a wonderful breakfast for the “first borns” of the community as well.
Rabbi Raskin’s sons Yankel Raskin and Eliyahu Raskin were helping people recite the blessing for the burning of Chometz. This was an extremely meaningful morning felt by all.
This is the 29th year that Rabbi and Shternie Raskin hold this Ceremony and it has become a moment of reflection, a moment the community pauses in the holiday preparation and concentrates on the burning of Chometz, the burning of all the extra burdens we carry all year long, leaving us with the opportunity to start over, free of baggage, free of worry.
For those few minutes, seeing the children and adults as one, one feels the spiritual energy of leaving Egypt and through this feeling we grasp the meaning Pesach holds beyond the Seder and the spring cleaning we all dread all year long.
After the Chametz burning, lines of people came up to Rabbi Raskin, who handed everyone boxes of Matzah Shmura. Many of these individuals will attend the community Seder held in Congregation B’nai Avraham for both Seder nights.
This eventful morning, especially the burning of Chometz, was a wonderful Mitzvah to share with children as Hashem commanded us to tell our children of our legacy. What a better way than showing them hands on so they will forever remember our ancestors who marched out of Egypt to freedom in a hurry. The children are our future and for that mere fact we have the obligation to bring to life our rich history, so it should dwell inside of them and will live on for generations to come.
For making this a Beautiful community to live in