Rabbi Bukiet’s Advice and Vertlach on Hagadah

I will never forget the scene. My grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Meir Bukiet, a Talmudic scholar, was speaking in Lexington, Mass., where my uncle Rabbi Alter Bukiet is rabbi. The invitation for the event told of an entertainer and the guest speaker, my grandfather, a Polish immigrant who’s English was on the rocky side. However, it was clear that many came just to hear him speak. He was beloved in the community, to many serving as fatherly figure. They loved his honesty, his sincerity and his words of wisdom.

“The Gemara,” he began, quoting the Talmud, “says that when a wife and a husband are not at peace, the mizbe’ach sheds tears,” referring to the altar that stood in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

“Why specifically the altar? Why not the candelabrum or the laver?

“The Kabbalistic masters taught that sacrifices were not just in the Holy Temple; they are a part of every person’s daily life. When I put my needs aside for the good of another—that is sacrifice. When there is no peace in the home, no shalom bayit, we are not sacrificing enough. For this reason,” Grandfather concluded, “the altar sheds tears. It weeps, thinking that we have failed to sacrifice enough.”

Take some time to see where you can sacrifice, for your family, your community, for the world.

Click here to download a PDF of Rabbi Bukiet on the Haggadah