{"id":80725,"date":"2026-02-25T14:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oukosher.org\/passover\/?p=80725"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:50:16","slug":"pesach-message-from-rabbi-moshe-elefant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oukosher.org\/passover\/articles\/pesach-message-from-rabbi-moshe-elefant\/","title":{"rendered":"Pesach Message From Rabbi Moshe Elefant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA\"><img width=\"300\" height=\"450\" data-public-id=\"Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-80725 wp-image-80189\" src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_300,h_450,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA\" alt=\"\" data-format=\"jpg\" data-transformations=\"f_auto,q_auto\" data-version=\"1741020547\" data-seo=\"1\" data-responsive=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_300,h_450,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 1707w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_1648,h_2471,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 1648w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_1448,h_2171,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 1448w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_1248,h_1871,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 1248w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_1048,h_1571,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 1048w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_848,h_1271,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 848w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_648,h_971,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 648w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_448,h_671,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 448w, https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ouwp\/images\/w_248,h_371,c_scale\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1741020547\/Kosher\/Passover\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1\/Official-Elefant-scaled-1.jpg?_i=AA 248w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\" \/><\/a>Jewish holidays are not just a commemoration of historical events; they represent moments in our calendar with special spiritual energy. When reciting \u201c<em>Zman Cherusaynu<\/em>\u201d in the Yom Tov prayers, the time of freedom we refer to is not just the biblical Exodus story, but also our own opportunity for personal redemption.<\/p>\n<p>The Baal HaTanya writes that <em>Mitzrayim<\/em> should also be understood to represent the <em>Mitzarim<\/em> (constrictions) experienced in our own lives. Chazal tell us that forbidden foods serve to clog our spiritual hearts. Conversely, kosher food serve to unlock our sacred souls. The kosher diet helps us to get beyond our limitations and reach our hallowed potentials.<\/p>\n<p>It is no wonder that as our forefathers embarked on their departure from Egypt, they were given two food-related commandments: Matzah and <em>Korban Pesach<\/em>. Those <em>mitzvos<\/em> served to set our people on a spiritual journey culminating in the Sinai revelation and ultimate entrance into the Land of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The many hundreds of OU Kosher staff toil around the clock and around the globe to ensure that we, Klal Yisrael, receive our spiritual nourishment to free us from our constraints and limitations.<\/p>\n<p>Wishing you an emancipating <em>Zman Cheyrusaynu<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Moshe Elefant<br \/>\nCOO, Executive Rabbinic Coordinator<br \/>\nOU Kosher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jewish holidays are not just a commemoration of historical events; they represent moments in our calendar with special spiritual energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":80185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pesach Message From Rabbi Moshe Elefant - Kosher for Passover<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oukosher.org\/passover\/articles\/pesach-message-from-rabbi-moshe-elefant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pesach Message From Rabbi Moshe Elefant - Kosher for Passover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jewish holidays are not just a commemoration of historical events; 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