Rabbi Alexandra Shuval-Weiner’s Message for Passover 2026
For our Passover holiday issue, we invited members of our staff and community to share their responses.
What does it mean to be a good Jew? It is a question that beats at the heart of our people, echoing through the centuries. While my soul finds deep rest in a sanctuary filled with the harmony of prayer and the rigorous beauty of Torah study, I believe the answer to “being good” lies in the quiet, sacred space between our rituals and our relationships.
To find the Ikar — the essence — we must look toward the profound call of Kedoshim Tihyu: “You shall be holy.” Holiness is not a static state of being; it is an active choice. When Moses stood on the mountain and begged to see the Divine, G-d did not reveal a physical form. Instead, G-d revealed an identity of character: Compassion. Mercy. Kindness. Truth.
We are taught that we are each a fractal of the Divine. If we carry a spark of the Holy within us, then being a “good Jew” is simply the lifelong practice of fanning that spark into a flame. It is about the radical commitment to being a mentsch. Someone may be meticulously observant of every law, but if their heart remains closed to the suffering of others, the ritual is like a song without a melody.
Being a good Jew means living a life of Chesed — active, transformative kindness. It is found in the Eilu Devarim, a prayer recited daily in the morning service, the deeds that have no fixed measure but change the temperature of the world: caring for the lonely, visiting the sick, celebrating with a new couple, respectfully mourning the dead, and honoring our elders through the integrity of our own lives.
We are living in such divided, heavy times. When fear whispers to us to pull inward and lock our doors, our tradition commands us to do the opposite: to bring forth the light. We recognize that a better day will not dawn on its own; it requires our sacred hands to pull the sun over the horizon.
How we treat the stranger, how we protect the vulnerable, and how we plant seeds for the generations to come — this is what it means to be a good Jew.
And so, as we gather at our seder tables this Passover, may we recommit ourselves to our Divinely inspired purpose and place in the world. May we choose, again and again, to be redeemers — and not Pharaohs.
Am Yisrael Chai & a Zissen Pesach to all.
Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner is the Senior Rabbi for Temple Beth Tikvah in Roswell.