by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

One of the fascinating points about the Sanctuary service is the way they disposed of the ashes from the Altar. Each morning a Kohein would take a small portion of ash from yesterday’s sacrifices, and would place it next to the Altar. Afterwards the Kohein would remove the rest of the ash and place it outside the Sanctuary area. The ritual of disposing the ash seems very intentional. What is the lesson contained in this mitzvah?

Rav Hirsch explains that our attitudes to yesterday’s events color the way we live our lives. There are people who literally live in the past. They get bogged down by the ups and downs of yesterday, and expend precious energy dealing with events that have past. Others simply move to the future without gaining from their experiences. A perfect illustration is the teacher who asked for a raise because she had 15 years of experience. The principal is said to have answered, “You have only one year of experience, but it was repeated 14 times.”

Says Rav Hirsch: the way that the ash of yesterday was removed is the way we should live our lives. The small portion of ash that the Kohein removed and saved, symbolizes how we must treasure the lessons of yesterday. But the remainder of the ash was dealt with differently. The remaining ash was removed so the new day would have a clear playing field. “Leave behind yesterday’s baggage,” the mitzvah declares, “but take with you its lessons in the form of life experience.”

A number of years ago I was in the office of a great Jew, and I saw that he had a jar full of pennies. Thinking that he collected pennies, I offered to add a few of my own to his collection. “Not so simple, my friend,” he told me. “You see, I only add one penny a day. At the end of the day, if I feel that it was a day well spent, then I add a penny.”

I never asked the Rabbi where he got the idea for this interesting exercise, but I suspect that he got the idea from this mitzvah. Each night he would think about the day, and he would deposit a penny if it was a day well spent. The vast majority of yesterday’s ups and downs must be discarded. But a precious amount is saved. We call it life experience.

In just one week Jews throughout the world will sit down to  recite the haggadah. You may wonder: What exactly is the haggadah? The haggadah is a record of the collective Jewish experience. Whether in Jerusalem just after the Temple’s destruction, in Spain at the time of the expulsion, or more recently in Germany and in Russia during difficult times, the haggadah has seen it all.

When you will sit down to the seder, make sure to focus your attention on that precious book. If we were to allocate just one penny for every year that the haggadah has been around, many large containers would be filled. Glean what you can from its precious teachings. Then you too, will be able to add a penny to your “jar”. A penny a day for a day well lived. A penny for your thoughts.