Last Days of Pesah – 5779
|
25
04, 2019
17
04, 2019
First Days of Pesah – 5779
Hametz of the Soul: The Yeast Within
A D’var Torah for the first days of Pesah
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)
“And what prevents us from performing Your will? It is the yeast in the dough.” Rabbi Alexandri
The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), one of our greatest rabbis, provided an important answer to a question which each of us may ask from time to time.
“Why are we here?”
Indeed, we navigate our lives, apply our God-given talents, interact with others, but ultimately what is the purpose of it all?
The Vilna Gaon considered this question, and suggested that, simply stated, the purpose of life is to turn ourselves into something better.
In his commentary on the Book of Proverbs – the Vilna Gaon expanded on verse 4:13 which reads “hold fast to discipline; do not let it go; Keep it. It is your life.”
And how did he interpret the phrase “it is your life?” The Vilna Gaon noted: Read More >
28
03, 2018
Pesah 5778
Shir haShirim and the Kodesh Kodashim: Two Holies of Holies
A D’var Torah for Pesah
by Rabbi Jill Hammer
I once had the privilege of being at a Torah service led by rabbi and chantress Shefa Gold. At the service, she unrolled a scroll of the words of Shir haShirim, a scroll she had created to make the point that the Song of Songs is its own Torah. Rabbi Akiva famously said that: “all the scriptures are holy, and the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies!” (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5). One might say that just as we approach the Holy of Holies during the autumn new year via the story of the high priest’s entry into the sanctum during the Yom Kippur ritual, so we approach the Holy of Holies at the spring new year (Pesah) via the Song of Songs. There is a long-standing practice to read the section of Leviticus describing Read More >
12
04, 2017
Hol Hamoed Pesah
Miriam the Healer
Rabbi Jill Hammer
As we approach the seventh day of Pesach, when we read the narrative of crossing of the Sea, I am thinking of the prophetess Miriam, who dances and sings to celebrate the crossing and the victory of YHWH. At my own seder, I have long had a cup of Miriam, filled with fresh water to represent the well of water that followed Miriam through the wilderness, quenching the thirst of the wandering people (cf: Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 9a). This custom, invented by contemporary Jewish women, gives me great pleasure, as Miriam is a role model of mine. Yet I did not know how intimately Miriam is associated with protection and healing, and with the salt water of the sea.
Recently, as I have read about Sephardic Jewish women’s prayers and rituals, I have learned that the veneration of Miriam is especially deep in Sephardic Jewish traditions of Read More >
7
04, 2017
Passover
by Rabbi Isaac Mann
One of the key principles that the Haggadah follows in recounting the story of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is “matchil be’genut u’mesayim be’shevah” (literally, “one begins with the disgrace and ends with the glory”), i.e. one starts with the negative or low point of our history and concludes with the positive. What is the negative? On this Rav and Shmuel disagree, as recorded in the Talmud (Pesahim 116a) – “Rav said that one should begin by saying: At first our forefathers were idol worshippers, before concluding with words of glory. And Shmuel said: The disgrace with which one should begin his answer is: We were slaves.
It would appear that by following this order, whether according to Rav or Shmuel, we are focusing our attention on the glorious outcome of the Exodus story, namely our emancipation from Egypt and achievement of freedom. By starting out with what we were in the beginning, Read More >
8
03, 2017
Parashat Tetzaveh-Shabbat Zachor-Purim
What It Means To Be Godfearing: Parashat Tetzaveh/Shabbat Zachor/Purim
Rabbi Jill Hammer
Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you left Egypt; how he happened upon you on the road and harassed you at the rear, all the stragglers that followed after you, when you were tired and weary, and he did not fear God. (Deut. 25:17-18)
The sages connect the Book of Esther to the story of Amalek, the tribe that attacked the Hebrews as they left Egypt. Deuteronomy identifies the people of Amalek with a particular kind of evil: attack on the vulnerable. Amalek does not attack the warriors of the Hebrews; he attacks weary, tired refugees from Egypt at the rear of the line: the infirm, the old, the parents with children who cannot walk quickly. Amalek demonstrates a complete lack of empathy for people who have suffered and have no strength to fight back, seeing in this situation Read More >
9
06, 2016
Shavuot
by Rabbi Isaac Mann
The Rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud refer to the holiday of Shavuot not by its usual Biblical name — Hag ha-Shavuot — but by the term Atzeret (see e.g. Rosh Hashanah 16a and Pesahim 68b), which is used in the Torah to refer to Shemini Atzeret and to the seventh day of Pesah (Num. 29:35 and Deut. 16:8, resp.). While there are several interpretations among Jewish commentators as to why the Rabbis eschewed the Biblical and more common name and instead used a new designation for the Holiday of Weeks, my favorite is one that I heard from my revered teacher Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik z”l, affectionately called “the Rav” by his students and followers.
On several occasions the Rav suggested that the Rabbis were eager to show a strong nexus between the holidays of Pesah and Shavuot in order to emphasize the notion that the physical freedom achieved by Read More >
27
04, 2016
The Last Days of Pesah
by Rabbi Isaac Mann
Many commentators on the Haggadah have pointed to the apparent contradictory symbolism of the matzah at the Seder table. On the one hand, we start the Maggid (telling of the story) section with referring to the matzah as hah lahma anya — this is the bread of affliction — symbolizing the bread that the Israelites ate in Egypt during their slavery. On the other hand, as we get to the end of the Maggid and we quote Rabban Gamliel’s famous explanations for the basic ritual items at the Seder, we observe that the matzah is the bread that the Children of Israel ate when they left Egypt in haste, thus making it a symbol of freedom and liberation from slavery.
Well, which is it? The simple answer is both. To distinguish between the dual symbolism, we point to a broken matzah as the lahma anya and to a whole matzah Read More >
22
04, 2016
Passover
The Four Cups and the Four Children: A Meditative Journey for Passover
“I will take you out, I will save you, I will redeem you, I will take you to be my people.”
Four promises of the Exodus, represented by the four cups.
The Torah speaks of four children: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask.
Passover Haggadah
Closing your eyes, take three breaths and find yourself at a seder table. You may be alone or there may be people with you. There are not yet any cups for the seder on the table.
The wise child, the hakham or hakhamah, enters the room and brings you the first cup for the seder. Notice whether the wise child is familiar or unfamiliar, as well as all the other attirbutes of this child. Notice what kind of cup it is that the wise child brings you. If it seems right to Read More >
15
04, 2016
Parashat Metzora-Shabbat Hagadol
by Cantor Sandy Horowitz
With all the preparations involved in getting ready for Pesah, the Shabbat preceding the holiday can tend to feel like a disruption; we know that we ought to savor the Shabbat-time, but it often feels more like something we’d rather “pass over” in our efforts to get to the first Seder on time.
But this is Shabbat Hagadol, the Great Shabbat. The very name calls to us, inviting us to stop and reflect.
One of the reasons for the name of Shabbat Hagadol comes from the Haftarah reading for this Shabbat. This is in keeping with other special Shabbatot whose names are derived from the Haftarah reading of that week (Shabbat Nahamu, Shabbat Shuva, etc.). On Shabbat Hagadol we read in Malachi 3:23: “Hinei anokhi sholeah lakhem et Eliya hanavi lifnei bo yom Adonai hagadol vehanora…” (“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day Read More >
