Special Parshiyot

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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >