Special Parshiyot Archives | Page 8 of 8 | Academy for Jewish Religion

29 03, 2007

Passover 2007

ahsilver2007-03-29T07:54:29-04:00

Appreciating Freedom
By Neal L. Spevack

How can one fully appreciate freedom?

The abstention from eating hametz (leavened bread products) is a symbolic activity designed to help us appreciate our freedom. And the absence and presence of hametz in the house can be thought of as a symbol of the morally right and wrong choices acted upon in our life. In the Passover holiday we imagine ourselves as slaves. `Avadim hayinu, “we were slaves,” is the first response in the Haggadah to the Four Questions that the youngest family member recites at the Seder table.

In the home the seder observance of Passover is filled with symbols such as the four cups of wine, the four questions, the four sons, karpas (vegetables), the shank bone, the roasted egg, salt water, matzah, maror (bitter herbs) and so on. One symbol, the salt water, reminds us of the tears of our ancestors as they experienced Read More >

Passover 2007ahsilver2007-03-29T07:54:29-04:00

13 12, 2006

Hannukah

ahsilver2006-12-13T08:47:12-05:00

Learning from Latkes
By Hayley Mica Siegel

A flurry of spinning dreidels, the subtle jingle of chocolate gelt bags, the prominent displays of sufganiot (jelly donuts) in bakery windows, and the radio’s blasting of Adam Sandler’s ‘The Hannukah Song’ signify that Hannukah is around the corner. Although Hannukah is found in the Apocrypha and not in the Tanakh, the Jewish communities’ celebration of the Hasmoneans’ (Maccabees’) victory over the Greeks in 161 BC has become one of the most beloved and well-known holidays in the Jewish calendar. Although the Hasmoneans’ struggle for religious sovereignty and autonomy handily provide topics such as assimilation, the freedom to practice Judaism, and the Menorah’s origins in the Torah for stimulating discussion, these important subjects commonly get swept under the rug in the midst of giving, receiving and buying Hannukah gifts and presents for the eight nights of the hag.

However, while the desires for ‘material’ accoutrements burn brighter Read More >

Hannukahahsilver2006-12-13T08:47:12-05:00

9 10, 2006

Shmini Atzeret

ahsilver2006-10-09T08:05:58-04:00

Shemini Atzeret/Simhat Torah
Neal L. Spevack

Shemini Atzeret is observed on the 22nd of Tishrei or the eighth day of Sukkot but is considered a separate holiday. Outside of Israel, Simhat Torah is on the subsequent, ninth day. Shemini Atzeret has its initial source in Lev. 23:36 ‘Seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the Lord; it is a solemn gathering you shall not work at your occupations.’ It is also stated in Num. 29:35, ‘On the eighth day you shall hold a solemn gathering you shall not work at your occupations.’

Shemini Atzeret is an agriculturally based holiday. Israel had no rivers like the Nile or the Tigris and Euphrates. Israel’s rainfall only came in the winter. Ancient Israel completed its harvest on Sukkot, and the rain followed to renew the ground Read More >

Shmini Atzeretahsilver2006-10-09T08:05:58-04:00

3 10, 2006

Sukkot 5767

ahsilver2006-10-03T08:19:59-04:00

Sukkkot: Stepping Outside of Our Comfort Zones
By Hayley Mica Siegel

Almost as much as the Jew looks forward to Shabbat after a busy week, it is certain that the entire Jewish community lets out a collective sigh of relief during the celebration of Sukkot. After ten days of praying, fasting, repenting, and reflecting, we shift our gears into celebration mode. Immediately following the intense periods of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are instructed to prepare for Sukkot, a joyous ‘hag‘ (holiday). Required to abstain from labor during the first and last days of the festival, we learn about the specifics of the celebration in Vayikra. (Leviticus 23:40-42) In the Torah, we read that Hashem commands the Israelites to, ‘take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree, the branches of a date palm, twigs of a plated tree, and brook willows . . . you shall Read More >

Sukkot 5767ahsilver2006-10-03T08:19:59-04:00

1 10, 2006

Sukkot

ahsilver2006-10-01T07:47:19-04:00

Stepping Outside of Our Comfort Zones
By Hayley Mica Siegel

Almost as much as the Jew looks forward to Shabbat after a busy week, it is certain that the entire Jewish community lets out a collective sigh of relief during the celebration of Sukkot. After ten days of praying, fasting, repenting, and reflecting, we shift our gears into celebration mode. Immediately following the intense periods of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are instructed to prepare for Sukkot, a joyous ‘hag‘ (holiday). Required to abstain from labor during the first and last days of the festival, we learn about the specifics of the celebration in Vayikra. (Leviticus 23:40-42) In the Torah, we read that Hashem commands the Israelites to, ‘take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree, the branches of a date palm, twigs of a plated tree, and brook willows’you shall dwell in booths for a Read More >

Sukkotahsilver2006-10-01T07:47:19-04:00

8 09, 2006

Rosh HaShanah

ahsilver2006-09-08T13:44:57-04:00

What Will You Be Wearing?
By Peg Kershenbaum

I remember how my brother and I used to get new clothes for the holidays: something new for Rosh Ha-Shanah and something else new for Pesah (by which time we would have grown). It was difficult for my mother to pick out clothes that would fit us and fit the family budget. Even though I would get school clothes during the same outing, I would save three dresses for Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. (Yes, believe it or not, there was a time when we had to wear dresses or skirts to school and to shul!)

I was never much of a ‘fashion plate’, but seeing the new clothes in my closet always made me anticipate the holidays eagerly. I wanted to look my best. Yom Tov was a time when I felt pretty and special and accepted and a little proud, all at Read More >

Rosh HaShanahahsilver2006-09-08T13:44:57-04:00

27 06, 2006

Sukkot

ahsilver2006-06-27T00:33:42-04:00

Sukkot
By Margaret Frisch Klein

The words of Qohelet that we read during Sukkot are haunting, ‘To everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die . . . A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.’ It became the popular hit ‘Turn, Turn, Turn,’ in the sixties when the Birds set it to music, which you can still hear on the radio, mostly on oldies stations.

There is a beautiful niggun, part of our daily evening service, ‘Ufros Alenu Sukkat Shlomecha’”Spread over us the shelter, the sukkah of Your Divine peace,’ that is also haunting and appropriate for Sukkot. That prayer recognizes the fragility of peace and of shelter. This Sukkot more than ever, in the wake of Katrina, Rita and the even more recent devastating earthquakes, we need to make this connection from the spiritual realm Read More >

Sukkotahsilver2006-06-27T00:33:42-04:00

1 06, 2006

Shavuot

ahsilver2006-06-01T07:24:50-04:00

By Jonathan Zimet

On Shavuot we recall, and re-enact, the revelation
event of our history. There, in the desert, we see a
large group of ex-slaves, traveling by foot. Then,
on just three days notice, they experience something
so awesome that it had to transcend our usual
physical senses. Dark clouds, blinding flashes of
light; deafening voices and silent voices.

The account relates: “V’khol ha-`am ro-im et ha-
kolot v?et ha-lapidim“, the entire people saw the
thunder (and fires) (Ex. 20:14). Such an experience
is so overwhelming and transcendent that we cannot
make complete sense of it or translate it with our
usual senses. Similar descriptions have been
reported in prophetic visions and in near-death
experiences, where activity in our physical organs is
largely suspended.

Clearly, our people directly encountered God in what
became the transcendent and defining experience in
our history. God engraved a covenant Read More >

Shavuotahsilver2006-06-01T07:24:50-04:00

4 05, 2006

Passover 2006

ahsilver2006-05-04T11:29:52-04:00

You! Open Up for Them!
By Rabbi David Greenstein

One of the famous sections of the traditional Haggadah’the Passover discussion of the Exodus that takes place at the seder’is the description of the questions of the Four Children and the suggested responses to them. Roughly translated, the four children are: the wise one, the wicked one, the simple one and the one who does not know how to ask.

This section has had much attention devoted to it in the
voluminous literature that has developed around the themes of the Haggadah. Especially today, with our concerns for Jewish continuity and the multiplicity of ways that people have adopted as their own expressions of Jewish identity, there has been a lot of discussion around ways of understanding these ‘types.’ One problem has been to fruitfully use these constructs without falling into the trap of stereotyping people.

But even more particularly problematic is the image of the Read More >

Passover 2006ahsilver2006-05-04T11:29:52-04:00

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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