1. Shabbat Shalom
2. As the Book of Vayikra\Leviticus comes to an end, we find a series of laws concerning the relationship between the farmers and the land. Six years we are allowed to till the soil but on the seventh year, we are to let the fields remain fallow. After seven of these sabbatical years, there is a Jubilee year where not only the land is not sown but the farm slaves get to go free as well.
3. On the one hand, this is one of the most important texts in the Torah. The idea that freedom is not just something to be treasured but that it is a divine right for all human beings. We are told to “proclaim liberty to all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Even the land is to be set free from its crop rotations. Indeed, it is said that the reason the Canaanites were driven from the land was because they did not let the land have its sabbaticals. The Torah is specific; if Jews don't give the land its time, then they too will be thrown off of the land.
4. But there is a dark side to these laws as well. Try to imagine, if you will, about what a modern representative from a farm state would say about such a law today! I can hear him now, “What!! What is this Torah that would tell me when and where I can plant my crops? What kind of a God would have the nerve to tell me when to plant and when to leave the land fallow? I have been farming this land my whole life. I grew up on a farm. My father was a farmer like his father before him. This Government has to get out of my hair and let me go about my business.”
5. It is a difficult question, however, about what kind of a God tells us when we can plant and when we should refrain from planting. This kind of a law does not sound like it is a religious issue at all. Dedicating some of the harvest as a tithe may be a religious requirement, but not planting at all? What are we supposed to eat if we don't plant any crops? Are we supposed to rely on God for our sustenance? How is that supposed to work?
6. Some people might say that we are supposed to live, during that sixth year, on our faith. That if we have the faith that God will not let us starve, then we will find that we do have what we need to live in the sabbatical year. And yet our tradition tells us that our lives should not rely on miracles. Like the man who prays to win the lottery but does not buy a ticket, or the congregation who gathers to pray for rain but nobody has enough faith to bring an umbrella.
7. Some would say that this is an example of how God tells us to do things for our own good. That the reason God has us keep our fields fallow every sixth year is because it lets the nutrients in the soil replenish. But now that we have modern fertilizers and up to date farming techniques, we no longer really need to keep these Torah laws. You see, they say, we are better farmers than God. Is God just about educating our ignorant ancestors? It is a matter of pride that we are too modern to need a God like this.
8. There are pious people who might look at these laws and say, “I don't know why God does not allow us to plant in the seventh year, but if we are smart, it is not a wise idea to get God angry. God could send us blight to destroy our crops, or disease to strike down all those needed to harvest the fields. If we plant in the seventh year, God will send invaders and criminals to burn our cities and steal all our grain. If we plant when we are not supposed to, then God will “get us” for our disobedience.
9. This is the way that it has been for many centuries. Making sense of the Torah and of Jewish Law all boils down to what kind of a God we believe in. Is our God a god who would test our faith, forcing us to rely on a miracle? Or is our God one who teaches us good science and then gets out of the way? Maybe our God is a punishing god, looking for an excuse to bring down on our heads the wrath of heaven? Which of these Gods would you want to make your own?
10. The problem with these answers is that they all depend on a God who knows everything, who is all powerful and who is everywhere at the same time. Only pagans think that the gods can be sleeping. Only idols can be limited to a particular place or time There can be no power greater than our God and there can be no knowledge that is unknown to our God. God loves us and cares about us and must be committed to providing for our needs. Is this not what we see when we think of God: sitting on a throne in heaven, omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent; looking down on the earth and establishing justice for all of God's creatures?
11. Everyone knows someone who has a problem with this way of envisioning God. It is to be expected, I guess, since this is the God we learned about as children in Religious School. But as we grow, we discover problems with the old man in heaven. We find that sometimes we don't get what we pray for. That sometimes God does not answer our prayers. We discover that bad things happen to really good people and the wicked seem to elude punishment. We wonder, why we should believe in God if God can't be like Santa Claus, giving us all the goodies we want? If God does not deliver to us what our hearts desire, then what good is He? God may have all the power, but God can't command us to love Him.
12. There is a different way of looking at God, and a more mature way of considering what God can be in our lives. The first step in finding our way back to God, to finding a more spiritual way of understanding God, depends on us being able to see ourselves and our place in the world differently. We think of our selves as strong and independent. Yet we know that we are the result of the work of many people in our lives. Our lives have turned out according to the way we were taught by parents, teachers, clergy and friends. We are hardly independent; we have always relied on others and we still rely on others in our daily lives. As long as we are learning and growing, we depend on each other. We are not people who exist, we are “events” we are the ever changing result of all the experiences of every moment in our lives. We have created our own selves by the decisions we have made, and those same decisions help us create our own world as well. Every time we make a decision, we choose in the present, how the past will shape our future.
13. In this model of humanity, God is found in our decisions. Remember what we read at the end of the book of Devarim? The Torah teaches us that God gives us a choice every day, to do good or bad, to choose life or death. We are commanded to choose life. These are very confusing verses. After all, God wants us to do good, but we are given the choice to do evil. Why can't an all powerful God at least help us make good decisions? Also, what kind of a choice is life and death? Can we think of anyone who would choose to die?
14. When we consider that God can be found in our decisions, these verses become clearer. God does not make the decisions, we do. God wants us to choose well, but we have to make the choice. Each choice we make defines who we are today and helps shape our future. But God cannot know our future any more than we can know our future. The future depends on the choices me make at every moment in the present. If we choose well or if we choose poorly, we then go on to the next choice. Teshuva is our ability to make better choices. We always have the freedom to choose good and not bad. And if we wonder why anyone would choose death over life, we only need to point to those who choose to drive a car when they are impaired, or who choose to smoke a cigarette when they know the health hazards, or those who choose to ignore speed limits and traffic lights. We live by our choices and God is found in how we choose.
15. When we choose the good, God is happy, when we choose poorly, God is sad. If many people choose poorly, God can regret what God has created. When bad things happen to good people, it makes God and good people both sad and angry and we want to repair this flaw in the universe. On the other hand, when we see justice done, for example the demise of Osama bin Laden, even after ten years, God and humans are happy. When people make terrible choices they bring much chaos into the world. Good people making good decisions, however, brings God into the world and pushes back the chaos so that it cannot overwhelm us.
16. This is not kid stuff anymore. This is an adult God, one whom adults can learn about and learn from, a God that cares about us and about the world. This is an understanding of God who does not punish us for sins but who wants us to avoid sin and chaos so we can grow and learn and live better everyday. This is a way to find God in acts of kindness and compassion.
17. Teaching theology in a sermon is always a very complicated lesson. It is only possible to hint at the possibilities of what God could mean to our daily lives and to our spiritual lives if we were to consider God in a different light. This is why I am offering a short summer learning series, after Shul on Shabbat to talk about the God we believe in and the way we can bring that God into our lives. On three Shabbatot in a row, May 28, June 4 and June 11, in the weeks before and after Shavuot, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah, we will learn, over lunch, what it means to believe in God and how that belief can color all that we do. Call the synagogue office during the week to make your Lunch and Learn reservations.
18. One of my teachers compares learning about God to painting his living room. It was a hideous shade of green. They asked about painting it white but the painter looked at the walls and said, “I think that under this paint is some real wood. Three days later, after much sandblasting and varnishing, a beautiful wood wall was there for all to see and appreciate. So too, we have struggled so long trying to understand God as the immovable force in the universe, but maybe, underneath the centuries of accumulated philosophy and paint, there is a beautiful room, waiting for us to uncover its secrets. Join us starting on May 28 and bring the ancient beauty and wisdom of Jewish theology into your home and into your life.
SHABBAT SHALOM
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Parshat Emor
1. Shabbat Shalom
2. A few weeks before an important election, three university professors went on a fishing trip high up in the wilderness of Alaska. One professor was a research physician, one was a geologist and the third was an astronomer. As they sat in their boat and fished, they talked about how evolution has changed biology over thousands of years. They talked about the ages of the rocks that were found in the mountains towering above them. They talked about the vast distances between the stars and galaxies.
3. Through all these discussions, the fishing guide who piloted their boat, sat in silence and listened to the conversations of the professors. Finally, he broke his silence with a flood of questions for the teachers. “Are the rocks really that old? How many millions of years did it take for human beings to evolve? Are the stars really that many billions of years away? Is everything around us just a small part of something that is so inconceivably vast and ancient?” The professors patiently answered all his questions and when he finally digested all these ideas he said, “Then I guess it really won't make much of a difference who wins the election.”
4. As candidates for President of the United States begin to consider a run for office, and Congress and the State Legislature debate the large issues that divide us, it is important to remember that in the vast reach of time and space, all too soon, the debates and conflict will be forgotten and the issues of our day will fade into an inconsequential moment in history. For many of us here, we don't need to be university professors to understand this. We can just look back over the years of our lives. What used to be so important to us, has faded into the background and what we concern ourselves with today would have been unimaginable to us forty years ago. Rabbi Jack Riemer teaches that when he was younger, he was impressed with clever people, now he appreciates people who are kind. Years pass by as a dream and we discover that most of what we spend our time on is of little lasting importance. That Osama bin Laden was killed is important. To see a picture of his dead body, whether or not he was armed, put up a fight, whether or not the Pakistani government knew he was there or not, these will be forgotten in just days, when something new will come along and we will wonder why we spend so much time discussing it as if it mattered to the grand scheme of the universe. There may have been a “wedding of the century” in England, but will anyone still remember it a century from now?
5. But if elections and the news do not matter over the course of history, then what does matter? What makes a difference in the vast halls of time? Clearly this is a moment we can reflect on the Torah. Over thousands of years, our ancestors, our parents and our people, have turned to Torah to answer the great questions of life in a very deep and spiritual way. This week, the Parsha seems to address something as simple as the calendar, but even in a listing of holiday dates, there is much that is important that the Torah comes to teach us. So what does Parshat Emor have to say about the eternal essence of life?
6. The Torah teaches us that one day can be wasted time, or it can be sacred time. A day can make no difference or it can make all the difference in the world. If we think back over our lives, we can recall certain days that were very important in our lives. Some of those days we made important. The day we got married is a day we always remember. The day our children were born or were brought home is a day that is never forgotten. Each of us remembers one birthday or one anniversary that was special because we were with people we loved and they made our day unforgettable. We may not recall all the wasted days in our lives, but we do remember those where we had to rise above our surroundings. If we served in the armed forces during war, we may clearly remember the details of battles we once fought for our country. We may remember the fear of sitting in our homes as a hurricane battered our community. Maybe we have survived a fire, a terrible accident or a dangerous situation. Maybe our memories are focused on remembering the death of someone we loved, our parents, a spouse, or maybe a child. On these kinds of days, minutes turn into hours and a day turns into an eternity. The events of these days are etched permanently into the granite of memory.
7. Little things sometimes play a big part of what remains important long after time has past. An act of kindness that someone shared with us is not soon forgotten. I was trying to remove a tree that had fallen in my yard after a hurricane. My son and I were taking turns chopping it with an ax. A man from the neighborhood came by, saw us working and offered to bring his chain saw. Within a few moments, what would have taken us all day, was quickly turned into a small pile of firewood. I offered to pay the man but he refused and explained, “I once ran out of gas on a dark and rainy night and walking the two miles to the gas station, nobody stopped to give me a hand. I decided then and there to offer my help whenever it was needed. I am glad I was able to help.” I was glad too and I have never forgotten him. The first time I put a sandwich into the hand of a homeless man who had not eaten at all that day, I saw a smile that remains impossible to forget. I am sure that you have such memories as well.
8. The calendar in our Parsha inspires us to see time in a sacred way. Every day is important but the seventh day is holy. Every week is important but the seven weeks of the Omer are to be lovingly counted. Every month is important but the seventh month, with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot is a very holy month. Every year is important but the seventh year is a holy time where debts are canceled and the land is allowed its sabbatical rest. Every seven year cycle is important but at the end of seven of these sabbatical cycles, the fiftieth year is so holy that all slaves are released and freedom is proclaimed throughout the land. Day after day we mark holy time. Pesach reminds us of how God redeemed us from Egypt. Shavuot reminds us of the day we met God at Mount Sinai and the Torah which is the record of that meeting. Sukkot reminds us of how God was with us as we journeyed through the wilderness.
9. Compared to the vastness of the universe, our lives seem so small and trivial but the Torah reminds us that who we are and what we do does make a difference. Every little effort we make to ease the burden of someone else ripples through time. For my neighbor, a cold rainy night turned into a lifetime of helping others. There is a story of the Indian holy man, Mahatma Gandhi, who, when he was a young man, was traveling to New Delhi by train. When he arrived in the busy central railroad station, he found that he had been robbed. His wallet was gone and he had no idea how he would find a place to stay and how he would get a bite to eat. He sat despondent in the train station until a stranger found him and asked him, “What is wrong?” Gandhi told him his story. The man then bought dinner for the hungry student and gave him some money to get to a hotel and stay for the night, so he could contact his parents and they could make arrangements to get the student what he needed. Gandhi was elated and asked the man for his name to pay him back. The man refused to give his name. He said, “Once I arrived in this station and found that someone had stolen my wallet. A stranger came up to me and bought me dinner and helped me on my way. Now I come to this station looking for young men who were like me, and I pass on the kindness he gave me to others”. One act of kindness, a lifetime ago, made the difference in the life of Gandhi and that kind act colored all of Gandhi's life as well.
10. A friend of mine lost both of his parents within a week of each other. His life fell apart. Michelle and I tried our best to help him at that difficult time. We were only students then so we could only invite him for Shabbat dinner, help him with the many issues he had to face in resolving his parents estate and, since he was a student also, help him by bringing home his homework and making sure he did not fall behind in his classes. A year later he was telling other students how he survived this terrible year. He mentioned our name in passing. I said to him, “What did we do? There was so much you had to do and we felt so helpless”. He looked at us puzzled and said, “What did you do? Why you did everything, I would not have made it through the year without you.” “But what we did was so little!” “What you did I will never forget.”
11. We have to go through life as if each day is significant and important; that this is the day that we will do that one thing or experience that one event that will change our life and the lives of others. It is as if that one moment we are a messenger from the Holy One, delivering our message to someone in need, or in that moment we are receiving a message from God that we have been waiting for our whole life. It may last only an instant, but the meaning of our whole life may be revealed in that moment.
12. There is so much around us that is trivial and, in the scope of the universe, insignificant. But there can be so much more in our lives if we can open ourselves to the possibilities that come with a spiritual life. Yes, it is possible to spend a day down by the clubhouse pool, with friends telling jokes, sharing stories and maybe a bit of gossip that is going around the community. But life can be much more than that. We can drive a neighbor to the doctor or to shul on Shabbat. We can visit someone who is sick and in need of our healing touch and our kind word. We can add to our shopping list the list of a friend who can't get out to the store. We can say a kind word to anyone who seems to be having a bad day. We can give some cold water to a service man who is working out in the hot sun. We can be a friend to someone who just needs a friend.
13. It may not make a difference in the grand scheme of things, who wins the election, but it does matter each and every time we show someone else that we care about them, their feelings, their wants and their needs. A little kindness can go a long way; it can go on to the end of the universe and exist until the end of time.
May we bring joy and light into the darkest places and may our love for each other and for God fill every moment in time and every point in the cosmos as we say Amen and Shabbat Shalom
2. A few weeks before an important election, three university professors went on a fishing trip high up in the wilderness of Alaska. One professor was a research physician, one was a geologist and the third was an astronomer. As they sat in their boat and fished, they talked about how evolution has changed biology over thousands of years. They talked about the ages of the rocks that were found in the mountains towering above them. They talked about the vast distances between the stars and galaxies.
3. Through all these discussions, the fishing guide who piloted their boat, sat in silence and listened to the conversations of the professors. Finally, he broke his silence with a flood of questions for the teachers. “Are the rocks really that old? How many millions of years did it take for human beings to evolve? Are the stars really that many billions of years away? Is everything around us just a small part of something that is so inconceivably vast and ancient?” The professors patiently answered all his questions and when he finally digested all these ideas he said, “Then I guess it really won't make much of a difference who wins the election.”
4. As candidates for President of the United States begin to consider a run for office, and Congress and the State Legislature debate the large issues that divide us, it is important to remember that in the vast reach of time and space, all too soon, the debates and conflict will be forgotten and the issues of our day will fade into an inconsequential moment in history. For many of us here, we don't need to be university professors to understand this. We can just look back over the years of our lives. What used to be so important to us, has faded into the background and what we concern ourselves with today would have been unimaginable to us forty years ago. Rabbi Jack Riemer teaches that when he was younger, he was impressed with clever people, now he appreciates people who are kind. Years pass by as a dream and we discover that most of what we spend our time on is of little lasting importance. That Osama bin Laden was killed is important. To see a picture of his dead body, whether or not he was armed, put up a fight, whether or not the Pakistani government knew he was there or not, these will be forgotten in just days, when something new will come along and we will wonder why we spend so much time discussing it as if it mattered to the grand scheme of the universe. There may have been a “wedding of the century” in England, but will anyone still remember it a century from now?
5. But if elections and the news do not matter over the course of history, then what does matter? What makes a difference in the vast halls of time? Clearly this is a moment we can reflect on the Torah. Over thousands of years, our ancestors, our parents and our people, have turned to Torah to answer the great questions of life in a very deep and spiritual way. This week, the Parsha seems to address something as simple as the calendar, but even in a listing of holiday dates, there is much that is important that the Torah comes to teach us. So what does Parshat Emor have to say about the eternal essence of life?
6. The Torah teaches us that one day can be wasted time, or it can be sacred time. A day can make no difference or it can make all the difference in the world. If we think back over our lives, we can recall certain days that were very important in our lives. Some of those days we made important. The day we got married is a day we always remember. The day our children were born or were brought home is a day that is never forgotten. Each of us remembers one birthday or one anniversary that was special because we were with people we loved and they made our day unforgettable. We may not recall all the wasted days in our lives, but we do remember those where we had to rise above our surroundings. If we served in the armed forces during war, we may clearly remember the details of battles we once fought for our country. We may remember the fear of sitting in our homes as a hurricane battered our community. Maybe we have survived a fire, a terrible accident or a dangerous situation. Maybe our memories are focused on remembering the death of someone we loved, our parents, a spouse, or maybe a child. On these kinds of days, minutes turn into hours and a day turns into an eternity. The events of these days are etched permanently into the granite of memory.
7. Little things sometimes play a big part of what remains important long after time has past. An act of kindness that someone shared with us is not soon forgotten. I was trying to remove a tree that had fallen in my yard after a hurricane. My son and I were taking turns chopping it with an ax. A man from the neighborhood came by, saw us working and offered to bring his chain saw. Within a few moments, what would have taken us all day, was quickly turned into a small pile of firewood. I offered to pay the man but he refused and explained, “I once ran out of gas on a dark and rainy night and walking the two miles to the gas station, nobody stopped to give me a hand. I decided then and there to offer my help whenever it was needed. I am glad I was able to help.” I was glad too and I have never forgotten him. The first time I put a sandwich into the hand of a homeless man who had not eaten at all that day, I saw a smile that remains impossible to forget. I am sure that you have such memories as well.
8. The calendar in our Parsha inspires us to see time in a sacred way. Every day is important but the seventh day is holy. Every week is important but the seven weeks of the Omer are to be lovingly counted. Every month is important but the seventh month, with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot is a very holy month. Every year is important but the seventh year is a holy time where debts are canceled and the land is allowed its sabbatical rest. Every seven year cycle is important but at the end of seven of these sabbatical cycles, the fiftieth year is so holy that all slaves are released and freedom is proclaimed throughout the land. Day after day we mark holy time. Pesach reminds us of how God redeemed us from Egypt. Shavuot reminds us of the day we met God at Mount Sinai and the Torah which is the record of that meeting. Sukkot reminds us of how God was with us as we journeyed through the wilderness.
9. Compared to the vastness of the universe, our lives seem so small and trivial but the Torah reminds us that who we are and what we do does make a difference. Every little effort we make to ease the burden of someone else ripples through time. For my neighbor, a cold rainy night turned into a lifetime of helping others. There is a story of the Indian holy man, Mahatma Gandhi, who, when he was a young man, was traveling to New Delhi by train. When he arrived in the busy central railroad station, he found that he had been robbed. His wallet was gone and he had no idea how he would find a place to stay and how he would get a bite to eat. He sat despondent in the train station until a stranger found him and asked him, “What is wrong?” Gandhi told him his story. The man then bought dinner for the hungry student and gave him some money to get to a hotel and stay for the night, so he could contact his parents and they could make arrangements to get the student what he needed. Gandhi was elated and asked the man for his name to pay him back. The man refused to give his name. He said, “Once I arrived in this station and found that someone had stolen my wallet. A stranger came up to me and bought me dinner and helped me on my way. Now I come to this station looking for young men who were like me, and I pass on the kindness he gave me to others”. One act of kindness, a lifetime ago, made the difference in the life of Gandhi and that kind act colored all of Gandhi's life as well.
10. A friend of mine lost both of his parents within a week of each other. His life fell apart. Michelle and I tried our best to help him at that difficult time. We were only students then so we could only invite him for Shabbat dinner, help him with the many issues he had to face in resolving his parents estate and, since he was a student also, help him by bringing home his homework and making sure he did not fall behind in his classes. A year later he was telling other students how he survived this terrible year. He mentioned our name in passing. I said to him, “What did we do? There was so much you had to do and we felt so helpless”. He looked at us puzzled and said, “What did you do? Why you did everything, I would not have made it through the year without you.” “But what we did was so little!” “What you did I will never forget.”
11. We have to go through life as if each day is significant and important; that this is the day that we will do that one thing or experience that one event that will change our life and the lives of others. It is as if that one moment we are a messenger from the Holy One, delivering our message to someone in need, or in that moment we are receiving a message from God that we have been waiting for our whole life. It may last only an instant, but the meaning of our whole life may be revealed in that moment.
12. There is so much around us that is trivial and, in the scope of the universe, insignificant. But there can be so much more in our lives if we can open ourselves to the possibilities that come with a spiritual life. Yes, it is possible to spend a day down by the clubhouse pool, with friends telling jokes, sharing stories and maybe a bit of gossip that is going around the community. But life can be much more than that. We can drive a neighbor to the doctor or to shul on Shabbat. We can visit someone who is sick and in need of our healing touch and our kind word. We can add to our shopping list the list of a friend who can't get out to the store. We can say a kind word to anyone who seems to be having a bad day. We can give some cold water to a service man who is working out in the hot sun. We can be a friend to someone who just needs a friend.
13. It may not make a difference in the grand scheme of things, who wins the election, but it does matter each and every time we show someone else that we care about them, their feelings, their wants and their needs. A little kindness can go a long way; it can go on to the end of the universe and exist until the end of time.
May we bring joy and light into the darkest places and may our love for each other and for God fill every moment in time and every point in the cosmos as we say Amen and Shabbat Shalom
Monday, May 2, 2011
Eighth Day of Pesach 2011
1. Hag Sameach
2. If Pesach is known to American Jews today, it is known as a “Family” Holiday. We gather together as a family for a Seder. We come from all over the country to sit together at a Seder table and even if we don’t do all of the parts of the Haggadah, we are together as a family; laughing , crying, arguing and well,… just being a family. This is what makes Pesach different from all the other holidays. The Yamim Noraim are all about synagogue. Sukkot is about waving the Lulav during Hallel and Musaf in shul. Shavuot is gathering together for an all night study session at the synagogue. Only Pesach has, as its main focus, a meal at home with the family.
3. But we know that just getting the family together for Pesach is not an easy thing at all. First of all, our children are very busy in their lives; sometimes they cannot take off the time to come home for Seder. Sometimes we have to go to their homes if we want to have a Seder with the family. Sometimes someone in the family is sick and can’t travel for Pesach. There are families where one person is not talking to the other one and won’t join a Seder if their “enemy” is there. What happens when there is a divorce and the grandchildren have to choose which Seder they will attend? My Seder had a lot of family who made it to Delray to join us. But there were others who did not come. My daughter and her husband are working for Pesach at Camp Ramah Darom as they have for many years. A nephew was sent overseas by his boss. And even though both my sons and their wives came, it took us a month of planning to make Pesach with the family vegetarians. No… getting a family together for Pesach is no easy task.
4. And when we do get the family together, the Haggadah reminds us that everyone comes with a different perspective on the Seder. The story of the four children, the Wise, the Wicked, the Simple and the One who does not know how to ask; this story tells us that we have to adjust our Seder to meet the different needs of our guests. Some may be very interested in the Seder, some might care less about the service and more about the food. Some may only ask simple questions and some just sit and watch and never say a word about all that is going on.
5. One teacher noted that the four types of children are inside each and every one of us. Sometimes we want to know more about what is happening. Sometimes we just want to skip ahead and eat, sometimes we think we are asking silly questions and sometimes we watch, and observe and wonder just what is going on. When we pay attention to the different personalities at our family Sedarim, we should also note that the same personalities can be found in ourselves as well.
6. My friend, Rabbi Paul Kerbel of Atlanta, GA recently wrote about the wicked child at the Seder. I know his children and they are all very nice. It is no wonder that he never really thought about the wicked child. This year as he looked over the Haggadah, the question of the wicked son jumped out at him. He began to ask his own questions: Who is this “wicked” child? What did he do to be called “wicked”? Rabbi Kerbel notes that in the Talmud, the sages ask, “Did he rob or steal? Did he break any of the Ten Commandments?” Rabbi Kerbel writes, “There is no evidence this child did anything that requires calling him “Wicked”. Except for one thing. He asks his father “What does this service mean to you?” not, what does this service mean to our family or to our people; what does it mean to you!”
7. Maybe in ancient days, this kind of a question would be an insult to parents and family. Certainly the Haggadah treats it as if the question is a major offense. But if we look not just at the question but at the one who is asking the question today, it does not seem to be the paradigmatic question for a wicked child.
8. Who here has not had a child or a grandchild question what we think are issues long ago decided? Who here, at some point in our lives, has not questioned the way things have always been in life? Is it really wicked, evil and unloving to ask someone we care about why they bother with some old tradition? Our children today ask us why we don’t use our computers more, why we still get our news from newspapers and not online, why we are still wearing the same dress we got years ago and not indulged ourselves in buying something more stylish and modern. Does this mean they are wicked? When they ask us why do we still go to shul on Shabbat, why do we still light Shabbat candles, why do we bother to keep the house kosher, do we consider the question rude or do we understand the place where our children and grandchildren are coming from?
9. Maybe the adjective “wicked” is too strong a word. Maybe the child or grandchild who asks the question is only “rebellious” calling out to us to question authority, to examine our lives and not go into the future without contemplating who we are and why we do the things we do? Is this wrong? Is this a reason to snap back at our children “Clearly you would not be worthy of redemption”? As I look at the question of the rebellious child, and compare it to the question from the beloved wise child, I see two questions that are not so different. The wise child wants to know how to do a Seder; the rebellious one wants to know why we do a Seder? They are two sides of the same coin. What good is doing a Seder correctly if it has no meaning for us? What good is wanting a meaningful Seder if we don’t know the details on how it is done? We need to ask both questions and we need both children to remind us of our responsibility, the responsibility to pass on to the next generation the religious and spiritual meaning of the Exodus from Egypt and how we commemorate that event in our lives.
10. Seen this way, children who argue with their parents are not wicked; they are acting out of love. Sometimes, when we are tired or distracted, we may not appreciate the questions or we may jump to a conclusion that our children are being critical of us and we resent the intrusion. This is one way parents and children become estranged; it is one reason that we choose to stay apart from those we love because we are not prepared to face the questions they ask or think about the answers they need. Sharp words are exchanged and a rift is created. The reply to the wicked child in the Haggadah does not foster good relationships between parent and child. The parent needs to craft a better answer and the child needs to understand the question could be considered an attack on something important and valuable to the parent.
11. Yizkor comes four times a year, on the four major holidays on the Jewish calendar. We are here to remember the love and life we shared with our parents and with our brothers, sisters, maybe our spouse. Maybe we are here because we remember children who died way before their time. But the unanswered question today is always, will there be someone to remember ME at Yizkor? It is a hard question to answer. We could just outright ask our children, “Will you say Yizkor for me when I am gone?” But are we really prepared for the answer?
12. There is a real possibility that our children may answer, “What does this ritual mean to you?” To you and not to them. How are they to know what this ritual means to you and what it could mean to them? They have never attended a Yizkor service. Our tradition is to send our children out when it is time for Yizkor. They have never seen the service and cannot know what it is all about. Why should they care?
13. A rabbi was once walking down the street and was asked to join a Shiva minyan in a home he was passing by. He agreed and inside found a peculiar sight. All the items in the house said that a religious Jew lived here. But clearly the children, from the way they wore their kipot to the way they could not handle a prayer book told the story of children disconnected from their Judaism. The Rabbi asked the children, “How is it that your father was so pious but it did not rub off on you?” The oldest son replied, “Father was a holocaust survivor. He kept his religion in secret. Perhaps it was a vestige of his experiences in Europe. Whenever he needed to do some ritual act, he went into his private study and we were just in the dark about what he was doing in there. I guess, over time our curiosity about it died out and we ceased to care anymore.” The sons of the deceased once asked, “What do these rituals mean to you?” and they never got an answer and soon they didn’t care.
14. Last fall, I added a prayer to our Yizkor book, a prayer for those who still have living parents. I got a lot of heat for adding that prayer to the book. Why should someone who has living parents have a prayer in OUR Yizkor service? If the parents are living, they have no business being at Yizkor? The prayer is an insult to those who have lost their parents. I ask you, is it so wrong to have our children join us for Yizkor, to see us cry for our parents even though they have been gone for twenty years or more? Is it so wrong to let them know that the bonds of love are eternal bonds, and that it is love, not duty, that brings us to this service? How will they know the meaning of this service unless we tell them, explain it to them, show them?
15. The Wicked/Rebellious child is not so wicked and not so rebellious. Our children want to know what these rituals mean to us. Why do they move us so much? Why do we get up early for minyan? Why do we keep Kosher? Why do we go to shul on Shabbat? Why do we insist that our children and grandchildren join us for a Pesach Seder? Why do we stop everything in our lives to make the time for Yizkor? How will they know if we don’t tell them? How will they know if we don’t really know the reason why we are doing these and so many other rituals? Maybe we don’t tell them because we are not really sure ourselves. If so, than it is time to ask ourselves some hard questions and, if we don’t like the answer, we may need to pay a visit to the Rabbi.
16. The question of the rebellious child is OUR question. That is why it strikes so deeply into our hearts and souls. We never took the time to seek the answer. Maybe our parents or grandparents never really got the chance to tell us. Maybe we have forgotten the answer over time. Maybe we never really liked the answer we got. So Yizkor should be the time to renew our search for the meaning of the Mitzvot in our lives, to stop worrying about how to do Mitzvot correctly and to concentrate our efforts on why they are so important to us. Once we are secure in what the rituals, the Mitzvot and our faith mean to us, only then can we answer the questions of our children.
17. Unless, of course, we decide to learn together with our children. What would a rebellious child say if we answered his or her question by saying, “I don’t know why I am doing this ritual, how about we learn about it together and see what we think?” That way, instead of pushing a child away, we will embrace them and give them a memory they will never forget.
18. May the memories we recall and the memories that we are creating always be a blessing in our lives and in the lives of the generations yet to come … as we say Amen and Hag Sameach
2. If Pesach is known to American Jews today, it is known as a “Family” Holiday. We gather together as a family for a Seder. We come from all over the country to sit together at a Seder table and even if we don’t do all of the parts of the Haggadah, we are together as a family; laughing , crying, arguing and well,… just being a family. This is what makes Pesach different from all the other holidays. The Yamim Noraim are all about synagogue. Sukkot is about waving the Lulav during Hallel and Musaf in shul. Shavuot is gathering together for an all night study session at the synagogue. Only Pesach has, as its main focus, a meal at home with the family.
3. But we know that just getting the family together for Pesach is not an easy thing at all. First of all, our children are very busy in their lives; sometimes they cannot take off the time to come home for Seder. Sometimes we have to go to their homes if we want to have a Seder with the family. Sometimes someone in the family is sick and can’t travel for Pesach. There are families where one person is not talking to the other one and won’t join a Seder if their “enemy” is there. What happens when there is a divorce and the grandchildren have to choose which Seder they will attend? My Seder had a lot of family who made it to Delray to join us. But there were others who did not come. My daughter and her husband are working for Pesach at Camp Ramah Darom as they have for many years. A nephew was sent overseas by his boss. And even though both my sons and their wives came, it took us a month of planning to make Pesach with the family vegetarians. No… getting a family together for Pesach is no easy task.
4. And when we do get the family together, the Haggadah reminds us that everyone comes with a different perspective on the Seder. The story of the four children, the Wise, the Wicked, the Simple and the One who does not know how to ask; this story tells us that we have to adjust our Seder to meet the different needs of our guests. Some may be very interested in the Seder, some might care less about the service and more about the food. Some may only ask simple questions and some just sit and watch and never say a word about all that is going on.
5. One teacher noted that the four types of children are inside each and every one of us. Sometimes we want to know more about what is happening. Sometimes we just want to skip ahead and eat, sometimes we think we are asking silly questions and sometimes we watch, and observe and wonder just what is going on. When we pay attention to the different personalities at our family Sedarim, we should also note that the same personalities can be found in ourselves as well.
6. My friend, Rabbi Paul Kerbel of Atlanta, GA recently wrote about the wicked child at the Seder. I know his children and they are all very nice. It is no wonder that he never really thought about the wicked child. This year as he looked over the Haggadah, the question of the wicked son jumped out at him. He began to ask his own questions: Who is this “wicked” child? What did he do to be called “wicked”? Rabbi Kerbel notes that in the Talmud, the sages ask, “Did he rob or steal? Did he break any of the Ten Commandments?” Rabbi Kerbel writes, “There is no evidence this child did anything that requires calling him “Wicked”. Except for one thing. He asks his father “What does this service mean to you?” not, what does this service mean to our family or to our people; what does it mean to you!”
7. Maybe in ancient days, this kind of a question would be an insult to parents and family. Certainly the Haggadah treats it as if the question is a major offense. But if we look not just at the question but at the one who is asking the question today, it does not seem to be the paradigmatic question for a wicked child.
8. Who here has not had a child or a grandchild question what we think are issues long ago decided? Who here, at some point in our lives, has not questioned the way things have always been in life? Is it really wicked, evil and unloving to ask someone we care about why they bother with some old tradition? Our children today ask us why we don’t use our computers more, why we still get our news from newspapers and not online, why we are still wearing the same dress we got years ago and not indulged ourselves in buying something more stylish and modern. Does this mean they are wicked? When they ask us why do we still go to shul on Shabbat, why do we still light Shabbat candles, why do we bother to keep the house kosher, do we consider the question rude or do we understand the place where our children and grandchildren are coming from?
9. Maybe the adjective “wicked” is too strong a word. Maybe the child or grandchild who asks the question is only “rebellious” calling out to us to question authority, to examine our lives and not go into the future without contemplating who we are and why we do the things we do? Is this wrong? Is this a reason to snap back at our children “Clearly you would not be worthy of redemption”? As I look at the question of the rebellious child, and compare it to the question from the beloved wise child, I see two questions that are not so different. The wise child wants to know how to do a Seder; the rebellious one wants to know why we do a Seder? They are two sides of the same coin. What good is doing a Seder correctly if it has no meaning for us? What good is wanting a meaningful Seder if we don’t know the details on how it is done? We need to ask both questions and we need both children to remind us of our responsibility, the responsibility to pass on to the next generation the religious and spiritual meaning of the Exodus from Egypt and how we commemorate that event in our lives.
10. Seen this way, children who argue with their parents are not wicked; they are acting out of love. Sometimes, when we are tired or distracted, we may not appreciate the questions or we may jump to a conclusion that our children are being critical of us and we resent the intrusion. This is one way parents and children become estranged; it is one reason that we choose to stay apart from those we love because we are not prepared to face the questions they ask or think about the answers they need. Sharp words are exchanged and a rift is created. The reply to the wicked child in the Haggadah does not foster good relationships between parent and child. The parent needs to craft a better answer and the child needs to understand the question could be considered an attack on something important and valuable to the parent.
11. Yizkor comes four times a year, on the four major holidays on the Jewish calendar. We are here to remember the love and life we shared with our parents and with our brothers, sisters, maybe our spouse. Maybe we are here because we remember children who died way before their time. But the unanswered question today is always, will there be someone to remember ME at Yizkor? It is a hard question to answer. We could just outright ask our children, “Will you say Yizkor for me when I am gone?” But are we really prepared for the answer?
12. There is a real possibility that our children may answer, “What does this ritual mean to you?” To you and not to them. How are they to know what this ritual means to you and what it could mean to them? They have never attended a Yizkor service. Our tradition is to send our children out when it is time for Yizkor. They have never seen the service and cannot know what it is all about. Why should they care?
13. A rabbi was once walking down the street and was asked to join a Shiva minyan in a home he was passing by. He agreed and inside found a peculiar sight. All the items in the house said that a religious Jew lived here. But clearly the children, from the way they wore their kipot to the way they could not handle a prayer book told the story of children disconnected from their Judaism. The Rabbi asked the children, “How is it that your father was so pious but it did not rub off on you?” The oldest son replied, “Father was a holocaust survivor. He kept his religion in secret. Perhaps it was a vestige of his experiences in Europe. Whenever he needed to do some ritual act, he went into his private study and we were just in the dark about what he was doing in there. I guess, over time our curiosity about it died out and we ceased to care anymore.” The sons of the deceased once asked, “What do these rituals mean to you?” and they never got an answer and soon they didn’t care.
14. Last fall, I added a prayer to our Yizkor book, a prayer for those who still have living parents. I got a lot of heat for adding that prayer to the book. Why should someone who has living parents have a prayer in OUR Yizkor service? If the parents are living, they have no business being at Yizkor? The prayer is an insult to those who have lost their parents. I ask you, is it so wrong to have our children join us for Yizkor, to see us cry for our parents even though they have been gone for twenty years or more? Is it so wrong to let them know that the bonds of love are eternal bonds, and that it is love, not duty, that brings us to this service? How will they know the meaning of this service unless we tell them, explain it to them, show them?
15. The Wicked/Rebellious child is not so wicked and not so rebellious. Our children want to know what these rituals mean to us. Why do they move us so much? Why do we get up early for minyan? Why do we keep Kosher? Why do we go to shul on Shabbat? Why do we insist that our children and grandchildren join us for a Pesach Seder? Why do we stop everything in our lives to make the time for Yizkor? How will they know if we don’t tell them? How will they know if we don’t really know the reason why we are doing these and so many other rituals? Maybe we don’t tell them because we are not really sure ourselves. If so, than it is time to ask ourselves some hard questions and, if we don’t like the answer, we may need to pay a visit to the Rabbi.
16. The question of the rebellious child is OUR question. That is why it strikes so deeply into our hearts and souls. We never took the time to seek the answer. Maybe our parents or grandparents never really got the chance to tell us. Maybe we have forgotten the answer over time. Maybe we never really liked the answer we got. So Yizkor should be the time to renew our search for the meaning of the Mitzvot in our lives, to stop worrying about how to do Mitzvot correctly and to concentrate our efforts on why they are so important to us. Once we are secure in what the rituals, the Mitzvot and our faith mean to us, only then can we answer the questions of our children.
17. Unless, of course, we decide to learn together with our children. What would a rebellious child say if we answered his or her question by saying, “I don’t know why I am doing this ritual, how about we learn about it together and see what we think?” That way, instead of pushing a child away, we will embrace them and give them a memory they will never forget.
18. May the memories we recall and the memories that we are creating always be a blessing in our lives and in the lives of the generations yet to come … as we say Amen and Hag Sameach
First Day of Pesach 2011
1. Hag Sameach
2. A number of years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe, the senior rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, made world headlines by claiming, on Pesach, that the biblical story of the Exodus was all a myth; that it never happened. The Bible story, he said, was just a story and there was no proof that it had ever actually happened. You can imagine the reaction from all over the world. Jews from everywhere condemned the Rabbi, calling him a heretic for not believing in the words of the Bible. After all, if the Bible says something, it has to be true.
3. The Christian community was not too far behind. It was as if Rabbi Wolpe had attacked the core of their faith. They said it does not matter if there is any proof of the Exodus or not. Our faith tells us that the Bible is the true word of God and only the Devil claims that the words of the Bible are stories that can be ignored. Clearly the Rabbi was in league with Satan. The Jewish community was very embarrassed by Rabbi Wolpe, and accused him of bringing down on our community the wrath of all American Christians.
4. The newspapers had a field day with the whole controversy. I have yet to meet a reporter who does not have a hard time with the Bible. Bible stories seem to be the classic example of poor reporting. News reporting is based on the five “W”s – Who? What? Where? When? and Why? The newspapers where only too happy to report on this “scandal” that the words of the Bible might not be true. The reporters lined up all kinds of clergy to offer testimony on whether they agreed with Rabbi Wolpe or not. These reporters all but snickered as priests, rabbis and theologians argued over what the Bible says or does not say.
5. What got lost in all the shouting was the fact that, for most biblical scholars, there is little doubt in their minds that what the Bible records as the exodus of the Jews from Egypt is unsupported anywhere else in the Middle East. The fact is we just don't know what is historically true in these Bible stories and what is not historically true. We don't know if any part of the Bible prior to King Ahab is accurate from a historical perspective. Some evidence from archeology seems to support the accuracy of the Bible; other evidence raises some serious questions. In the end, there is, so far, no way to be certain.
6. Perhaps you are aware that there is a controversy in Israel right now about if the palace of King David has been found. Excavations in Jerusalem, where the ancient city of David was located have produced a massive structure. Could this be the palace that inspired King David to want to build the Temple? Scholars are divided over the evidence so far. If so, it will be first direct evidence of King David every uncovered.
7. As for the Exodus, it is doubtful that any real archeological evidence will be found. The Egyptians don't mention it; but they never wrote about their defeats. There is no record in any other culture of the slave revolt and exodus from Egypt. Wandering Jews don't leave behind much of a footprint in history. And the story in the Torah is maddeningly difficult to pin down as to its time in the historical record. For example, did the plagues happen over the course of weeks or over the course of a year? Was the plague of darkness a solar eclipse or a massive sandstorm? The description of slavery in Egypt seems to fit the way Egypt treated her slaves, but they never mention Jewish slaves, Joseph or Moses. All the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh, so which one was the Pharaoh during the Exodus? There is no way to know.
8. Historical truth, however, is not the only kind of truth. When we recite our Seder, when we declare that the Exodus is not a memory of the past but a living present: when we declare that WE are the Hebrew slaves that God liberated from slavery; we affirm that there are important truths about life and liberty that are found in this story. It is these moral truths that make the Exodus so important to Jews and to all of western civilization.
9. The Hasidim have a tradition, the founder of their movement, the Bal Shem Tov, when he would need a miracle, would go into the forest, build a special fire and say a special prayer and the miracle would always come from God. His successors, over time, forgot the special place in the forest, the way to build the special fire and they even eventually forgot the special prayer. But the later Rebbes would tell the story of the Baal Shem Tov, the special place, the special fire and the special prayer, and just by telling the story, the miracle needed would occur. This is not a tale about magic and superstition, rather it is telling us that stories have their own power, and the accuracy of the story does not impair its ability to make a difference.
10. We happen to live in a time and place where Jews have experienced an unprecedented amount of freedom and security. There is no question that the United States has been good for the Jews. Whatever anti-Semitism we may have encountered over the past 200 years, has been small and almost inconsequential compared to Christian Spain, Ancient Rome and Biblical Egypt. How are we to understand the meaning of the freedom we experience every day without the context of slavery and degradation? The Rabbis of the Talmud understood that the lessons of the Exodus were far more important than the historical events; that freedom is more important than dates; that evil oppressors must be opposed; that the creation of all people in the image of God is more important than the divine right of kings. How were they to take these enduring lessons and have those of us who are smothered in freedom, see, feel and taste the meaning of oppression and liberation? The Seder was created, not to assure the historical accuracy of the Exodus, but to insure that the lessons of Egypt would not be lost on future generations who did not know Pharaoh.
11. It is not enough to just read the Haggada at our Sederim. It is not enough to race through the book and share family stories and recipes. Sharing family history is important but the duty of the Seder, the Mitzvah of the Seder, goes far beyond a family dinner. The reason that Pesach is important and the Seder is one of the most observed Jewish rituals is because it speaks to something far beyond us and our families. It is about finding ourselves in the long history of the Jewish People. It is about taking our place at the table, and taking our turn at telling the story.
12. Karpas dipped in salt water is not just an hors d'oeurve, but a symbol of the many springtimes that were drowned in the tears of the slaves. Haroset dipped in maror is about the bitterness of slavery and the sting of the taskmaster's whip. At the beginning of the Seder, the matza is not just bread, but it is the bread of affliction, the bread made in haste by our ancestors because they did not have time to properly bake bread. They had to get up early and serve their masters. By the end of the Seder, the matzah has a new meaning; it is the bread, cooked in haste, as our ancestors prepared for their journey to the promised land. It is no longer poor bread but the bread of redemption; it has a new meaning and although the ingredients are the same, the bread of redemption just tastes better than the bread of affliction.
13. How joyful is freedom? How do we celebrate our God who freed us from bondage? If one cup of wine equals normal joy in life we celebrate with no less than four cups of wine, to symbolize our overflowing joy in celebration of the great redemption. Then we fill a fifth cup, the cup of Elijah, who represents the even greater joy that will come when God will finally redeem the entire world. The entire Seder is a service of joy and remembrance. We remember the agony of our ancestors who despaired of every being free, and the sudden way in which God made their freedom possible. We also celebrate at our Seder that we too were slaves, are slaves, and with the help of God we too can be free. We can be free of all that chains us down and prevents us from meeting all of our potential in life.
14. At the end of the Seder, at the end of the last song, we affirm that someday God will come and destroy the Angel of Death; that we will eventually be freed even from our fear of death. The God who freed our ancestors who went down into Egypt and suffered slavery with our people, that God still feels our pain and continues to work to heal our souls. That affirmation does not depend on historical accuracy or archeological evidence. It only depends on us opening our hearts to the story and our souls to all the possibilities that come when our bodies are free.
Amen and I wish everyone a happy and Kosher Pesach and a meaningful second Seder.
2. A number of years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe, the senior rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, made world headlines by claiming, on Pesach, that the biblical story of the Exodus was all a myth; that it never happened. The Bible story, he said, was just a story and there was no proof that it had ever actually happened. You can imagine the reaction from all over the world. Jews from everywhere condemned the Rabbi, calling him a heretic for not believing in the words of the Bible. After all, if the Bible says something, it has to be true.
3. The Christian community was not too far behind. It was as if Rabbi Wolpe had attacked the core of their faith. They said it does not matter if there is any proof of the Exodus or not. Our faith tells us that the Bible is the true word of God and only the Devil claims that the words of the Bible are stories that can be ignored. Clearly the Rabbi was in league with Satan. The Jewish community was very embarrassed by Rabbi Wolpe, and accused him of bringing down on our community the wrath of all American Christians.
4. The newspapers had a field day with the whole controversy. I have yet to meet a reporter who does not have a hard time with the Bible. Bible stories seem to be the classic example of poor reporting. News reporting is based on the five “W”s – Who? What? Where? When? and Why? The newspapers where only too happy to report on this “scandal” that the words of the Bible might not be true. The reporters lined up all kinds of clergy to offer testimony on whether they agreed with Rabbi Wolpe or not. These reporters all but snickered as priests, rabbis and theologians argued over what the Bible says or does not say.
5. What got lost in all the shouting was the fact that, for most biblical scholars, there is little doubt in their minds that what the Bible records as the exodus of the Jews from Egypt is unsupported anywhere else in the Middle East. The fact is we just don't know what is historically true in these Bible stories and what is not historically true. We don't know if any part of the Bible prior to King Ahab is accurate from a historical perspective. Some evidence from archeology seems to support the accuracy of the Bible; other evidence raises some serious questions. In the end, there is, so far, no way to be certain.
6. Perhaps you are aware that there is a controversy in Israel right now about if the palace of King David has been found. Excavations in Jerusalem, where the ancient city of David was located have produced a massive structure. Could this be the palace that inspired King David to want to build the Temple? Scholars are divided over the evidence so far. If so, it will be first direct evidence of King David every uncovered.
7. As for the Exodus, it is doubtful that any real archeological evidence will be found. The Egyptians don't mention it; but they never wrote about their defeats. There is no record in any other culture of the slave revolt and exodus from Egypt. Wandering Jews don't leave behind much of a footprint in history. And the story in the Torah is maddeningly difficult to pin down as to its time in the historical record. For example, did the plagues happen over the course of weeks or over the course of a year? Was the plague of darkness a solar eclipse or a massive sandstorm? The description of slavery in Egypt seems to fit the way Egypt treated her slaves, but they never mention Jewish slaves, Joseph or Moses. All the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh, so which one was the Pharaoh during the Exodus? There is no way to know.
8. Historical truth, however, is not the only kind of truth. When we recite our Seder, when we declare that the Exodus is not a memory of the past but a living present: when we declare that WE are the Hebrew slaves that God liberated from slavery; we affirm that there are important truths about life and liberty that are found in this story. It is these moral truths that make the Exodus so important to Jews and to all of western civilization.
9. The Hasidim have a tradition, the founder of their movement, the Bal Shem Tov, when he would need a miracle, would go into the forest, build a special fire and say a special prayer and the miracle would always come from God. His successors, over time, forgot the special place in the forest, the way to build the special fire and they even eventually forgot the special prayer. But the later Rebbes would tell the story of the Baal Shem Tov, the special place, the special fire and the special prayer, and just by telling the story, the miracle needed would occur. This is not a tale about magic and superstition, rather it is telling us that stories have their own power, and the accuracy of the story does not impair its ability to make a difference.
10. We happen to live in a time and place where Jews have experienced an unprecedented amount of freedom and security. There is no question that the United States has been good for the Jews. Whatever anti-Semitism we may have encountered over the past 200 years, has been small and almost inconsequential compared to Christian Spain, Ancient Rome and Biblical Egypt. How are we to understand the meaning of the freedom we experience every day without the context of slavery and degradation? The Rabbis of the Talmud understood that the lessons of the Exodus were far more important than the historical events; that freedom is more important than dates; that evil oppressors must be opposed; that the creation of all people in the image of God is more important than the divine right of kings. How were they to take these enduring lessons and have those of us who are smothered in freedom, see, feel and taste the meaning of oppression and liberation? The Seder was created, not to assure the historical accuracy of the Exodus, but to insure that the lessons of Egypt would not be lost on future generations who did not know Pharaoh.
11. It is not enough to just read the Haggada at our Sederim. It is not enough to race through the book and share family stories and recipes. Sharing family history is important but the duty of the Seder, the Mitzvah of the Seder, goes far beyond a family dinner. The reason that Pesach is important and the Seder is one of the most observed Jewish rituals is because it speaks to something far beyond us and our families. It is about finding ourselves in the long history of the Jewish People. It is about taking our place at the table, and taking our turn at telling the story.
12. Karpas dipped in salt water is not just an hors d'oeurve, but a symbol of the many springtimes that were drowned in the tears of the slaves. Haroset dipped in maror is about the bitterness of slavery and the sting of the taskmaster's whip. At the beginning of the Seder, the matza is not just bread, but it is the bread of affliction, the bread made in haste by our ancestors because they did not have time to properly bake bread. They had to get up early and serve their masters. By the end of the Seder, the matzah has a new meaning; it is the bread, cooked in haste, as our ancestors prepared for their journey to the promised land. It is no longer poor bread but the bread of redemption; it has a new meaning and although the ingredients are the same, the bread of redemption just tastes better than the bread of affliction.
13. How joyful is freedom? How do we celebrate our God who freed us from bondage? If one cup of wine equals normal joy in life we celebrate with no less than four cups of wine, to symbolize our overflowing joy in celebration of the great redemption. Then we fill a fifth cup, the cup of Elijah, who represents the even greater joy that will come when God will finally redeem the entire world. The entire Seder is a service of joy and remembrance. We remember the agony of our ancestors who despaired of every being free, and the sudden way in which God made their freedom possible. We also celebrate at our Seder that we too were slaves, are slaves, and with the help of God we too can be free. We can be free of all that chains us down and prevents us from meeting all of our potential in life.
14. At the end of the Seder, at the end of the last song, we affirm that someday God will come and destroy the Angel of Death; that we will eventually be freed even from our fear of death. The God who freed our ancestors who went down into Egypt and suffered slavery with our people, that God still feels our pain and continues to work to heal our souls. That affirmation does not depend on historical accuracy or archeological evidence. It only depends on us opening our hearts to the story and our souls to all the possibilities that come when our bodies are free.
Amen and I wish everyone a happy and Kosher Pesach and a meaningful second Seder.
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