Articles with the tag: pesach
The Kabbalah of Matzah
How the Plagues Are Signs
The Exodus Decoded Part 3
Pesach 2009 Ensemble
Seder: a Taste of Freedom Part 1
Seder: Two Biblical Mitzvohs: 1. Higad’ta (tell over story of Exodus)
2. Eat Matzoh
Higad’ta: Mitzvah to remember Exodus a whole year.
What is unique on Pesach night?
Ans: Remember vs. verbalize…..or…..response to a question (dialogue vs. monologue).
Hence, Mah Nishtanah inserted. Four verses allude to four sons.
Question #1: Why does Torah surmise that child(ren) will only have questions on Pesach, and no other holiday?
Question #2: Maggid actually begins, “This is the poor man’s bread that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt?”
Question #3: If Maggid is a Biblical Mitzvah, why no Bracha (blessing)?
Why thank G-d for taking us out of Egypt: He put us in there in the first place?
Analogy: Doctor who breaks…
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Seder a Taste of Freedom Part2
HaKol B’Seder…Everything is okay (in the Seder).
Pesach Seder: An Oxymoron.
Pesach means “To Passover,” a quantum leap that ignores the previously set order.
Seder means “an Order,” a progression that follows rules.
Pesach Seder means to create a structured order that helps us Passover all the rules of order.
The second verse of the Torah: “The earth was null and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” (Bereishis 1:2)
This chaotic stage was a primordial “cholent” called Tohu. Why introduce chaos?
The answer is in the next verse, “G-d said, ‘Let there be Light!’” (Bereishis 1:3)
This means: The natural state of this Perfectly Imperfect world is chaos, not order. Our battle is to bring order…
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The Final Redemption
Is it over? Did we survive? With all the aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and extended family that came over for the Seder, it’s no wonder you are asking the question.
I’m sorry then to be the one to disappoint you. It’s not over and we didn’t escape bondage to merely survive. Pesach is not a one, or even two night affair. It lasts eight days. And what was begun on the first two days of Passover must be concluded on the last two days. If not…well you know what happens when you leave a job half done.
According to our Sages, the first days of Pesach commemorate the first redemption. The last days celebrate the final redemption. The historical background…
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The Song of Silence
A Torah Scroll is our dearest possession. It is our Tree of Life through which we live eternally. Therefore every detail of how it must be written, its parchment, even its thread, is governed by Halacha (Jewish law). That is how the integrity of our Torah has been carefully maintained for thirty three centuries, with every scribe copying from a previously existing scroll.
In our holiday reading we encounter a format in the text which is very unusual. It is found in the Song at the Sea. First, the lines are written with plenty of open space between each phrase. Second, each successive line is staggered, so that underneath the open spaces are words, and vice versa. True this is…
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The Song of Silence
A Torah Scroll is our dearest possession. It is our Tree of Life through which we live eternally. Therefore every detail of how it must be written, its parchment, even its thread, is governed by Halacha (Jewish law). That is how the integrity of our Torah has been carefully maintained for thirty three centuries, with every scribe copying from a previously existing scroll.
In our holiday reading we encounter a format in the text which is very unusual. It is found in the Song at the Sea. First, the lines are written with plenty of open space between each phrase. Second, each successive line is staggered, so that underneath the open spaces are words, and vice versa. True this is…
Continue reading The Song of Silence
I Want to See Miracles
After the earth shattering miracles of the Exodus, history forgot the Sea Splitting wonders that occurred a mere seven days later. Our Rabbis did not wish that event to sink into oblivion like Pharaoh’s chariots, so they created a ritual to remember our Water Adventure. In addition to the Biblical reading which details the Egyptian plunge, they established a custom that we stay up that night as our ancestors did on their Sea crossing.
There is another aspect to these last two days of Pesach. Rather than raising the ghost of “Redemptions Past” they are a celebration of future freedoms still to come. More specifically, the ultimate and eternal emancipation of the Messianic revelation.
We have a tradition that the…
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Nature: a Tool or a Trick?
Without a doubt any listing of the Ten Greatest Miracles would include the Splitting of the Sea. It possesses all the theatrical elements of a real ‘keeper’. Take the setting: a stark, barren desert, and an angry sea. On one side, the world’s most advanced civilization; on the other side, a band of slaves recently freed. Even more impressive than the backdrop and the characters was the action: The bad guys thundering across the desert, the good guys caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. And at the last moment, a miracle: a fiery column, a powerful east wind, and a divided sea. That night, the balance of world power shifted. Mighty Egypt was brought to its knees in…
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Matzah: Not Always Crunchy
Chametz is unique. While other forbidden foods are allowed to be in our possession, in regards to chametz, our attitude is take-no-prisoners and exterminate any crumb no matter how minute. Also, most treif (non-kosher) items can be ‘nullified’ if inadvertently diluted with permissible substances. But chametz remains prohibited even if mixed with something a million times its volume.
Spiritually, chametz whose primary feature is that it rises and inflates symbolizes pride. Other negative traits might be tolerable, or even useful, in small, diluted doses. For example, depression is viewed as “a grave sin,” but a small dash of melancholy, counterbalanced by a heaping helping of joy, may help one reflect and rectify one’s shortcomings. The same applies to anger, stubbornness,...
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Preparing, Is a Mitzvah
Don’t look now but it’s coming fast and furious. Pesach, that is. In fact (if my calendar is telling the truth) in exactly twenty one days Jews the world over will be reclining at their respective Seders. Years ago, growing up as a child, all of this meant my mother washing, scrubbing, and polishing. It also meant, once the living room was cleaned for the Holiday, it was off limits to us children. Soon afterwards we could not enter the basement, then another room, and another…..
I must admit as bad as it was then, now its worse. These days, I’m one of the folks, sleeves rolled up and - you guessed it - cleaning.
Sometimes it seems that all…
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Ego Wipes Away With Sweat
Once again it is time for the annual move the furniture, scrub the chairs, line the counters, and unearth the stale cookie underneath the couch. Why the big fuss? Why embark on an all-out assault against chametz? After all, we don’t have to destroy all food before Yom Kippur!The mystics explain that chametz, which rises, represents the ego - something which must be eradicated at all costs. But is a little ego so terrible? Any psychologist will tell you that a healthy ego is a powerful motivator, giving people the courage to pursue their dreams.
On Pesach we celebrate the birth of our nation. At that historic moment, over three thousand years ago, G-d intervened on behalf of an enslaved…
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Pesach in Jerusalem
Pesach has arrived. There is no mistaking the smells and flavors emitting from the kitchen. But even before the cooking is seriously underway, there are telltale hints. Foremost among them are the cleaning, scrubbing, and shopping mania that seems to have possessed us all. It started me thinking, no wonder we conclude the Hagaddah with, “L’Shana Haba-ah B’yerusholayim - Next Year in Jerusalem.” Surely there in the Holy City of David the pace will be more relaxed and the preparations more spiritual than simply cleaning, scrubbing, shopping, etc.
In order to test out my theory, I did a little research. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that Pesach preparations in Jerusalem did not seem holier than they are,...
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Put Out the Light
I believe it was the wisest of men, King Solomon, who first coined the phrase, “For everything there is a season.” / Of course, Pesach is the cleaning, shopping, cooking, more cleaning, inviting family and friends, never-ending lists to do, still more cleaning season. It comes as no surprise therefore, that to some, the official Bedikas Chametz (search for leaven) ritual, the night before the holiday is regarded as ceremonial rather than practical.
The Sages in the Talmud inform us that Chametz is symbolic of the Yetzer Horah, the Evil Inclination. Thus the search by the light of the candle must not only penetrate the dark corners of the cupboard, but the hidden recesses of one’s heart, mind and soul….
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Invest Right
he literal translation of this verse is, “If a person will inadvertently sin by doing any of the things that G-d commanded shall not be done…” Although this straight-forward text is clean and unambiguous, that did not stop one of the great Chasidic masters of a century and a half ago to add another unique interpretation. According to him, the verse also means, “A person may sin when he does one of G-d’s commandments in a way that he should not have done it.”
While most people understand that one must atone for sins committed, this new perspective adds that one must sometimes ask forgiveness for mitzvos (good deeds) as well. This concept is best illustrated with the story of…
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The Door to Freedom
You’re standing in the center of a large Roman arena. Thousands of rowdy spectators crushed together on stone benches rise steeply all around you. Directly in front of you are two massive doors constructed of thick oak planks overlaid with huge iron fittings. Behind one door is life, freedom and bliss; behind the other awaits a pack of hungry lions and an excruciating death.
The princess up in the grandstand catches your eye and is about to indicate the door leading to life and redemption. For some inexplicable reason, you the bewildered slave have caught her eye and her tender heart. She’s decided to deny the crowd its bloodthirsty appetite and save your life. But at that moment the court…
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The Taste of Matzah
Matzah, is not only the world’s first fast food (it not being allowed to rise), it is also the, “Poor man’s bread that our forefathers ate in the Land of Egypt.” / Today, matzah sits at the heart of our Pesach Seder, from the recitation of the Hagadda over the smaller half of the middle matzah, to the eating of the afikomen at the meal’s end. Indeed, the Biblical name for Passover is “The Festival of Matzos,” for it is the matzah that embodies the essence of Exodus.
But why are there three matzohs and not four? After all the number four is a recurring theme at the Seder. We drink four cups of wine, ask Four Questions, and invite…
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The Swallow…the Taste
Years ago the community Rabbi eagerly awaited the Shabbat preceding Pesach, since it was one of two weekends the spiritual leader was expected to sermonize, the other being Shabbat Shuvah (the Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur). Synagogues have changed, with contemporary Rabbis pontificating every seven days. But way back when, the semi-annual drasha (sermon) was a huge event. The talk, to be considered successful, had to combine three ingredients; halacha (a point of law), pilpul (analysis) and drush / (an ethical lesson). Thus in honor of my Rabbinic forbears, I offer you the following:
In the section of Talmud dealing with Passover (Pesachim 115B) Rava proclaimed, “If one swallows his piece of matzoh the first night of the…
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The Rabbi Answers a Question
Our community has grown in so many ways, including the most important one; its families are hungry for more Jewish knowledge. Nowhere is this more evident than a week before Pesach. The Rabbi’s phone is constantly ringing with ever more difficult and complex questions.
Today, people want more than an answer. They want to understand the why and how come of Judaism. In fact, the resolution to their halachic query is not enough; they want to comprehend the evolutionary process of how the Rabbi arrived there. Therefore in brief…
Secular law is primarily concerned with who gets to make a decision. Hence the American system of governance is so structured that sharp disagreements between the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the…
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