Thinking About Pesah

According to Kabbalah, the mystic tradition, there are 10 powers that G-d employs in the universe. These 10 are G-d’s attributes.

On erev Pesah, the eve before the festival commences, we have an unusual custom.  Called bedikat hametz, it is the search for vestiges of forgotten bread around our home.  Until this moment we frenetically shop, clean, invite, gather our Haggadot, shine the silver, set the table, and cook.  Then, while the soup is still boiling away on the stove we engage in the final search for leaven.  We do this because the Torah explicitly mandates, “No bread shall be seen in your home.” (Exodus 13)

Here is the ancient tradition:

We scatter ten pieces of bread in our home.  Then uttering a blessing we light a candle, take a plate and feather and then proceed to search through our home to find these ten pieces of hidden bread (in addition to any other leaven hiding in our home).

Gathering up the pieces our mind focuses on realizing the Divine energy that inheres in everywhere and us.   Part of the religious journey that calls to us is seeking the holy within.  This powerful act of bedikat hametz symbolizes the deep yearning we have to connect with G-d to fully realize and own our liberation.

Whether we need to awaken our soul to the desperate cries for redemption throughout the world or simply open our soul to the Supernal Being that we want to fill us this quiet mitzvah has the potential to connect us to the potential of what we can become.

May the Holy, blessed be He, be a recognized Presence at your table this Pesah.

The Countup from Pesah

From the second night of Pesah and throughout this month (and the next!) we count the Omer (it says so in the Torah, check it out in Leviticus 23:15).  Each evening we tick off another digit as the day passes.  Why do we do this?

The most obvious answer is that we are counting up (the reverse of a count-down).  In this instance, we are counting off forty-nine days; the number of days that our ancestors walked their way to the mountain in the Sinai desert to receive the Words of God.

The language we use to count goes like this: : Blessed are You, HaShem, our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.   Then you say:  Today is ___ day[s] of the Omer.

Generally, what do we count?  We count things that are meaningful.  When a birthday is getting close, we count.  When a rocket ship is about to be launched, we count.  When we find out about a pregnancy, we calculate the time remaining.  We number the days until vacation.  And here we count the days until Revelation, the anniversary of Torah.  Counting is about the joy of anticipation.

Long ago it was different than it is today.  When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, Jewish people used to bring handfuls of barley (the handfuls were called “omer”s) to the kohan’im every day..  If they missed a day of bringing the Omer, they were not permitted to make it up which is why we try hard to not miss a single night of counting nowadays.  Also, the omer was supposed to be cut at night which is why we count in the evening in our time.

One scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenberg, noticed that the commandment to count actually says, “You shall count for you…” What this saintly rabbi said was that when we count the omer, we are actually doing something that has deep soulful personal implications.  In counting off the days to the holy day of Shavuot, Torah Day, we are heightening our internal register of joy.  By making the time to mentally prepare for the greatest event of human history we create powerful anticipatory internal emotions.

What does this mean to you?  When we count the omer we create an internal hunger to feel the majesty of the moment of the Torah being given.  When the anniversary arrives it will be momentous.

At the same time, it also means that we craft the emotions we carry.  What we put into life is what we get out of it.  Whether it is the love that we continually nourish in our family, or the Shabbat candles that we faithfully light on Friday nights, or the ongoing effort we place into learning Torah, or simply counting up the days to Shavuot – what we take from life is what we invest into it.

Is there any greater truth than this?

Do Not Pass Over

Frustration takes no effort. It comes easily. People do not have to be taught to be impatient, angry, or bitter. It happens moment-to-moment at stop lights. On the other hand, forbearance does take effort. Kindness often requires restraint and understanding.

Think of all the evil perpetuated throughout history. The last century has seen unprecedented murder. The lesson? Intolerance and evil comes naturally to us.

Pesah has many lessons to teach and one of them is the positive transmittal of love, dedication, and connection to things larger and more expansive than ourselves.

How many times is the idea repeated during these holy days that we have an obligation to reformat the way that we treat one another? From the most basic element that we were once slaves and therefore must have compassion to the underling to the tale of the four children we reemphasize the notion that we are the holders of a great truth that MUST not be forgotten or else we are truly lost. What is that truth?

Radio personality Earl Nightingale once told the story of an angry father yelling at his 12-year old son, “Why don’t you grow up??!”

Struggling to control his tears the boy replied between sobs, “That’s what I’m trying to do!”

One of the biggest tasks assigned to us a Jews is not to destroy. And what greater acts of destruction is there than the destruction of potential? In a moment of frustration which flares into anger we can undo years of good will. A word uttered in anger can lay waste to a career; it can cause a marital rift; it can make a breach in a family that is not repairable.

The power of Passover is seen when the basic cell of humanity, families, come together and look past all the wounds and hurts they have sustained. It is also when we are commanded to invite the stranger into our homes to partake of the Pesah celebration. Their status and education are irrelevant as we were all slaves. It was not just the intelligentsia or rich that was targeted for enslavement or murder. We are “one” on this night. In other words, we expand our small circle of blood relations to encompass a broader love.

Rabban Gamliel instructs us to “feel as if we were redeemed personally:” Why is feeling redeemed so vital? When we were freed we rejoiced. We fell into the arms of one another and wept- whether in the DP camps of Europe or declared independent in 1948 or crossing the Sea of Reeds towards freedom we ignored our differences and swept away ire and disappointments.

Now what if this kind of feeling would be present all our days? Surely, the Messiah would enter when we open our doors at the seder.

Earnest Questions, Honest Answers

A student contacted me about gaining information about Judaism from a local rabbi for a college course she was taking.  She interviewed me and asked some well-thought questions.  She came equipped with many queries about the practices of Judaism.  I share the first few below:

1.  How has religion shaped your life?

 Judaism has influenced my life in more ways than I can enumerate.  It is the filter through which I see and hear all things.  I continually ask myself in every situation, ‘Is this what Judaism demands?’  ‘Is this what God wants?’   When I see a young man playing a guitar on the sidewalk with his guitar case open, I ask myself, what does my tradition demand of me?  Or, when I am insulted by unkind words or am the object of slander, what does the Torah tell me to do?  How do I react?  As the Jewish faith has an opinion and instruction about every facet of life it always be asked, 'what is the Jewish approach to this issue?' 

As both Judaism and God care intimately about how we interact with one another and the world there is nothing that is removed from the gaze of Tradition.  We matter.  Other people matter.  The welfare of the world matters.  For all these reasons we must act in accord with Torah.

2.  What are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion?

Judaism is a demanding religion.  It is not simply for the synagogue or religious events.  It is breathing, eating, talking, walking, business....all.   If there is an Omniscient, caring God He does not only pay attention to us when we pray.  The eye of the Holy One is always peering at us and wants us to make the correct choices.  Ever since the exile from the Garden of Eden we have been burdened with the responsibility of making choices.

It is not always comfortable to be doing the right thing....especially when society is going in the opposite direction.   Yet, Judaism teaches through the many examples of the prophets that we are often called upon to make a moral stand.  We are supposed to speak for those who have no voice or for those who have lost the power of their voice.  We are charged to speak, sometimes yell, on their behalf. 

And then there is bias, hatred, antisemitism....  That is an ever-present challenge.  Still, hatred must never stand in the way of doing the right thing.

3.What are the important holidays and traditions of this religion?

 This is a very long answer.  There are many holy days that dot the year.  Look at a Hebrew calendar and there are major holy days, minor remembrances and small festivals that have through time blossomed into large, meaningful events.

Perhaps the most important of all the holy days is the most frequent one: the Sabbath.  It is God's day when He stopped the Creation process.  It is our day when we reconnect with the Maker and the universe.  Of course, Tabernacles (Sukkot), Pentacost (Shavuot) and Passover (Pesah) are also highly important.   Each of them contain elements of historical events (the passage through the Sinai wilderness, the anniversary of the Receiving of the Torah and Liberation from slavery) as well a natural events (fall harvest, spring harvest and planting season) in addition to holy time of connection between the Jewish people and God.  Then, in a separate category, comes the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur.  Each one is unique with its many symbols of foods, shofar, study, and prayer and vital to the lifeblood of Judaism.

4. What Bible do the Jews use? Does it go by another name?

Our Bible is the same as your Old Testament.  While the order may vary slightly it is the same text.  We have other names for it in Hebrew but we call it Bible in English.

In our understanding we divide the Bible up into three sections.  They are the Torah, the Prophets (Neviim in Hebrew) and the Writings (Ketuvim).  If you take the first consonant from each of the three Hebrew words you have the Hebrew word for the Bible, Tanakh.

5. What is the Torah? How many books does it have?

Torah is the Hebrew word for Pentateuch (penta as in pentagram, pentagon, five).  Torah is the 5 books of Moses, or the first five books of the Bible.  The word Torah means Law or Instruction.

Often times, the word Torah is used to convey the idea of a God-given message.  For this reason Jewish people might say “This is Torah” when they are referring a Law.

The Gift of Giving, Purim

Once there was a lonely woman.  She went to class by herself.  She did homework alone.  No one wanted anything to do with her.  There was a good reason for it; she was not a nice person.

Feeling isolated, she went to a rabbi seeking advice.  A far as she was concerned she was fine.  Life was treating unfairly (people tend not be able to see personal flaws).  While sitting with the rabbi her personality shone through and he saw the young woman for what she was, selfish and self-centered.

“What should I do?” she wept as she told of her isolation.

The rabbi listened compassionately, waited and then said, “Here is what I want you to do.  Go to the school cafeteria as you usually do at lunch but I want you to look for people to help with their trays, paying for what they cannot, getting them salt, a seat, whatever.”

The young woman went away relieved that she had a specific task to do.  It enabled her to focus on something and slowly, as she performed these helpful duties, she began to see herself differently, and, as a result, others began to view her differently too.

Many programs like Dr. Phil or lots of self-help books emphasize what is wrong with our lives and how to fiddle with it.  They tell us to enroll in step programs or take certain classes which will change our behavior.

The Jewish approach tells us that what we do influences the way we think and behave. That is why we place such a heavy emphasis on mitzvot and tend to minimize creeds or statements of faith.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “God is more immediately found in the Bible as well as in acts of kindness and worship than in the mountains and forests. It is more meaningful for us to believe in the immanence of God in deeds than in the immanence of God in nature.”

Heschel teaches us that our actions, mitzvot, as a response to the call of God.  That, in addition to the fact that when we act we change our character, are strong reasons to follow the mitzvot our faith places before us.

Soon it will be Purim.  There are several mitzvot for this holiday.  We give tzedaka, send mishloah manot- gifts of food to friends and family, listen to the Megillah and join in Synagogue festivities.  On Shabbat we bless our children, bless our spouse, light candles, and make Kiddush.  Pesah follows with its own actions/mitzvot.  Each time we act with God, travel the path of our ancestors we alter some powerful part of our self.

A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought- -Abraham Joshua Heschel

Never Walk Alone

“Down to Gehenna or up to the throne,

He travels the fastest who travels alone,” penned Rudyard Kipling.

Kipling was correct, wasn’t he?  When we jettison the burden of carrying others we proceed much more quickly.  People slow us down.  They cut into doing things that take us away from our goal.  They stand in the way of progress.  The best minds of the past were those who segregated themselves from others to work in solitude.

Michelangelo never married.   Think of Van Gogh and his separate life.  Alfred Nobel lived and worked alone.  While married and a mother, Golda Meir was most wedded to her country, Israel.  Leo Szlizard, true father of the atomic bomb, consulted other theoreticians and physicists but he traveled his path almost entirely by himself.  And Alexander the Great was not a stay-at-home dad.  Such undistracted dedication gave rise to their genius and creativity. 

Torah takes a different view.  It tells us several contradicting things at once.  We are supposed to pursue a top rate, life-long Jewish education.  We are commanded by the sages to pursue a profession until we achieve excellence.  Our faith demands marriage and expects children.  At the same time, we are told to care of our parents.  Holidays must be observed.  Our spouse requires time, energy, and attentiveness.  Tzedaka must be dispensed, prayers recited….

How can one possibly achieve excellence with all these distractions?

Contrast what Kipling wrote with commentator, Philip K. Howard:  “Smart people spend time alone.  They don’t fill their days with appointments from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., as many politicians and executives do.  Great science does not emerge from hard logic and grinding hours.  It comes from the mysterious resources of the human brain and soul.  Inspiration is nurtured by activities like chopping wood and raking leaves, preparing dinner and reading to the kids.  The activities soften the rigid pace of the day’s pursuits and allow all our God-given intuition to work its unlogical magic.  Only then can we reach our fullest potential.  Only then can we leap from thinking to understanding.”

What our tradition seeks is balance.  The secret of life does not lie in obsessive behavior, it resides the rainbow-colored spectrum we call life.  Real beauty emerges from the full brush stroke from a palette of diversity.  Let’s face it: black and white movies are a novelty but color is so much more vibrant.  It is the same with life.

The joys of existence emerge from playing with one another.  Isn’t that what Pesah is all about?  We tell stories, sing songs, chant, eat, regale with tales from the past, set sumptuous tables, encourage children to participate, open doors, and bless one another.  Life lived alone, apart, is not a full life.

Once, a boy was walking in the street holding a beautiful apple.  An elderly man remarked, “That looks like a scrumptious apple.”

The boy replied, “It certainly does and I intend to eat it!”

The man asked, “Tell me. How could you enjoy twice as much pleasure out of this apple?” 

“That’s simple,” said the boy.  “Give me another apple and then it will be double.”

The man said, “You are mistaken.  Cut it in half and give half away.  Then you will discover the additional pleasure that comes from your friend eating the other half of the apple together with you.”

What is the moral of all this?  It is not about “you”; it is about “us”.