Preparing for Seder Part 3鈥擵isual Midrash on the Four Children
Apr 11, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Pesah
The four children (formerly known as the four sons) are among the most provocative part of the seder鈥攆or children provoke their parents. That is why Elijah is needed to restore peace between the generations. The evolution of the text as we find it in our Haggadah is complex, and interesting explanations can be found in the recent JTS collection of Sound Bytes of Torah for Passove on YouTube. I have long been fascinated by the interpretation in imagery that offers four books, presumably each book representing one of the four 鈥渢ypes鈥� of child. But which one is which?
Read More
Elijah鈥擣amilies and the End of Days
Mar 27, 2014 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Pesah
Elijah is an enigmatic and beloved figure in the Passover seder, with a myriad of explanations for his appearance and role. It鈥檚 worth noting that Elijah appears first in our liturgical texts even before we sit down to begin the seder: the haftarah for Shabbat Hagadol (the Shabbat before Pesah) is from the end of Malachi, and concludes with the haunting words, 鈥淏ehold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Adonai; and he will return the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents.鈥�
Read More
Pesah: A Liberating Experience for Women
Mar 4, 2013 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Pesah
There is no festival more home- and family-oriented than Pesah. Sukkot may run a close second, but the seder places Pesah way ahead. Although celebrating at home with a lavish family meal should make this holiday a pleasure to anticipate, for many women this is not so. The painstaking conversion of the kitchen from leaven-filled to leaven-free status has turned the Festival of Freedom into an intense period of domestic labor rather than a celebration of personal and national liberation. That was not the intention of the halakhah.
Read More
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Feb 12, 2013 By Raymond Scheindlin | Commentary | Purim
How is it possible to tell a story of redemption without even once mentioning the name of God?
Read More
Ne鈥榠lah: Final Closing, or Not Quite?
Sep 11, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Yom Kippur
鈥�P鈥檛ach lanu sha鈥檃r鈥� (Keep open the gate for us) are the words of a fragment of a piyyut attributed to Elazar Kallir (6th century, Land of Israel) [see the Rabbinical Assembly鈥檚 Mahzor Lev Shalem, 414].
Read More
How Do You Measure a Year?
May 8, 2013 By Rabbi Abigail Treu | Commentary | Bemidbar | Shavuot
We are doing an awful lot of counting this week: we count the final days of the Omer, and, as our parashah begins, take the census of the Israelite community. What does all of this counting have to do with the ways in which we measure what really matters?
Read More
Jerusalem
Jul 17, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Tishah Be'av
As we emerge from our encounter with destruction and desolation on Tish鈥檃h Be鈥橝v, we approach Shabbat Nahamu, named for the opening words of the haftarah 鈥�Nahamu nahamu ami鈥� (Be comforted, oh be comforted My people; Isa. 40:1). This becomes the week when we allow ourselves to encounter all the images of Jerusalem that are presented to us as signs and symbols of hope in our liturgy.
Read More
Shavu鈥檕t鈥擧ide and Seek with Torah
May 14, 2013 By Samuel Barth | Commentary | Shavuot
In the kiddush we recite this evening, and in all the traditional services of Shavu鈥檕t, we speak of 鈥�chag haShavuot hazeh, z鈥檓an mattan Torateinu鈥� (This Festival of Shavu鈥檕t, season of the giving of our Torah. [Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 42]). There is a subtle yet subversive element to this description of the day: the parallels for Pesah and Sukkot speak of the 鈥渟eason of our liberation鈥� and 鈥渟eason of our rejoicing,鈥� each of which can reasonably be derived from biblical sources; however, there is no biblical source that associates Shavu鈥檕t with the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Shavu鈥檕t is called chag haKatsir in association with the harvest (Exod. 23:16), and the name 厂丑补惫耻鈥檕迟&苍产蝉辫;derives from the 49 days of counting the Omer after Pesah; the Talmud (BT Pesachim 68b) even uses the term Atzeret (conclusion), seeing the day as 鈥渃oncluding鈥� Pesah much as Shemini Atzeret serves as conclusion to Sukkot.
Read More