Haggadah for the Curious – 3, Perfect Addition to Our Collection

Haggadah for the Curious – Volume 3 by Rabbi A Levin will be very welcome at our Seder. Rabbi Levin has miraculously managed to compile a variety of commentary, comments and questions that will interest all ages and all levels of Jewish knowledge and observance. Call it your "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" Haggadah.

Besides the fascinating content, I really enjoy the simple graphics and large, legible print. That's especially good for those of us whose eyesight isn't what it used to be and for the young children and grandchildren new to reading. Of course, in a few years it'll probably be stained with wine as all well-used family Haggadot are.

Here's a sample page.
Instructions are clear, even to those not experienced with the Passover Seder or forget details from year to year.

Commentary is in the form of questions and answers which guides the Seder leader in helping others at the table to think and ask even more. Of course, anyone at the Passover Seder may ask questions and add his/her two cents, inspired by the commentary in Haggadah for the Curious – 3. A Passover Seder is not supposed to be a performance; it's more like a Beit Medrash, Jewish Study Hall where people discuss and even argue. We're commanded to think and talk about what happened to the Jewish People thousands of years ago when leaving Egypt and not doze off as "head of the house" drones on. The lessons learned are valuable for all time, meaning today, too.

As I was reading through Haggadah for the Curious – 3, I almost immediately learned something new. Growing up in a minimally traditionally Jewish home, we never leaned over when drinking the seder wine or eating the ceremonial matzah. We read the narrative up to the meal and not all of the instructions. Actually we only drank two cups, since we didn't continue the seder after the meal. Early in the Haggadah Rabbi Levin gives a lot of detail about the "leaning" while drinking the wine and eating the matzah. After saying that 45 degrees is important, he then reminds us that being in pain cancels that out. I like the common sense in that. One surprise is that the one who will lead the Seder should be the one setting up the Seder Plate, which should be done when standing and as a "ceremony" announcing the items as he places them down. I had never heard that before.

In Haggadah for the Curious – 3, I also discovered a couple of completely new things to do with the wine poured for Eliyahu Hanavi. We have always kept it out and then poured it in the sink, forbidden for shmitta- kedushat shvi'it. According to Rabbi Levin, the Zachor L'Avraham 40:66 says to pour a little into the cups of all the seder participants, since it's segulah for health and healing. Suggestion #2 is to cover it overnight and then pour it back into the bottle and then use it for morning kiddush, according to Vayeged Moshe 30:5. What do you do with Eliyahu's wine? Where did you get your custom?

No doubt it's clear that I highly recommend buying In Haggadah for the Curious – 3 as a gift for yourself and/or others. It can be found in Judaica book stores or ordered from Mosaica Press or Feldheim.

Israel, The Only Jewish Country, Model Seder on National Television

Israel's President Ruby Rivlin

Model Seder, 5780, 2020, Channel 11

Model Seder, 5780, 2020, Channel 11

Wednesday, soon before Passover, 5780, 2020, began, there was a lovely, traditional "Model Seder" on Israel's Channel 11. Various entertainers, plus Israel's President Ruby Rivlin "beamed in" participated in a national Pesach Seder.

It's in times like this when we're reminded that Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. Granted that it's too easy to complain; people sure do.

I was going to blog about politics. But in these difficult corona, COVID-19, times, I really think it's better to write about something good and encouraging. In addition, when Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu explained the corona lock-down restrictions, he related them to the Passover holiday and family observances.

Let's look at the good and our blessings. One thing for sure, modern technology has made these restrictions much easier to bear. What do you think?

Israel On The Moon, Davka After "New Moon" Shabbat

By now I guess everyone knows that Israel's landing on the moon was a crash-landing. We do things with a bang, of course. Seriously, it was a great accomplishment, and only three countries, all much larger and wealthier than Israel did better.

When just a few meters to the moon, a super tiny fraction of the entire impossible journey from earth to moon, there were engine and communication problems, and the spacecraft crashed.

In the universe of space travel research, Israel's attempt is a great success and very unique. Unlike the other attempts, Israel's space industry is not a government project. It's a department of a company, Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI.

I'm not at all qualified to discuss the technical stuff, but I couldn't get over the timing. Just last Shabbat we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Every Rosh Chodesh celebrates the New Moon, the new month. And it was also, Parshat HaChodesh, when we celebrate the first Mitzvah Gd gave to us as a People, The Jewish People. The phases of the moon keep us on track, tell us when our months begin and holidays will fall.

Gd created all of this in the universe, and it is brilliant. The cycle of the moon, and the earth revolving around the sun. The Jewish Calendar integrates these different and conflicting cycles very accurately and successfully. No other religion, culture does it. And none of our ancient foes still exists, while we, the Jewish People in the State of Israel thrive in the modern world, Baruch Hashem.

In just a week we celebrate Passover, Pesach, the holiday in which we're commanded to tell our history to all and make us relate to the narrative, as if we personally escaped slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt and then began the journey to the Promised Land, the Land of Our Forefathers, the Land Gd gave us, and only us, the Jewish People.

Shabbat HaGadol Shalom

May You have a Truly Awesome Shabbat

What is Your Passover Celebration?

Matzah cover my parents gave us as newlyweds. As you can see from the wine stains, it has been used many times.

Pretty much every year there are polls published saying that most Jews celebrate Passover in some way or another.

our Hagaddah collection

My parents, even when they did not keep a kosher home at all, still had another complete set of dishes, pots etc which were for Passover. And my mother cleaned the kitchen before switching. My parents also had, hosted or went to, two s'darim (seders.) A number of my cousins fondly remember those at my parents' house. We followed the Hagaddah, Maxwell House of course, until the meal. And the meal ended the Seder. As a child I always wondered why only two of the songs I had learned in Hebrew School, Avodim Hayinu and Dayeinu were sung at our S'darim. Later on, when I attended full S'darim which continued after the meal, I discovered that the rest of the songs were from that ignored part.

For half a century I only attend a complete Seder during which we read and sing from the entire Hagaddah, whether we are the hosts or the guests.

Passover for us is not just the Seder; it's a week-long holiday. The food restrictions last a full week, and the last day of it, here in Israel, is a Jewish Holiday.

I'm curious how you Jewish readers celebrate Passover. Is it a full week's holiday, or do you just have a special symbolic meal with matzah and songs? Or do you do something in between? Please let me know in comments, thanks.

Matzah cover found in my parents' closet when we were emptying out the house. I have no idea how old it is. 

Passover: Choose Your Battles, and Kitniyot isn't Mine

I enjoy my usual coffee, made in a Passover percolator, served in a Passover mug on my specially covered counter.

For those not living a Torah Jewish aka Orthodox life, there are innumerable issues that make no sense at all. And even for those who do, once you compare the different customs, especially concerning Passover foods -permitted and forbidden- confusion reigns supreme.

Until about a century or so ago, there wasn't all that much "mixing" between the Jewish communities aka eidot, so for example, the most Torah observant and knowledgeable Sephardic Jews of Tunisia and Morocco had no idea that their traditional Passover foods couldn't be eaten by an Ashkenazi Jew in Russia or Germany. And the Ashkeniz Jew would find it incredible that his Sephardic brethren had never eaten or even heard of Gefilte Fish or kneidlach.

But today, whether in Brooklyn, London or Jerusalem you will find many families of mixed Jewish ethnic backgrounds struggling at times to create menus and traditions that halachically (according to Jewish Law) suit all members of the family around the Seder table. My family is one of them.

I'm always praising this mix and sincerely consider it a sign that the Moshiach and Redemption are close. The blurring of these diaspora identities certainly are required prerequisites for the true Jewish Messianic Time and the building of the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

My husband and I are strictly Ashkenaz and don't eat kitniyot*, legumes, whether dried, fresh or just derivatives. We've survived so many Passover Holidays on this restricted "diet" that it seems silly/unnecessary to accept/adopt one of those well-publicized general rabbinic statements that the "kitniyot restrictions" are no longer valid.

In principle I do not follow in any way public rabbinic announcements by rabbis I don't know and didn't ask. Actually, I consider it highly problematic for rabbis to make "grand announcements" to the general public. When have had a question we ask our local rabbi who knows us, and we know him.

I must say that our Passover observance has changed in the last decade plus, especially since our daughter married a Jew whose family made aliyah from Tunisia. It started when they would come to us, and we'd allow them rice on our Passover table. My daughter would make it in our pots, because rice isn't chametz, and it's perfectly permitted for them. And in recent years they host the big family seder. They serve both kitniyot and non-kitniyot foods. Everyone eats what they consider permitted on Passover. And we enjoy being together which is most important.

There are so many families like ours, nowadays, that these old ethnic divisions/differences won't last much longer Gd willing. Let them die a natural death. Don't rush it, please. It's better all around for the unity of the Jewish People to go slowly, so a Passover menu will happily include Gefilte Fish and hummus eaten with shmura soft matzot. That will be the type of meal celebrating the Chanukat Habayit of the Third Temple, Gd willing.

*Here are a few sites which will explain what this means:

• All About Kitniyot
• Kitniyot: Not Quite Hametz
• Kitniyot

Jewish Women, We've "come a long way, baby"

As I posted yesterday, this week I attended Matan's Pre-Passover Yom Iyyun, Education Day. I don't know whom I heard mentioning something very significant which resonates greatly. During those three fascinating and inspiring lectures, not once did anyone mention:

• cooking
• cleaning
• customs like kitniyot

Just a few years ago, and maybe still at some venues, these so-called "women's topics" may still get some play. But today's modern, educated Torah Observant woman looks for spiritual and theological inspiration before Passover, not more recipes and cleaning advice. And the inspiration we crave isn't the "predigested" kind, it's intellectual based on the Bible and traditional Jewish commentators. We are expected to think, and not about color schemes and table-settings. 

And the overcrowded Matan auditorium also had quite a few men sitting in the audience, as you can see.  

Another thing is that there were items for sale just outside the auditorium, but they weren't jewelry, tablecloths, scarves or hats. They were a large selection of books from Pomeranz Books for added inspiration and inclusion at the Passover Seder. I bought my grandkids the "Harry Potter" Haggadah, which was one of the big sellers, as many participants had the same idea I did. I didn't notice any cookbooks, but then, again, I'm not in the market for any. Today I spoke to Pomeranz who said that besides The Hogwarts Haggadah, the big sellers were Passover books by Erica Brown and Rabbi David Fohrman.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Kasher V'Sameach!

Inspiring Pre-Passover Learning

Yesterday, I was one of the hundreds of women and men who overfilled the Matan Auditorium to hear three of Matan's best teachers, Dr. Yael Ziegler, Rabbanit Shani Taragin and Yael Leibowitz. I thank Gd for the opportunity to have been there, which was due to the fact that in my present job teaching EFL Remedial English in Yeshivat Ahavat Chaim, my Passover break has already begun.

 As  every Wednesday morning in Matan, Jerusalem, for many years, Dr. Yael Ziegler opened the day with a totally spellbinding and inspiring lecture. Not one person interrupted, and Yael hardly took a breath as she enlightened us about the Plague of Darkness and its significance for the Egyptians and Gd's promise to the Jewish People.

 After a short break, Rabbanit Shani Taragin told us about Prayer, Passover and the Mitzvah to retell what happened to the Jewish People in Egypt. She quoted Rav Soloveitchik who had taught that those who don't recognize their own power of speech/prayer are slaves.

Lastly, Yael Leibowitz managed to keep us totally enthralled with her fascinating talk about the beginnings of the Jewish Nation including comparisons between Moses and Jacob.

My friends and I walked out totally energized and inspired, even though we had been sitting and listening for over four hours.

These pre-holiday learning sessions and the regular courses in Matan can be heard on their Matan Online site. Some are free, and others require payment. But once you subscribe, you can access all of the lectures. So, even if you can't attend Matan in person, you can still enjoy its classes. When I take my fitness walks, I listen to the lectures. Even those I had heard in person never bore me when I listen to them a number of times. 

Have a wonderful Shabbat, which should energize you for Passover, which is barely a week and a half away.

Guest Post by Atara Snowbell on חרות Herut

Atara Snowbell, Matan

Earlier in the week I posted  Shiloh Musings: For a Good Jewish Theological Discussion, You Need Hebrew!, which I sent to my Tanach/Bible teacher Atara Snowbell. Although she hasn't taught me for a couple of years already, I still consider her as one of my teachers, and I wanted her to read that article. I feel that it relates to some of what we learned together in ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, The Book of Numbers. I received her permission to post her reply on this blog:

Completely makes sense, as in אין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתורה clearly is not an indication of freedom in the modern sense, but rather freedom to tie oneself into an obligatory system of one's choice.

Being an עובד ה' is true freedom, as it obligates you to the truest and most noble values.

--Of course, as an aside, I don't believe "free to do what I want" is truly freedom either, because it enslaves me to my own human desires and whims, one of the worst types of enslavement.--

The best "proof" for your post is that the Torah uses the same term to describe the enslavement to Pharaoh and to God - עבד

ויקרא פרק כה 

(נה) כִּי לִי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים עֲבָדַי הֵם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:

Chazal picked up on this when they compared Purim to Pessach - they ask whether one should say Hallel on Pessach and conclude that we don't, because whereas on Pessach we were Pharaoh's slaves and became God's slaves, on Purim we were Ahashverosh's slaves and remained his slaves:

תלמוד בבלי מסכת מגילה דף יד עמוד א 

רבא אמר: בשלמא התם +תהלים קי"ג+ הללו עבדי ה' - ולא עבדי פרעה, אלא הכא - הללו עבדי ה' ולא עבדי אחשורוש? אכתי עבדי אחשורוש אנן. 

So we are redeemed from slavery but become free, only to become slaves to God. But that type of slavery is true freedom, as it is enslavement to divine values. There is not such thing as a gap, at all times we are enslaved to something: time work family our own human needs and desires. Freedom is the ability to choose to be enslaved to a set of values and morals that is right; True freedom is being enslaved to God, by choice.

I once gave a shiur that related to Eved Ivri - the Hebrew slave and the Torah's attitude toward slavery, based on this very idea. The Torah's approach is based on this very idea - no man should be enslaved to another, since they should be free to worship God alone. But that's for another discussion...

Passover Seder is Jewish Life, Charoset with Marror and All Four Sons

So much has been and will be written about the Passover Seder. It's an amazing home-based (when it isn't in a hotel or some public hall) required religious ritual in Judaism.

It's a ceremony involving contrasts, opposites. We starve (during the sometimes seeming unending recitations and discussions) and we also feast, not only on the festive meal but a number of ritual foods.

Contrasts start with the "four questions" traditionally recited/sung by the youngest capable attendee at the seder:

1. On all other nights we eat bread or matza, while on this night we eat only matza.2. On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables and herbs, but on this night we have to eat bitter herbs.3. On all other nights we don't dip our vegetables in salt water, but on this night we dip them twice.4. On all other nights we eat while sitting upright, but on this night we eat reclining. (about.com)

I understand that this is to get the child involved, but the answers aren't very clear and relevant to a child's understanding. I'm a former remedial teacher, and I can't see how "because we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt..." would make much sense as an answer to why we dip our vegetables in salt water.

Of course the children may and should insist on better answers if dissatisfied with the Seder's text. The next big contrast are the supposed questions of four different types of children. The compilers of the Passover Hagadah recognize that we're all different and so are our children. Also it's important to welcome all Jews to the seder no matter what their level of observance. That is important and very different form many other Jewish rituals which quickly become rejected and forgotten by those who aren't Torah observant. The Passover Seder is one ritual that many people make an effort to observe, even partially, no matter how far they are from Torah living.

Dry Bones

"The four sons," or daughters if you wish, all ask the same basic question but each from his/her perspective.

Four Blessings, Four Children
Blessed is the omnipresent one, blessed be He!Blessed is He who gave the Torah to His people Israel,blessed be He!The Torah speaks of four children: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask. (Chabad)

What does the wise one say?“What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the laws that G‑d, our G‑d, has commanded to you?” (deut. 6:20)What does the wicked one say?“What is this service of yours?!”12 The Simple One—what does he say?“What is this celebration about?”As for The One Who Knows Not How To Ask—you must open up [the conversation] for him. 

Judaism is an open religion in many ways.  We communicate directly with G-d, and we were given Free Will. G-d did not create us to be robots or angels, who can be described as G-d's robots. Human beings were gifted with the abilities to make mistakes, yes, even bad ones, and to repent, do teshuva. Many families contain all versions of these four children.

The ritual meal at the seder opens with a food combination that symbolizes our families, the Jewish People, when we combine the sweet charoset* with the sharp, burning bitter herbs**. First they are eaten together, just the two contrasting foods. And then we (most Jews, at least those who do not have the minhag, custom forbidding matzah to to touch any other food) make a sandwich of it between two pieces of matzah.

When we eat this combination we should remember that G-d loves us all, as a Father. That isn't a green-light to disobey His Laws; it should remind us that G-d wants us to improve ourselves and live according to His Laws.

Chag Kasher v'Sameach to All

*our charoset recipe
chop up apples, walnuts, almonds
mix together and add cinnamon and sweet red wine

**bitter herbs
romaine lettuce and/or horseradish root, which we grate and add a bit of vinegar to keep it potent

Anti-Jewish, Antisemitic Terror Attack in the USA

I woke up with thoughts of the Passover Holiday in my mind. Passover, Pesach, is the Jewish holiday in which we celebrate our escape from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. It's all recorded in the Jewish Bible. Yes, our history, the Jewish History is very clear and well-documented.

The Jewish People started here in the HolyLand with Abraham and Sarah. Their grandson, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren left for Egypt during a famine, only to return after many difficulties, a number of generations later. It took G-d's miracles to help them escape. Now, thousands of years later, we still remember and still celebrate that escape.

Davka, such ironic timing for a terror attack against Jews in Kansas City, Missouri.

During the shooting, he asked people if they were Jewish before shooting at them, witness Rabbi Herbert Mandl told CNN. A total of five people were shot at, but only three were hit. (Jerusalem Post)

Suspect in shooting at two Kansas Jewish centers which left three dead, April 13, 2014.
Jewish Press

The Passover seder, during which we recount that escape, ends with the singing of "L'Shana HaBa b'Yirushalayim," "Next year in Jerusalem."


Nowadays the only thing holding Jews out of the HolyLand are themselves, their priorities.

Israel is a wonderful modern country. I feel safe here. The more Jews who join us, the better it will be. So please stop with your empty words and give those words real meaning. Come to Israel and make it your home.

Chag Pesach Kasher v'Sameach

Have a Happy and Kosher Passover

It Takes More Than Matzah Balls...

Headline News!

Obama Hosts Seder Dinner at White House

U.S. President Obama is trying to win over United States Jews via their stomach, their culinary memories. Last year, during the Passover blogging season I blogged that a traif seder was better than none at all, and I still consider that so under most circumstances.

I draw the line where a goyish (non-Jewish) politician uses the Jewish Holiday to score points, mend fences, play politics etc. For Jews going to the White House to a seder officially hosted by the American President goes 100% against the message of the Passover Holiday.

The story of Passover in the Haggadah begins:

"We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt."

Most people erroneously, and dangerously, delete or ignore the phrase "to Pharaoh" and concentrate, emphasize "in Egypt." The major problem leading up to the Exodus from Egypt and all that needed to be done to execute it by Moshe, Aaron etc, was that the Jewish People felt more loyal to Pharaoh, and Egyptian culture, than to G-d. This is the root of the problems and sins of the Jewish People after leaving Egypt, which caused the forty year trek and the additional problems during those forty years.

The Obama staff probably thinks that hosting the seder was good politics. I'm sure that the Jews who attended consider themselves very privileged, like the Persian Jews who partied with King Ashashverosh... but that was Purim, last month's holiday...

The photo is a family seder from over sixty years ago. Many of those who participated are long dead... but not forgotten.

May their memories be blessed.

L'Ilui Nishmatam