My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
**Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged.
Thank you.
I couldn't resist this new Az Nashir Haggadah for many reasons. One important reason is that many of my friends were involved in writing and editing it, including my favorite teachers in Matan.
Just a warning, it's a big beautiful volume that may not fit easily on the table, but it's worth making the effort. I'd suggest trying to read some of the articles before the Seder. How about on Shabbat Hagadol? Lots of people make a point of preparing/studying for Passover, and using your Az Nashir Haggadah would be a very good idea.
I, davka, ended up reading the poems and articles the day after the Seder... They're written in all sorts of styles, covering a wide variety of topics. That makes it so much more interesting than other Haggadot. And, no, I didn't manage to read them all.
If a few friends have the Haggadah, I'd recommend using it as the text for a group pre-Pesach study group. Each session study a different article or two. For example:
From what I understand, the first printing was sold out, so now's the time to order your copy for next year. And don't forget the other Az Nashir books. Click here for ordering information.
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.
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?
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.
If you need a break, why not visit a few blogs. I'm just listing a bunch of post titles. Read, comment and share. They are also Kosher for Passover. Enjoy!
This year Matan's Pre-Pesach Learning in English was on Monday. I slept over in Jerusalem the night before, so I wouldn't have to get up ridiculously early and then find myself dozing through the lectures. That gave me an opportunity to see my Jerusalem kids and my newest grandchild, ken yirbu.
As you can see from the pictures, the auditorium was packed. They had to bring in extra chairs.
At 9am, we started with Dr. Yael Ziegler, who as usual kept us totally spellbound. She discussed the similaries between the סנה, the Burning Bush, and הר סיני, Mount Sinai. There's also a linguistic connection between the two, which I hadn't noticed before. I've been taking her classes for years. She's incomparable.
Then, after a short break, we heard Dr. Aviva Gottleib Zornberg, who discussed the Biblical narrative of the Exodus from Egypt.
The program ended with Dr. Avigail Rock, who discussed different aspects of our Exodus from Egypt.
The classes/lectures were all so amazing that I had no trouble staying alert and awake for the four hours of the program. If you'd like to hear those lectures and others, click on the Matan Online website. Matan records most of its classes, and any which don't have an icon of a "lock" can be heard by the general public. For a reasonable fee, you can sign up to hear all of the locked classes, too. I'm looking forward to resuming my regular study schedule after Passover.
For years I've loved the pre-Passover series, #blogExodus and #Exodusgram, that the Bima Ima, aka Phyllis Sommer, blogs and teaches about. That's because she reminds us that there is a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual efforts needed for us to prepare for Passover. We shouldn't think that the chametz is just in the kitchen or the house.
Today is already the 2nd of the Jewish Month of Nisan. That means that we must catch up. We have to Begin the process and Bless Gd and all that we have.
I look forward to these blog posts every year. The Bima Ima's blog used to be updated almost daily, but now it hibernates most of the time. And as Purim rolls around I start getting anxious and wonder if she'll resume posting in time for Nisan. Thank Gd, the Bima Ima is back blogging.
Begin- Here in Shiloh, we began the Month of Nisan with a special Kiddush after blessing the fruit blossoms, Birkat Ha'Ilanot, which show that Gd is giving us fruit from/via the trees. In our neighborhood we go to neighbors who have a lot of fruit trees in the yard, and some still have flowers.
Bless- I wish to bless my family, community and friends near and far that they have good health and enjoy the gifts that Gd has given us. It is truly a blessing, when we know how to see the good in our lives.
Shavua Tov, Chodesh Tov
BlogExodus Topics 2018/5778 1 Nisan - Begin 2 Nisan - Bless 3 Nisan - Cleanse 4 Nisan - Grow 5 Nisan - Hide 6 Nisan - Tell 7 Nisan - Ask 8 Nisan - Rise 9 Nisan - Thank 10 Nisan - Join 11 Nisan - Celebrate 12 Nisan - Find 13 Nisan - Welcome 14 Nisan - Praise
Short True Story about Mr. Sy Syms a Famous Jewish Businessman and Mega-Donor
(a guest post by Mr. Cohen)
============================ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sy_Syms
============================
In the 1990s, Mr. Sy Syms, a famous Jewish businessman
who
was affiliated with Conservative Judaism, was asked
why he made major
charitable donations to Orthodox
institutions [specifically, to Yeshivah
University],
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:
In the mitzvot/instructions for celebrating the Holiday of Passover, חג פסח, חג חרות The Holiday of Herurt--The Engraving of Gd's Commandments into Our Souls and Beings, we are told to feel as if we exited from Egypt. We should not be disengaged from what happened to our ancestors, because they are us, and we are them.
Chazal, our Sages say that all Jewish Souls, including those who are righteous converts to Judaism were together at Mount Sinai pledging:
נעשה ונשמע Na'aseh v'Nishmah
We will do and we will listen/obey
Also many (if not most) of the mitzvot/commandments Gd commanded us have the "because I took you out of the Land of Egypt" in their wording.
We are connected.
We are one People.
We pray in the plural. Jewish History happened to us, too, and it can happen again, the rewards and the punishments.
We must never take for granted that no matter what we do, Gd will save us. That's a distortion of the truth. Gd will make sure a remnant remains to begin anew, but if we do not follow Gd's commandments, then we may find ourselves yet again exiled.
This is a very special year on the Jewish Calendar. It happens rarely. All Jews are required to eat food Kosher for Passover for eight days. Normally, in Israel the restrictions are for seven days only, while out of Israel they have an additional day, but this year the day after Passover is Shabbat and we can't prepare chametz, nor can we open the chametz closets until a couple of hours after Shabbat. So, we are all united.
Let's start with the basic and true that I'm an awful housekeeper, always was and I guess I'll always be one.
my kitchen in Passover mode
this is chametz
A lot of what's accepted as "cleaning for Passover" has absolutely nothing to do with ridding the house of the forbidden Chametz.
Chametz is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and "rise.”
In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening—is to be considered chametz. This includes flour (even before it is mixed with water1), cake, cookies, pasta, breads and items that have chametz as an ingredient, like malt. (Chabad)
And a lot of products that proudly and sometimes more expensively display "Kosher for Passover" labels and certification have absolutely nothing to do with chametz at all, no matter how and where it's produced. I'm happy to have found this list, NON-FOOD ITEMS – 2016, OU Kosher Staff:
The consensus of the OU’s poskim (rabbinic authorities) is that the following may be used on Passover without certification:
Aluminum foil
Aluminum foil baking pans
Baby ointments
Bags (paper or plastic)
Body wash
Bowl and tub cleaners
Candles
Cardboard
Carpet cleaners
Charcoal
Conditioners
Copper and metal cleaners
Cork
Cosmetics (except possibly lipsticks, see below)
Cupcake holders
Cups (paper, plastic or styrofoam)
Deodorants
Detergents
Dishwashing Detergents
Drain openers
Fabric protectors
Furniture polish
Glass cleaners
Hair gels, sprays and mousse
Hair removers and treatments
Insecticides
Isopropyl alcohol
Jewelry polish
Laundry detergents
Lotions
Napkins (paper)
Oven cleaners
Paper towels
Perfumes
Plastic containers
Plates (paper, plastic or styrofoam)
Scouring pads and powders
Shampoos
Shaving cream and gel
Shaving lotion
Silver polish
Skin cream
Soaps
Suntan lotion
Talcum powder (100% talc)
Toilet bowl cleaner
Water filters
And to tell the truth, since I've never allowed eating in bedrooms, meaning no breakfast in bed, and my kids (and their friends) even at the youngest ages did not wander the house eating cookies, crackers, etc. there never is any actual chametz in the bedrooms. I clean what I can, but my real focus is on the kitchen. And as I wrote on my blog, A Jewish Grandmother, Tolerance, Acceptance, Pesach Can Be Complicated.
I pray for good health and good humor. Let's not go crazy and make ourselves sick and forget that Passover is a holiday which shouldn't be tortuous.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes. {P}
Judaism is about structure and absolute Law, Torah, Mitzvot. True freedom is more anarchy and not good.
the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
"we do have some freedom of choice"
Passover celebrates our commitment to Gd and Gd's Laws, not the freedom from it or any rules. Historically we were unshackled from the slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt to become slaves/worshipers/followers of Gd. We committed to Gd and His Rules/Mitzvot.
In Hebrew every word has multiple meanings on all different letters, and the fact that the food we must eat to celebrate Passover is מצה plural מצות is spelled just like the plural of מצוה מצות Gd's commandments to us.
That's how deeply we must internalize Gd's commandments. They must become part of us. They are our food for survival.
חרת is the root of חרות and means to engrave, to dig deeply into a stone or wood.
From this, we see that the Passover Holiday is about accepting and internalizing Judaism, Gd's Laws. That is true חרות Cherut/Herut.
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
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...
Phyllis the "Bima Ima" has a wonderful custom every year, her #BlogExodus.
1 Nisan - Start
2 Nisan - Honor
3 Nisan - Purify
4 Nisan - Grow
5 Nisan - Hide
6 Nisan - Recount
7 Nisan - Examine
8 Nisan - Deepen
9 Nisan - Perplex
10 Nisan - Unite
11 Nisan - Rejoice
12 Nisan - Discover
13 Nisan - Accept
14 Nisan - Praise
In a sense I have already begun with my post For a Good Jewish Theological Discussion, You Need Hebrew!. In it I try to comprehend the true meaning of the word חרות cherut, and I don't see it meaning "freedom" at all. I suggest you read it to find out what I have discovered...
I always enjoy Phyllis's Passover preparation, because it's a reminder that Passover is more than a bunch of food restrictions. And preparing for Pesach requires more than cleaning and checking ingredients.
This year Rosh Chodesh Nissan will be on Shabbat, so the first and eighth days of Nissan are on Shabbat. They are "start" and "deepen" according to Phyllis. They suit Shabbat.
And I also like that on the thirteenth of Nissan we should "accept." Yes, one of the things we should accept is that we do not have control over our homes and families. Your house may not be as clean as your dreams, and the seder you're planning may not have everything or everyone you had wished for. But as we approach Passover, on the fourteenth of the month of Nissan, we will still praise Gd, because we must learn to make peace and accept that what we have is good.
There are things we can't control and tests that we wished we'd never have to experience. But still there are wonderful things, and we must look at our life as half or even just a quarter full. And once we learn how to do that then the cup looks completely full, because we are learning how to truly accept our lives. That's part of being בני חורין bnai chorin, those who follow Gd rather than being slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt or slaves of any man.
Phyllis's Nissan challenges are to remind us that Judaism is a journey, a spiritual journey.
From Phyllis:
The themes are really up for your own interpretation. I was thinking broadly and openly about what makes Passover special and interesting to me. I hope it will translate into creative and inspirational posts from all of us! Are you going to join in? Leave me a comment here or send me a tweet or just...jump in!At some point in the middle, I will probably do a "roundup" post and I will retweet all the #BlogExodus and #Exodusgram posts through Twitter via @imabima. If I miss your posts, let me know so I can go back and be inspired by what YOU have to say!
Last night I had a very frustrating time at our monthly Shabbat Mevorchim Melava Malka, Post Shabbat study and nosh event, that we've been having on the Saturday nights after the Shabbat when the upcoming new Jewish Month has been announced in shul.
The rabbi who led it conducted a discussion, not a lecture, which he began by summarizing the story Chazal (our sages) say that before birth we have all the knowledge possible about Torah and Judaism, but as we're being born an angel kisses us and seals it or removes it. Then he asked us for our personal opinions about Passover and חרות Cherut, Freedom. Yes, he defined it as "freedom." Now that bothered me a lot. By defining חרות Cherut as Freedom, he was giving חרות Cherut a meaning, which it may not really have.
Israel's old Right newspaper had been called חרות
Most of the participants were of the generation raised and came to age in the late 1960's, when "freedom" had all sorts of political connotations, and they tried to get those to mesh with Passover. I felt that the discussion was totally off-track, because I wanted it to be based on the linguistic meaning in Hebrew of חרות, but I guess I was in the minority on this.
I don't see any "freedom" in the way we celebrate and prepare for Passover. Actually it's the opposite. The way most of us prepare is so anti-Freedom, so pathologically OCD, it drives people from religion.
That's why I insisted on getting to the root of חרות. That brought me to what to me is the most crucial and important line in the entire Passover Hagaddah:
עבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים
עתה עתה בני חורין Avodim hayinu liparoh bamitzrayim; atta bnai chorinWe were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt ; now we are "free?"
It's the statement that expresses opposite status. "Avodim liparoh bamitzrayim" versus "bnai chorin." which is commonly translated as "slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt" versus "free." Pretty much everybody stresses the "slavery" part and then gives the opposite of slavery as freedom, but I keep thinking, yes for years, that the crucial aspect of this is not the economic slavery but the fact that we had to obey the whims of the Egyptian leader and the opposite "bnai chorin" would mean that we now must obey Gd.
This would take the entire story someplace else and not at all to "freedom" as commonly depicted. This brings us to the Torah and Gd's commandments. It makes more sense and then all the kitchen cleaning and special ways of cooking mean that instead of the readily available food (chametz) given to the Jewish slaves by Pharaoh, we Jews have to rid ourselves and our homes of that and eat the food Gd commands us to eat and prepare. In the Wilderness when transitioning between slavery in Egypt and building a new Jewish society in the HolyLand, after we prepared the quick matzot, spelled like Mitzvot, Gd gave us the mahn.
Passover is not a matter of slavery versus freedom at all! Passover is the transition from following man's law to following G'd's Laws.
It took me a whole night of sleep for this to jell or "leaven." What do you think?
I'm going to take a quick break from Israeli Politics, World Peace, Terrorism etc. to let you know what is most important this week.
PASSOVER AKA PESACH פסח
First of all to try to clarify something very basic, the Jewish Holidays are celebrated according to the Jewish Calendar. That's why although Israeli Independence was declared on May 14, 1948, it's very rarely celebrated on that day. We celebrate it on, or around, the 5th of Iyyar on the Jewish Calendar. That can be in late April or later in May, and sometimes we don't celebrate it on the 5th of Iyyar if that date falls too close to Shabbat. Then it gets moved in order to prevent desecration of Shabbat which is a much holier day than Israeli Independence Day.
Passover doesn't get "moved." It's always on the fifteenth 15th of the Jewish Month of Nissan, Miracles. Jewish Months are lunar, starting when there's barely a smidgen of a moon crescent. So the middle means that we're at full-moon. The Jewish Calendar is also adjusted so that Holidays always happen in the correct season, unlike the Moslem Calendar. Our Holidays are also connected to the agriculture of the Land, further proof that we have a Land, and it is in one place and one place only, HERE!
The Bible gives a pretty good description of the narrative of the Passover Story, but as my Bible Teacher, Yael Ziegler always says:
"The Tanach, Bible isn't a history book; it's a book of theology."
From what you see in Israel and many Jewish neighborhoods all over the world, you'd think that Passover is a celebration of kitchen hygiene, spring cleaning and then feasting. That's not actually what Passover is about. Nor is this supposed to be the official OCD Holiday, when those who always take cleaning and other things a few steps too far.
To summarize:
עבדים היינו במצרים, עתה עתה בני חורין
עבדים היינו לפרעה We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and now we are free men.
The main thing is supposed to be our freeing ourselves from non-Jewish rule and values. That is the Chametz, the forbidden aspect of life for a Jew.
To return to the usual politics you find on this blog, it means that the campaign platform of Herzog-Livni's party which was to please the Americans, mainly the American President Barack Hussein Obama is 1,000% totally forbidden!! That is a prime example of what slavery to Pharaoh would be today.
And Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's constant and unabashed flip-flopping and tricky words about building for Jews all over the Land f Israel and creating a Palestinian sic state are also totally forbidden. That's the political chametz that must be burnt/scrubbed out of Israeli (and Jewish) policy and mentality.
We have been singing the song, "Avodim hayinu liparoh bamitzrayim, attoh, attoh binai chorin, עבדים היינו במצרים, עתה עתה בני חורין עבדים היינו לפרעה
We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and now,now we are free men" for thousands of years, but the truth is that we are still enslaved by foreign values and allow those who want our destruction to rule us.
And for too many, the food, the lightness of the kneidlach, the taste of the wine, the fashion of the clothes are more important than the actual words we are supposed to say and discuss at the Seder.
The real message of Passover for us to internalize and activate is that we are supposed to please G-d and G-d alone. That will make us free of foreign rule. We must do what is truly best for the Jewish People and the Jewish Land. Only then can we truly say:
Avodim hayinu
עבדים היינו
We were slaves
PS Just in case I gave you the wrong impression, we are still supposed to do all of the ritual mitzvot, Torah Commandments concerning Passover preparation, cleaning the home of Chametz and using special Passover kitchen equipment etc.
As every year, there will be activities in Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Shiloh at Tel Shiloh over Passover.
Activities for the entire family, really! There's more information on the Hebrew site.
To summarize:
April 5-8, 2015, 9am-6pm, tours, crafts etc at Tel Shiloh.
April 9 will be the Biblical Marathon and other races from 9am - 6pm, plus other activities; more information in Hebrew.
There are entrance fees. Tel. 02-9948011
Besides that, I'm planning my usual Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers, which we haven't done for a couple of months due to snow and then a Shabbat Rosh Chodesh.
Women's Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh Rosh Chodesh Iyyar
Monday April 20, 2015
1st of Iyyar, 5775, 8:30am
Tour of Tel Shiloh
Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson
Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors
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