Hello Friends and welcome to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. So glad you are here. On Friday evening, the 15th, Jews all over the world will start the celebration of Passover. How big of a deal is this holiday? Consider that according to the Pew Research Center, almost 8 out of 10 people who identify as Jews participate in a Seder. Of this same group, only about 5 out of 10 fast (at least partially) on Yom Kippur and only about 2 out of 10 light Shabbat candles regularly. Surprisingly, more than 4 out of 10 Jews who don’t have any religious affiliation whatsoever (defined as those who acknowledge some Jewish parentage but identify as atheists or agnostics) also participated in a Seder. In other words...it's a big deal.
So What's It All About?
The very word "Seder" means order. There is a particular order to the Passover Seder. Here is a great piece by Rabbi Yitzchak Zweig that puts things into perspective:
There are five mitzvot (commandments) for the Passover Seder; two from the Torah and three from our sages. The two mitzvot from the Torah are to eat matza (“In the evening you shall eat unleavened bread” – Exodus 12:18) and to tell the story of our exodus from Egypt (“And you shall relate to your son [the story of the exodus] on this day” – Exodus 13:9). The rabbis added the mitzvot of drinking the four cups of wine, eating marror (bitter herbs), and reciting Hallel (Psalms of praise for the Almighty). During the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, there were 16 additional mitzvot associated with the Pascal lamb and the holiday offering (called chagiga).
These mitzvot correlate to the experiences of affliction and redemption. The commandments are meant to help us re-experience the exodus as well as feel and strengthen our sense of freedom.
The matza is called “lechem ani – the bread of the poor man” and “lechem oni – the bread of affliction.” It has the dual symbolism of representing our affliction (we ate it as slaves) and our redemption (we hastily made matza to eat when we left Egypt).
The four cups of wine represent the four different terms for our redemption in the Torah (Exodus 6:6-7). Wine is the drink of free men! Bitter herbs are affliction (just look at the faces of those eating horseradish!) and Hallel is our thanks to the Almighty for our redemption and freedom.
During the Week
During all eight days of Pesach we are forbidden to own or eat chometz (leavened bread – i.e. virtually any flour product not specially produced for Pesach) or have it in our possession (Exodus 13:7). Why the emphasis on being chometz-free? Chometz represents arrogance (“puffing up”). The only thing that stands between you and G-d ... is you. To come close to the Almighty, which is the ultimate pleasure in life and the opportunity of every mitzvah and holiday, one must remove his own personal barriers. The external act brings the internal appreciation – we remove chometz from our homes and likewise work on the character trait of humility.
May you have a meaningful Pesach. For those of you attending our Community Seder in Mason City we'll be seeing you soon. Also, on Shabbat we will have our Midrash with even more about Passover. Midrash will be at 10:00AM also at the shul
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Passover!
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