March 30-April 6, 2018
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14-21 Nisan, 5778
A TASTE OF TORAH: SHABBAT 1ST DAY PESAH How do you have a seder when your seder plate is empty? Three years ago, I found myself grappling with how to answer this question. Amelia, a cantorial student, and I were invited to lead communal seders in Crimea. It was 2015, just a year since the peninsula had shifted from Ukrainian to Russian control. Understandably, the Jewish community was dealing with various complicated challenges. Amelia and I arrived at the synagogue for the first night seder armed with haggadot, seder plates, songs, and insights. We were ready to lead, or so we thought. A moment before the seder was to begin, we learned that due to communal politics—even though 60 people, mostly elderly, were arriving—we actually had no food whatsoever, aside from endless boxes of matzah. Bewildered and frustrated, but also feeling a deep sense of responsibility, Amelia and I led a quasi-seder with as much spirit as a foodless meal can generate. We all gained a new understanding of matzah as the bread of affliction. After the seder, Amelia and I shlumped back to our motel with an unsatisfied feeling both in our stomachs and our souls. Upon arriving, we agreed that we could not just let the night pass by, but rather we had to be vigilant to guard this precious festival and its ritual. We each went back to our rooms to gather whatever food items we could find, rejoining in the motel eatery. As we surveyed our meager provisions, we wondered how we would assemble a meal, and more importantly, a seder plate. Here’s how we put together our Passover pastiche: Karpas: Open a bag of Lay’s potato chips, as they are root vegetables with a lot of salt. Charoset: Smash some berries into the sugar we found on the tables. Maror: Take some coffee grounds from the eatery—very bitter. Chazeret: Rip the greens off the head of a carrot. Beitzah: Use hard-boiled eggs left over from the morning’s breakfast. Zeroa: Grapes, which figure into the wine libations of other sacrifices, would serve as the symbolic bridge to the shankbone. 4 Cups of Wine: Those same grapes…why not? With this improvised seder plate and bizarre barebones meal, Amelia and I spent several hours going back through the Haggadah, singing melodies from our homes, and celebrating the small ways that redemption had occurred over the course of that night. Unlike the comfortable seders I was used to, it was this tumultuous make-shift night that elucidated the meaning of the verse below.
לֵיל שִמִֻרים הּוא לַֽיה לְהֹוצִיאָם מֵאֶֶרץ מִצְָריִם הּֽוא־הַלַיְלָה הַזֶה לַֽיהוָה שִמִֻרים לְכָל־בְנֵי יִשְָראֵל לְדֹֹרתָֽם׃ That was Adonai a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is Adonai’s, one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages. —Exodus12:42 Whatever the circumstances in which we find ourselves—the hardships of repressive moments in our history, the diminished traditionalism of the American Jewish experience, or the dire straits of a Crimean communal kerfuffle—the seder night still stands as a safeguard of our people for all time. — Tobias Divack Moss
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ASHORER SHIRAH I will compose songs to honor the Torah More precious than gold, bright and pure The Faithful One chose His nation To be His nation chosen for His name He revealed His majesty at Sinai in His glory He called His servant to receive the Torah
Our teacher, Moses, chosen one of the nation
נֶאֱמָן שְמֹו בָחַר בְעַּמֹו לִהְיֹות לֹו לִשְמֹו אֻמָה נִבְחָָרה
ne’eman shemo bahar be’amo
עַל סִינַי הֹודֹו,נִגְלָה בִכְבֹודֹו לְקַבֵל תֹוָרה,קָָרא לְעַבְדֹו
niglah bikhvodo, al sinai hodo
נֶאֱמַן בֵיתֹו הִבִיט בִדְמּותֹו גַם נְבּואָתֹו מְַראָה מְאִיָרה
Faithful in His house, he saw His image His prophecy was a clear vision
He gives inheritance to those who learn Torah
Ashorer shirah likhvod hatorah
נִתְנָה לָנּו עַל יַד רֹועֵנּו מֹשֶה ַרבֵנּו בְחִיר הָאֻמָה
It was given to us by our shepherd
Let Israel rejoice in God’s love
אֲׁשֹוֵרר שִיָרה לִכְבֹוד הַּתֹוָרה מִפָז יְקָָרה זַכָה ּובָָרה
יצהיל יִשְָראֵל בְאַהֲבַת אֵל כִי הּוא מַנְחִיל אֶל לֹומְדֵי תֹוָרה
The perfect Torah is very delightful Making fools wise, lighting up eyes
ַרבָה נְעִימָה ּתֹוָרה תְמִימָה פֶתִי מַחְכִימָה עַיִן מְאִיָרה
mipaz yekarah zakah u’varah
lih’yot lo lishmo ummah nivharah
kara le’avdo, lekabbel torah nittenah lanu al yad ro’enu mosheh rabbenu behir ha’ummah ne’eman beito hibbit bidmuto gam nevu’ato mar’ah me’irah yismah yisra’el be’ahavat el ki hu manhil el lomdei torah rabbah ne’imah torah temimah peti mahkimah ayin me’irah
— Translation by Abigail Denemark
TORAH PORTION SHABBAT 1ST DAY PESAH Torah Exodus 12:21 - 12:51 1: 12:21 - 12:24 2: 12:25 - 12:28 3: 12:29 - 12:32 4: 12:33 - 12:36 5: 12:37 - 12:42 6: 12:43 - 12:47 7: 12:48 - 12:51 Maftir: Numbers 28:16 - 28:25 Haftarah Joshua 5:2 - 6:1; 6:27
NEXT WEEK: SHABBAT 8TH DAY PESAH Torah Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17 Haftarah Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6 Coffee not delivering its usual zing? Come to morning minyan and get a spiritual jolt to start your day. Develop a daily Jewish practice, meet new people in an intimate setting, and help us make a minyan so our members can say kaddish for their loved ones. Visit www.bj.org/minyan.
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