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Shabbat Parah - 5768 - March 28, 2008
It’s coming...it’s just around the corner. If the bulging, over-stocked Passover isles at the local Giant and Metro haven’t clued us in, then the reminders from family members (even beloved mother-in-laws) asking about seder - how much brisket, how many matza balls - - the matza baking activities, mock seders, and pesadich candy sales in our religious and day schools all serve to remind us that the Passover holiday is indeed just weeks away. It sure is easy to focus on the food.
Chag Ha-Matzot, the matzah festival, is one of its appellations. A central commandment of the holiday is to eat matzah while at the same time refraining from eating all foods containing leavening. It is easy to focus on the food; for the task of eating certain foods while avoiding others is one that certainly requires some diligent attention. Indeed, historically, the Sabbath immediately before Pesach became a time to focus our attention on how to accomplish this culinary task. It was one of actually only two Sabbaths during the entire year specifically reserved for the Rabbi to preach (the other being Shabbat Shuvah between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and its name Shabbat Ha-Gadol, the great Sabbath, developed due to the great length of this special sermon - a length required by the litany of dietary demands and preparations required for the proper observance of the holiday.
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise’s birthday, commemorated according to our Women of Reform Judaism calendar on this Shabbat, Shabbat Parah no less, is a poignant reminder, however, that Pesach is about so much more than food. One of the principle builders of Reform Judaism in America, Isaac Mayer Wise condemned and was even hostile at times to what he and many others in his day called “kitchen Judaism.”
“Those who waste their religious and moral sentiments in small and insignificant [dietary] observances which make them neither better nor more useful,” Wise wrote in the late 19th century, “diminish and impair their religious and moral capacity.”
Following on the heels of controversy over of what has now become known as the ‘treyf banquet’ (a dinner offering a sundry of blatantly non-kosher foods) displayed for the Hebrew Union College’s first ordination ceremony, the context of Wise’s comments reflect this era when Reform Judaism was striving to become an enlightened vehicle for the expression of American Judaism against the backdrop of the ‘Old World.’ Yet Wise’s comments today too should impel us to look beyond the matzah for the meaning of the holiday.
The sages who established our cycle of Torah and Haftarah readings built into this cycle a natural progression that can further our spiritual and intellectual preparation for Pesach. This Shabbat is one of the Arbah Parshiyot, The 4 portions. In keeping with the theme of four prevalent in our haggadah (Arbah kosot,the 4 cups of wine, arbah kashot -the 4 questions, arba banim -the 4 sons...), our tradition established these 4 preliminary Sabbaths, each not only with their own Prophetic reading but each also with an extra Torah reading to be read in addition to the proscribed Shabbat portion. These added readings are extraordinary - outside of holidays and Rosh Chodesh, there is no other occasion when additional Torah readings are added to the cycle; when 2 Torahs are dictated by tradition to be read. Clearly we are to understand that the preparation for Pesach requires far more than making our kitchens chametz-free and matzah friendly. These 4 portions, our arbah parshiyot, particularly when viewed as a whole provide a seamless arc that ultimately culminates in the announcement of the upcoming festival. If we pay attention to these proscribed readings, we will, spiritually and intellectually, be ready to celebrate.
The first of the 4 portions, Shabbat Shekalim recalls the tax imposed on the community (okay - imposed on the adult males in the community). Each was to contribute a 1/2 shekel in order to maintain the Temple facility for communal use.
The second, Shabbat Zachor - which we customarily link solely with Purim - invites us to remember hardship brought upon us by our enemies. As we prepare to enter a promised land, we are reminded, commanded even, תִמְחֶה֙ את ז֣כר עמל֔ק not to forget the challenges we faced along the journey.
This Shabbat, Shabbat Parah, the 3rd of these 4 portions, calls our attention to the process of spiritual preparation through the complex and hardly understood rituals of purification. The ritual of the parah adumah, the Red Cow, bizarre on the surface, yet at its core, its purpose was to elevate the status of the community to spiritual readiness.
And finally, we conclude the cycle with the last of these 4, Shabbat Ha-chodesh which announces the month of Nisan and reminds us that this is a time for renewal. החו֧דש הז֛ה לכ֖ם רא֣ש חדָש֑ים ראש֥ון הוא֙ לכ֔ם לחדש֖י השנֽה: , this month will be for you the first of the months, it will be the first of the new year. And, in case we aren’t yet in tune, this special reading for Shabbat Ha-Chodesh announces the upcoming festival of Pesach and finally now reminds us of the commandment regarding the eating of matzah and the removal of chametz. Notice the food is the last concern in this cycle of preparation.
The Biblical tradition highlights the importance of communal preparation. Our Arba parshiyot draw our attention specifically to actions that benefit the community - our building funds, our shekalim, enable us to have a space to gather for study, prayer, and friendship; zachor, remembering hardship and learning from tough times helps invigorate us towards working together when faced with new goals and challenges; parah - our rituals, the way in which we strive for spirituality and elevation, help us maintain a necessary level of communal cohesiveness. All of these elements of communal functioning were vital as the community prepared for its pilgrimage to Jerusalem and its celebration of this festival. And each are vital today.
Few of us have the opportunity to journey to Israel for our celebrations of Pesach. Instead we make pilgrimage to the supermarket to load up on our Passover goodies. In a very real sense the special food of the festival has replaced our sacrificial offerings. But, the matzah was never meant to be an end destination. As we read annually in the haggadah, the foods are symbols meant to trigger reflection on the meaning of the festival. Our Matzah - a symbol of freedom and redemption, our maror - a reminder of slavery and oppression, our karpas - a reminder of renewal, both seasonal and historical.
Arnold Eisen, current chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, notes that on Pesach “We are commanded to recall the past, in order to remember the present - to see it clearly, to know it fully, in all its possibilities - in the light of our future redemption.” Accordingly the matza - the unleavened bread our ancestors made in their haste out of Egypt - should remind us not only of the past, but also how to act now, today, as we stand between redemptions: the liberation from Egypt and the Messianic hope of the future.
As Reform Jews we consider ourselves full and active partners in that future. Just as the High Holidays provide a period whereupon we reflect on our actions as individuals seeking teshuvah so that we can move forward; perhaps Pesach, a holiday which celebrates the redemptive act that marked the beginning of our peoplehood, should provide us an opportunity to consider our role as Jews, as part of the Jewish community, in future redemption.
Isaac Mayer Wise had a vision that the Hebrew Union College and the then nascent UAHC, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations would serve all of America. He viewed American Jews as a whole. This utopian vision never came to fruition. The UAHC is now the particularistic URJ - the Union of Reform Judaism. But one value upon which Wise stood and which is foundational to the Reform movement is individual autonomy. As Americans and as Jews, we demand the right to make informed choices regarding our practice, belief, and ultimately our observance. But has this emphasis on individual liberty come at the expense of communal responsibility?
What is our responsibility as Jews to the community, not just our own community but the community at large? What is our role in helping to bring about acts of redemption? It is not enough to celebrate the past without asking these challenging questions as we look ahead towards our role in the future.
As much as I am inspired by Wise’s passions against “kitchen Judaism,” I am a product of a different era; and I do feel an imperative to keep at least a good portion of our Passover dietary laws, but certainly NOT in lieu of a thoughtful celebration of the meaning of what it means to be a redeemed people. Of the Passover offering, the biblical text commands “ואכלתם אֹתו בּחִפָּזוֹן” you shall eat it as if, like our ancestors fleeing Egypt, in ‘hurried flight.’
Yet Passover has not been passed down through our Rabbinic tradition with an imperative for fast-food; on the contrary, we are to recline and linger. The food provides a compelling symbol here too - pesadich foods generally take at least twice as long to cook, and seemingly twice as long to digest. Our seders are meant to be drawn out retellings. We are no longer fleeing from oppression; - we have the freedom to prepare for weeks and to take the time to celebrate the past with a renewed vision towards the future.
As we continue in these last weeks of preparation, may we indeed be inspired to focus our preparations less on our kitchens and instead be inspired to reflect fully on our z’man cheiruteinu - on our season liberation.
Cantor Rhoda J.H. Silverman
