Pesach – Page 2 – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

March 28, 2018

Pesach and Who We Are

My Temple Beth Abraham bulletin column before Pesach in 2015, still spot on! Why do we care about what's in the past? Why do beginnings interests us, whether it's the origins of the universe or the first lines of a book?We look to the beginning to give us the essence of the whole. Origin stories… Continue reading

Food, Freedom, History, Holidays, Immigration, Inclusion, Justice, Kashrut, Pesach, Theology, Tzedek

January 12, 2018

Why Exodus Is the Most Important Book of All Time

My D’var Torah at Beth Abraham on Shabbat morning, Saturday, January 6, 2018. Today we begin reading the most important book in human history — Sefer Shmot, the book of Exodus. This is the book that transformed what was possible in the world and what was imaginable in the world. You can divide human history… Continue reading

Books, Current Affairs, Ethics, Exodus, Freedom, Leadership, Pesach, Prayer, Revelation, Shabbat, Shmot, Spirituality, Theology, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedakah, Tzedek, Va’era

April 3, 2017

A Quick Idea For How To Get People To Talk at Your Seder

Here are my freedom quotes, including the ones in the video and more. It's a Word doc so you can edit it with more that you find. I printed it on cardstock so it would be a bit more like playing cards! Continue reading

Freedom, Holidays, Pesach

April 18, 2014

E-Maggid: Song of the Sea

According to tradition, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds is celebrated on the seventh day of Pesach. In services that morning we will read Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea. In the middle of the song is the most familiar quotation: Mi cha-mocha ba-elim Adonai, "Who is like You, Adonai?" The Torah tells us that "Moshe… Continue reading

E-Maggid, Freedom, Holidays, Pesach, Sefirat Ha-omer, Spirituality

April 10, 2014

E-Maggid: Cleaning Out Chametz

Three takes on chametz as we clean and prepare our homes for Pesach: 1. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chasidism, taught that chametz represents haughtiness. Yeast comes into the mixture of simple flour and water, and it starts eating. The byproducts are gases that become trapped in the dough and expand it. So… Continue reading

E-Maggid, Food, Hasidism, Holidays, Pesach, Soul, Spirituality

March 28, 2014

E-Maggid: Aharon’s Words

Who is Aharon, the brother of Moshe? It must have been hard to have his life taken over at some point by an unusual and extreme mission: just to be a better mouth for Moshe. As they go together to Pharaoh, Aharon is fully there, but the words are not his own. But in this… Continue reading

E-Maggid, Pesach, Spirituality

March 21, 2014

E-Maggid: What Is Freedom?

"Tell old Pharaoh: Let My people go." Everyone knows the words of the old spiritual. But in the Torah, the words are a bit different. Say to him: Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say: Let My people go so they may serve Me in the wilderness (Exodus 7:16).… Continue reading

Bo, E-Maggid, Freedom, Holidays, Pesach, Soul, Spirituality

March 7, 2014

E-Maggid: Vayikra

This week we start reading the third book of the Torah on Shabbat morning. It begins with a word written in a strange way. The word is Vayikra, which means "and he called". God calls to Moshe at the start of the book of Leviticus. But in the Torah, the last letter of Vayikra, the aleph, is written as a small… Continue reading

E-Maggid, Pesach, Spirituality, Vayikra

February 28, 2014

E-Maggid: Pharaoh, Amram, and Miryam

The Talmud teaches that as soon as Pharaoh declared, "Any son who is born — you shall throw him into the Nile," a notable of the tribe of Levi named Amram divorced his wife. All the other men followed suit. Miryam, his daughter, immediately confronted him: "Father, your decree (g'zayrah) is harsher than Pharaoh's. Pharaoh decreed against… Continue reading

E-Maggid, Holidays, Pesach, Spirituality

April 4, 2012

A Great Tribute to the Haggadah: Listen

I'm riveted by this interview with novelists Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander, about the new Haggadah they published this year. They have such great love for the words. Get the book (even to study it for next year's Seder), and listen to this interview with Leonard Lopate of WNYC, public radio in New York. Continue reading

Holidays, Pesach

April 2, 2012

Katniss, Moses, and Miriam — Take 1

I saw "The Hunger Games" movie yesterday, after reading the book a few weeks ago. I've been thinking about the book and Pesach for a while. I'm surprised that I've seen or read very little drawing a connection. (Here are the only two things that popped up so far: from Aish and from a rabbi… Continue reading

Freedom, Holidays, Leadership, Pesach

March 15, 2011

Thinking Ahead to Pesach

It's still not quite Purim, but today I am working on my bulletin article about Pesach. Rather than entirely repeat what I've written in the past, here are my two previous years' columns about Pesach. Also, go to my Pesach page or browse through the whole site here for teachings, printables, kashrut guie, and melodies! … Continue reading

Holidays, Pesach