TORAH PORTION
Now Pesach Influenced
Jewish Religious Life
RABBI RICHARD HERTZ
Special to The Jewish News
T
radition assigns a
special Torah reading
for the Shabbat during
Passover week. The day is
known as Shabbat Hol
Hamoed Passover.
After the Israelites danced
before the golden calf and
after the first set of tablets of
the Ten Commandments lay
shattered at the foot of Mt.
Sinai, Moses again ascended
the mountain. Forty days
later, he returned to his peo-
ple where, in addition to new
tablets of the law, he brought
back a statement describing
the 13 attributes of God. The
attributes give a definition of
God in ethical terms, il-
lustrating some of the most
distinctive doctrines of
Judaism. To this day, the two
Chol Hamoed
Passover
Exodus 33:12-34:26
verses are repeated during
the Sabbath morning liturgy
just before reading the Torah.
"The Lord is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in kindness and
faithfulness, extending kind-
ness to the thousandth
generation, forgiving iniqui-
ty, transgression, and sin. Yet
he does not remit all punish-
ment, but visits the iniquity
of the fathers upon the
children and children's
children unto the third and
fourth generations." This ex-
plains God's covenant with
Moses at Sinai.
The same passage (Exodus
34:18) contains the command-
ment to observe the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. Of all the
Jewish festivals, Passover is
the most vivid and dramatic.
No other has developed as
distinctive a home ritual —
the seder — with its special
prayer text, the Haggadah.
Passover tells of the divine
deliverance of the ancient
Hebrews from Egyptian bon-
dage. Every aspect of the
seder has symbolic signifi-
cance and has acquired deep
emotional overtones. When
the Hebrew slaves left Egypt
in haste, they had no time to
bake their bread in an oven.
They took along the dough
and baked it in the sun while
traveling. At every Passover
seder, an extra cup of wine is
Richard Hertz is rabbi
emeritus of Temple Beth El.
poured for the prophet Elijah.
During the service, the door
is opened for that invisible
guest whose presence has in-
spired so many legends.
Passover, then, is the Jewish
home celebration par ex-
cellence. It rehearses the
birth of the covenant made
with God at Sinai.
Passover has influenced
Jewish religious life as has no
other event. It is a time for
family reunions, gathering
around the table and reading
the ancient story of deliver-
ance from Pharaoh. As a
result of the Jewish people's
experience with slavery and
their ultimate deliverance
described in the Bible, the
Jewish concept of God meant
a God of freedom, the
redeemer of the oppressed.
Jews have never forgotten
the meaning of slavery.
Perhaps the worst slavery of
all is when people learn to en-
dure it. What was true 3,000
years ago is as true of bon-
dage today — not that people
enslave others, but a new
form of enslavement has
developed. We have become
enslaved to the events that
touch our lives every day. We
are learning to endure
violence, terrorism, murder,
kidnapping, corruption,
drugs. We have lost the sense
of moral outrage that over-
comes us with our first con-
tact with such obscene events.
According to tradition,
Passover was divinely or-
dained a permanent reminder
of God's deliverance of his
people from Egyptian bon-
dage. Passover's message of
that freedom is the in-
alienable right of every
human being. When our
Jewish forefathers went forth
out of the flesh pots of Egypt
to face the rigors of the desert
and wander toward a prom-
ised land, they learned a
costly lesson: liberty has its
,price, but is worth everything.
The ancient Israelites had no
illusions about their choice.
They turned their backs on
the leaks of Egyptian civiliza-
tion, the palace's and temples
they built, the fertility of the
Nile. They went into the stark
desert with all its barrenness
and dangers. It took courage
to make that choice, but they
knew freedom was worth it.
At Sinai they learned about
God, the one God of Israel.
As Theodore Gaster com-
ments in Festivals of the
Jewish Year, Passover has two
basic messages for modern
man. The first is that deliver-
ance from the scourge of bon-
If there's anything as horrifying as the Holocaust,
it's forgetting it ever happened.
O n the evening of May 1, Yom Hashoah, the entire Jewish community
will be called upon to perform a very simple act: the act of remembrance. On
this occasion, we ask you to light a special Yahrtzeit candle. You can obtain one
Remember
through the Men's Club of your temple or synagogue.
Zachor
Be sure to light it this year, and on Yom Hashoah in every
year that follows. Consider it a reminder to the world that the
lives and deaths of six million Jews will never be dimmed by time.
LIGHT • A • YAHRTZEIT • CANDLE • ON • MAY • 1
The Yom FlaShoall Yellow Yahrzeit Candle Program
An Activity of the Federation of Jewish Men's Club (FiMC)
Advertisement Sponsored By
Michigan Sub - Region of Great Lakes Region MC:
Adat Shalom Synagogue • Cong. Beth Abraham.- I-1illel - Moses . •
Beth Achim
Cong. Beth Shalom • Cong. B'Nai Moshe • Cong. S haare
' y °an
Zedelc
g. eth li
JEWEL
KOSHER CATERING
"Classic Cuisine"
Exclusive Caterers for
Young Israel of Oak Woods
FACILITIES AND DATES AVAILABLE
American Heart
Association
WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
For strictly Kosher affairs of ALL TYPES.
For all Occasions.
PHILLIP TEWEL
Food and Beverage Director
(313) 661.4050
Farmington Hills, MI
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
41