Category Archives: Passover
Everything Will Not Be Alright
This is how you shall eat your Passover offering: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it b’hippazon (Exodus 12:11)—in hurried, harried, anxious haste. Everything will not be alright … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Passover, Poetry, Torah
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“I” Witness – The Song At The Sea
A fierce wind plowed the sea, piling a wall of water to either side of a seabed blown dry. Miraculously, there was stable footing for weary slaves—notwithstanding the wind that the sea itself could not withstand. Wind, walls of water, … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Parshat HaShavuah, Passover, Poetry, Torah
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Slowly, And In Our Days
In a fiery chariot that rose towards heaven, Elijah disappeared from ordinary view and broke into Jewish religious imagination—now appearing at just the right moment, to prompt, protect, and provoke us to deepen ordinary events into Elijah Moments. As a … Continue reading
Posted in Elijah, Holidays, Passover
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How Deep? How High?
How much do I love you? I’ll tell you no lie. How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky? Irving Berlin wrote the song, How Deep Is the Ocean? in 1932. It consists mainly of rhetorical questions that point … Continue reading
Leavening On Our Shelves And In Ourselves
Every year, several weeks before Passover, my personal search for leaven begins in a way that is more symbolic than actual. I approach my bookshelves where there are many books that have served their rising, yeasty purposes and are now … Continue reading
Blossoms of Seder Night, Fruits of New Year’s Day
Rabbi Eliezer was sure that the world was created in the fall month of Tishrei, the season of the New Year. His rival, Rabbi Joshua, was equally positive that the world was created at Passover time, in the spring month … Continue reading
The Middle Of The Story And The Story Of The Middle
On the Torah page, the miracle of Passover’s seventh day comes into view. The Torah page literally pictures Israel crossing the sea—glistening black letters against sea foam parchment. The words are inscribed according to the script: Look! There are the people … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Midrash, Passover, Poetry
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Beginnings Ripe And Ripening
Rabbi Eliezer asks: From where do we learn that the world was created in Tishrei? From the verse: God said, let the earth sprout grasses, seed bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth bearing fruit with the seed … Continue reading
Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Passover, Poetry, Talmud
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You Open For Him
Rabbi Eleazar HaKappar said: Do not be like a lintel overhead that no one can reach; neither, be like a door beam that injures faces, nor like a raised threshold that bruises feet. Rather, be like a low threshold that … Continue reading
A Passover Conversation in Four Voices
Four conversed about the pine tree. One defined it according to genus, species and variety. One held forth concerning its shortcomings in the lumber industry. One quoted verses about pine trees in numerous languages. One struck root, stretched out branches … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Passover, Poetry, Talmud
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