Monthly Archives: March 2018
So We Open Our Doors and Hearts by Ayala Emmett
The Passover Seder is the retelling of our passage from slavery to freedom, our defining central journey. We begin the Seder by opening the door and say, “All who are hungry, come and eat. All who are needy come and celebrate Passover with us.” This is the night that we are seated around the table, friends and families, to narrate our history as a people. We raise the Matzah plate and recite, “This is the bread of poverty that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.”
The exodus powerful narrative of freedom has produced enduring timeless Jewish values of care, compassion and justice as foundational and compelling. In some communities it is customary to put an empty plate on the table to remember those less fortunate, those who are suffering, those in need of shelter, refugees, asylum seekers, the homeless and the hungry. We who follow the custom, place verbal pledges on the plate and commit to do a mitzvah of our choice to alleviate suffering in the coming year.
PARTING OF The Red SEA – A PASSOVER FANTASY by Jim Anderson
Narrator: Two sharks, Max and Charley, are basking in the sun at the surface of the Red Sea, when …
Max: (Spoken in gangster dialect.) Hey, Charlie, were ya been; long time, no see.
Charley: Yo, Max! I been down ta Australia, to the barrier reef … trying to catch some of dem swimmers in da surf.
Max: Any luck?
Charley: Nah, not a one.
Max: (Lazily) Hey Charley, look over dere. Dere must be thousands of Hebrew slaves on da beach. What d’ya suppose dere up to?
Charley: (Curious, but not excited) I dunno. But look what’s commen up behind ‘em…must be half da Egyptian cavalry…
Thinking About Hasidism by Peter Eisenstadt
The history of Hasidism is the history of Judaism at its best, Judaism at its worst, Judaism at its most liberating, and Judaism at its most confining. Of all the movements that have transformed Judaism in the past three centuries, only Zionism, perhaps, has had more of a transforming impact on how Jews understand their religion. These thoughts are occasioned by reading a massive new doorstop of a book, tipping the scales at almost 900 pages, Hasidism: A New History, collectively written by eight historians.
“Your Dreams Are Etched Into My Heart”– by Ayala Emmett
On Wednesday, I received an envelope with a letter asking for my contribution to Louse Slaughter’s Re-Election Committee. The envelope, torn at the top is now on my desk and inside is the form that I was planning to send with my check. On Thursday when we heard that she was hospitalized, we prayed for her healing. We held on to the hope that she would recover, as she has done in the past. She would return to work for the people and I would double my contribution.
Friday morning came the shockingly sad news that we have lost our warrior congresswoman. Many in Washington and around the country will offer fitting eulogies for this brave, upright, principled and highly effective congresswoman. We, her constituents, will remember her in our own way.