PESACH RESOURCES – 5776
EDITION - REVISED
Chaverim nichbadim - Dear
friends:
Well, Purim is a distant
memory, now that it's been over for several hours. Do you know what that means?
It’s almost time for Pesach! You know, the “Festival of Freedom”, the holiday
on which we celebrate our release from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt
Here are some simple rules:
1. Accept that you are not
perfect – and neither is anyone else! You don’t have to do it all!
2. Prepare the house
by cleaning and removing the chametz. A short but very useful guide to
kashering your kitchen and home and identifying foods that are or are not
kosher for Passover can be found at: http://rabbinicalassembly.org/pesach-guide
3. Prepare the food
for the Seder.
4. Prepare the food
for the remainder of the holiday by shopping for it before Pesach.
5. Prepare yourself
and your family spiritually.
6. Prepare yourself
and your family intellectually.
7. Do not drive
yourself or anyone else crazy – see number rule #1.
8. Remember that Pesach
really is about freedom; freedom is fun; have fun! See rule #7.
9. Any questions? Ask a
rabbi!
Are you looking for ways
to make your seder more meaningful, more accessible, more involving for
children, more interesting, shorter, etc.? Then check out these resources
on-line:
a. The Rabbinical Assembly’s Pesach Guide
5776 can be read and downloaded at the following site:
b. Additional Pesach
resources from the Rabbinical Assembly may be found at:
c. Pesach kitchen kashering
from a strictly Orthodox perspective can be found at:
https://artscroll.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/kosher-kitchen_ch-15.pdf
d. Lots of great seder
resources, including song sheets and do-it-yourself haggadot, are
available at:
e. Jewish Freeware has a
downloadable haggadah in PDF that allows you to print/copy only the pages you
want to use for your seder, found at:
f. MyJewishLearning.com
is, IMVHO, the best Jewish educational resource on the web, and has material on
virtually everything you might ever want to know about Judaism, but don't know
how or whom to ask. The homepage is easily navigable. For Pesach, go to this
page:
g. The Conservative
Yeshiva, in Jerusalem
h. Passover Gateway, a
Pesach resource from an Orthodox perspective, also with good general Jewish
resources on its main page:
i. Passover according
to Chabad in a straightforward manner. Follow the links on this page:
j. Especially good
for beginners, National Jewish Outreach Program’s extensive and accessible
collection of how-to’s, background materials and videos, from the folks who
bring you Shabbat Across America and Jewish Treats webzine (also has Shabbat
and other holiday resources):
k. My colleague Rabbi
Gabriel Botnick has a short video guide on shopping for Pesach, available at:
One of my seminary
teachers suggested that, in addition to whichever Haggadah of choice you use
for your Seder, you should every year acquire a new Haggadah with commentary and
illustrations to help you prepare and make your Seder more enjoyable. Ask your
local Jewish bookseller, consult with a rabbi, explore the web – there are
beautiful and accessible Haggadot available. Here are some of my favorites for
getting ready:
1. Passover
Haggadah – The Feast of Freedom. The Rabbinical Assembly, 1982. Clear
spiritual commentary.
2. A Passover
Haggadah – Go Forth and Learn. Rabbi David Silver. Jewish Publication
Society, 2011. A new classic.
3. The Haggadah
Treasury. Rabbi Nosson Scherman. Artscroll, 1978. Midrash and traditional
teachings.
4. From Bondage to
Freedom – The Passover Haggadah. Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. Shaar
Press, 1995. Tradition blended with insights relating to addiction and
dependency.
5. A Different
Night – The Family Participation Haggadah. Noam Zion and David Dishon.
Shalom Hartman Institute, 1997. Difficult to use at the seder, but lots of
great ideas - especially in the leader's guide.
6. Studies on the
Haggadah from the Teachings of Nechama Leibowitz. Urim Publications, 2002.
Deep Torah from a great scholar.
7. The Hirsch
Haggadah. Samson Raphael Hirsch. Feldheim Publishers, 1993. The 19th
century voice of Orthodoxy.
8. A Feast of
History. Chaim Raphael. Steimatzky’s, 1972. (Out of print but
available used) The lengthy historical essay is interesting and useful.
9. The Origins of
the Seder. Baruch Bokser. JTS Press, 2002 (Paperback edition). Not a
Haggadah, but for those interested in an academic treatise that opens the eyes
to history.
10. Passover – The
Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration. Dr. Ron Wolfson. Jewish Lights
Publishing, 2010 (2d edition) A straight-forward how-to guide with explanations
and insights for the table.
Some other important
reminders about Pesach and the lead-up to the holy days:
1. All first-borns (except
Levi’im and Kohanim) are obliged to engage in a fast, called Ta’anit B’chorot,
from pre-dawn until the seder on the 14th of Nisan, this year on Friday, April
22, in recognition of the 10th plague. To avoid the fast, the custom has become
for the firstborn to engage in Torah study and then have a festive
"meal" (a siyyum) at the completion of their study. I will be hosting
Torah study and siyyum (complete with the last chametz you will eat until the
end of Pesach) on Friday, April 22, at 8:00 am at Congregation Beth Meier
(CBM). All are welcome, not just first-borns. If you wish to join us, please
let me know by e-mail to ravflom@sbcglobal.net by
Thursday evening, April 21, so I will have enough coffee and Krispy Kreme
donuts. :)
2. CBM is holding a
Community Second Seder on Saturday, April 23, beginning at 7:00 pm. Reservations are due no later than 3:00
pm, Wednesday, April 13, by leaving a phone message at the CBM
office - (818) 769-0515. We need to order from the caterer no later than April
15. Sorry, late reservations cannot be accommodated.
I guess it's time to start
thinking about Pesach!
Wishing you a Chag Pesach
Sameach, Kasher v’Mashma’uti – A Passover that is Happy, Kosher and Meaningful!
Rabbi
Richard A. Flom
ravflom@sbcglobal.net
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