HOLY AFIKOMAN - HOLY SACRIFICE

Parashat Tzav
Nisan 14, 5781 / March 27, 2021
Torah: Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36
Haftarah (Shabbat Hagadol): Malachi 3:4-24
 
Candle-lighting:
Shabbat - 6:51 PM PST - Sherman Oaks, CA
Pesach 1 (first Seder) – 6:51 PM PST – Sherman Oaks, CA
Pesach 2 (second Seder) – 7:47 PM PST – Sherman Oaks, CA
 
Pesach SERVICES and programs
(via zoom and facebook)
 
Sunday, March 28 (Day 1) – 10:00 am
Monday, March 29 (Day 2) – 10:00 am
Friday, April 2 - Shabbat Chol Hamoed Evening 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 3 (Shabbat Day 7) – 10:00 am
Sunday, April 4 (Day 8 - Yizkor) – 10:00 am
 
My annual Pesach Resources page is available at: 
https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2021/03/pesachresources-5781-pandemic-edition.html   

Our Refuah Shleimah/Prayer for Healing List can be found at: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iT0tdp45ITSU6o1tykah41m3IXBxBwLxe8FORSIXzDo/edit?usp=sharing 
 
If you would like to have a name added or removed from this Refuah Shleimah/Prayer for Healing list, please write to me at: ravflom@sbcglobal.net 
 
This week's Yahrzeit List can be found at: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IvKK6of7m1YFiwWATXCfQXrBrjmLMfS_CAM3WhZ_fu4/edit?usp=sharing 
 
All our services and programs are available at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 
 
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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I wrote this last year. Although we are, B’H, able to see an end in sight to the pandemic, we are still limited in our ability to gather together. This year, Pesach Sheni, Iyar 14, falls on April 26.
 
HOLY AFIKOMAN - HOLY SACRIFICE
 
"That which is left of (the meal offering) shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened bread (matzot) in the holy place…. It shall not be baked with leaven (chametz); I have given it as their portion from My offering by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.... Anything that touches these shall become holy." Leviticus 6:9 – 11
 
Only some of the minchah (meal) offering is burned on the altar.  The remainder is eaten by the priests in the form of an enriched matzah (not quite the same as Pesach matzah). Like some of the other sacrifices, it is "most holy". Anything that touches it becomes holy as well.
 
Our Seder Shel Pesach is a re-enactment of an ancient ritual of sacrifice. We are a kingdom of priests and a holy people (Exodus 19:6). Our table is the altar. The candles represent the flames of the sacrifices. The wine represents the libation the priests poured over the sacrifices. The shank bone and roasted egg represent the Pesach sacrifice and the Festival sacrifice respectively. As commanded in the Torah, we consume matzah and maror (bitter herb), though we no longer eat or offer the animal sacrifice. The three matzot? The top two are used for the commandment to eat matzah and the commandment to eat maror (along with charoset). The third matzah? Half of it is used to make the “Hillel sandwich” in the style Hillel consumed the Pesach sacrifice. And the other half of the third matzah? That is the afikoman. In short, the third matzah is a substitute for the Pesach sacrifice.
 
The Seder Shel Pesach is a deep connection to our roots and to those who have gone before us, as well as a significant link to our future. It is an act of kedushah - of holiness. The afikoman is not dessert, though it is the final thing we eat at the seder. As it is representative of the last morsel of the Pesach sacrifice, it is, like any sacrifice, holy. And its consumption makes us holy as well.
 
This year, we are all engaging in a very different kind of sacrifice, one mandated both by our government health authorities (dina d’malkhuta dina – the law of the land is the law) and by our religious tradition (pikuach nefesh – saving life). We will be celebrating our sedarim apart from each other, in order to maintain the health and safety of ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, and our society. In that very first seder that took place in Egypt, our people were commanded to stay in their homes as the final plague passed through the land. That they did so is the reason we are here.
 
This year, as difficult as it might be to forgo the companionship of family and friends that we all associate with the holiday, we must do the same thing as our ancestors. We will each of us observe the seder and the holiday as best we can under the circumstances. The holiday of Pesach celebrates the survival and eventual thriving of our people. It is incumbent upon us to not risk individual survival in order to observe the holiday.
 
God willing, perhaps we will have the opportunity to come together on the evening of May 7, Iyar 14, for Pesach Sheni, the Biblical date set aside especially for those who were unable to celebrate the Seder Shel Pesach at its appointed time. If not, there will be Pesach again next year. Take heart in that fact as you eat the last bit of afikoman at your seder. And know that your sacrifice this year is an additional act of kedushah – an act of holiness.
 
May God bless us, every one.
 
Shabbat Shalom V’Chag Pesach Mashma’uti – A Peaceful Shabbat and a Meaningful Passover!
 
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
TBH/CBM
הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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Pesach SERVICES and programs
(via zoom and facebook)
 
Sunday, March 28 (Day 1) – 10:00 am
Monday, March 29 (Day 2) – 10:00 am
Friday, April 2 - Shabbat Chol Hamoed Evening 6:30 pm
Saturday, April 3 (Shabbat Day 7) – 10:00 am
Sunday, April 4 (Day 8 - Yizkor) – 10:00 am
 
Pesach Resources and Info about our Pesach Programs are available at: 
https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2021/03/pesachresources-5781-pandemic-edition.html  
 
All our services and programs are available at: 
https://www.facebook.com/BnaiHayim 
 
Kabbalat Shabbat / Evening Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Friday at 6:30 PM.
 
Shabbat Morning Service with Reb Jason and Rabbi Flom this Saturday at 10:00 AM.
 
Downloadable and printable Siddur for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat/Festival Ma'ariv, Shabbat/Festival Morning, and more, including the weekly Parashah and Haftarah, all available at: 
https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/form-download-e-siddur-0 
Fill out the form - the download is free.

David Silon’s on-going class “Jewish History” meets again on Sunday, April 11, at 11:00 am.
 
Join us every Tuesday at 12:30 pm for Lunch and Learn, a 60-90 minute study session. We're learning Hasidic and classic teachings on the weekly parashah. We’ll meet again on April 6.
 
Some excellent on-line Jewish resources are available at: 
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/ 
 
You can subscribe to the Conservative Yeshiva’s weekly Torah Sparks via email here: 
https://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/torahsparks/ 
 
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