Shalom Chaverim!
We begin a new book of the Torah this week, Vayikra. What this Torah portion is all about – and indeed, much of what the entire book of Vayikra (also known as Leviticus or as the instruction guide for priests, Torat Kohanim) is all about – is details: details about which ancient sacrifice to perform in what still-relevant-today circumstances; and how precisely to perform each sacrifice back when we had an altar and a place to make such offerings to God.
A crucial and meaningful point to remember: The sacrifices are called korbanot. The root meaning of the word korbanot is from the letters ק.ר.ב. – k.r.b. – whose meaning is ‘close’ or ‘near.’ The suggestion is that the sacrifices were meant to bring the person who offered them – to bring us – ‘closer’ or ‘nearer’ to God.
With Passover quickly approaching, you might be wondering how exactly all the hard work and expense of getting ready for the holiday is worth it. Preparing for Pesach feels like a ‘sacrifice’ in the colloquial sense of that word, a sacrifice of time and energy, money, attention, sweat, and focus. How will it bring you closer to God?!
Yet recall that Passover is a celebration of freedom. We know that the nature of freedom is that – along with all its privileges – come freedom’s responsibilities and obligations. How do you get your heart to celebrate those too?
You might want to share these songs – poems – at your seder:
She Who Stood, Talya Glazer
She who stood and cleaned and washed and shined and kashered
And immersed in boiling water and held it to the fire
And got deeply burnt with caustic soda
And ruined her clothes with bleach
And cooked and broiled and baked
And prepared six Seder plates
And set a table for thirty guests
And laundered and ironed clothes for the holiday.
She who stood
And served
And cleared the meal
She who stood at “Pour out Your wrath” did not get to sing “Hallel” and
“Chad Gadya”
She laid down her head for a moment
And fell asleep.
Liberty, Shlomi Cheski
This standing promise for our ancestors and us, were it not for it, we would not be
sitting‐leaning here this night, counting minute
after minute until the meal begins, but instead we would still be building suburban pyramids for
young‐Pharaonic couples or getting lost sans GPS in the infinite desert
of
Illusions.
SHABBAT SHALOM
Rabbi Michael Schwartz