The Embodied Torah of Celebrations on the Jewish calendar

Divre Harav – April, 2025

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We’ll sit around the table in Mid-April and tell the story of Israel’s oppression in Egypt and subsequent redemption by God. And we’ll talk about a series of 10 punishments God sent on the entire Egyptian people until their leader finally let us go, despoiling the Egyptian on the way out of town, and trapping their army in the sea to drown.

Is this revenge or is it justice?

The Torah (and associated Midrash) portray the plagues as carefully measured punishments against that which the Egyptians worshipped as gods; the money taken from the Egyptians as reparations for many years of slavery, and drowning the army as a measure for measure justice for drowning Israeli baby boys.

Sitting around the table, it’s hard to imagine the Egyptians as innocent victims of Pharaoh. They are the overseers, the enablers of the oppressive, vicious, enslavement of the people who once saved them from famine. The Haggadah contains a passage in which several rabbis almost gleefully imagine multiplying the ten plagues – there were not just ten, there were 10 plus 50 more on the way out! No there were a total of 240! No, there were 300 plagues! The suffering is multiplied over and over, as if the plain sense of the Biblical story isn’t enough to achieve justice.

In the 2009 film “Inglorious Basterds,” director Quentin Tarantino gives us a Shoah revenge fantasy, in which a young Jewish refugee witnesses the slaughter of her family by the Nazis, and arranges a gathering of prominent Nazi officers for a movie premier at the theater she operates, coordinated with a ruthless band of Jewish guerrilla soldiers planning to blow up the theater.

Both the seder and the film play with the Jewish trope of being powerless against evil. We are not in fact powerless. In the seder, God is on our side, fighting for us. In the film, we’ve learned to take up arms and fight back. But the line between justice and revenge is blurry. We don’t defeat the enemy by hurting them exactly as much as they hurt us. We need to burn them to the ground, drown them, blow them up, punish them so thoroughly that they only have enough strength to lay down their whips and chains, shower us with gold and silver, and and wish us well on our way out of town. And the brave among them follow behind us because they see our way of life and the power of our God as far superior to Egyptian gods and civilization.

In the Bible, the stories attribute Israeli victories to God. Revenge and justice both belong to God, and human armies are God agents. Real life, however, and the fantasy of film. is messy. We don’t have a voice of God telling us exactly what to do. Instead, we have a collection of pundits and military analysts and politicians and soldiers acting, we hope, with integrity and sense of justice, not revenge. And when they mess us, sooner or later there will be a commission of inquiry to tell us how they erred and what we can do in the future to prevent such disasters.

And we pray: Next year in Jerusalem of God, Jerusalem of Peace!

Hebrew word(s) of the Month:

  • zedak – justice
  • nekama – revenge

Divre Harav – January, 2025

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Question: How many day of Hanukkah will there be in 2025? 
Answer: Ten!

This is a companion riddle to the question, How many days of Hanukkah were there in 2024?
Answer: Six!

Of course, neither the length of Hanukkah nor the size of the Hanukkah menorah change from year to year. The years that Hanukkah crosses the secular new year are just a reminder that we live our lives as Jews with one foot in the civil calendar and one foot in the Jewish lunar-solar calendar. But Jews had been living dual lives for over 500 years before the creation of the calendar based on the Christian counting of years. During the Babylonian exile, some Biblical months known simply by number adopted the contemporary Assyrian/Babylonian names (the fourth month became Tammuz, the fifth month became Av). Other Biblical month names were dropped in favor of the contemporary names (Nisan replaced the Biblical Aviv, Iyar replaced the Biblical Ziv, Tishre replaced the Biblical Eitanim, Marheshvan replaced the Biblical Bul).

The privilege of setting the calendar belongs to the dominant culture. They determine days of rest and holidays. The minority cultures within tend to adopt their calendar because it is necessary to share a common frame reference to time with our neighbors. But we also retain our own calendar to remind ourselves that we march to the beat of a different drummer.

We celebrate Tuesday, December 31 and Wednesday, January 1 as ‘Rosh Hodesh,’ the beginning of the month of Tevet, with songs of Hallel in our morning prayers. Why two days? Because a lunar month is 29.5 days. When a Jewish month is 30 days long, the new moon actually begins near the end of the last day of the previous month, so both that day and the first day of the next month are celebrated.

This month, our calendar directs us to commemorate the beginning of the Babylonian siege against Jerusalem in 589 BCE on the 10th of Tevet (Friday, January 10). The month of Tevet in Akkadian/Babylonian means ‘muddy.’ Tevet falls in the middle of the rainy season. This makes sense – in Israel, Tevet is the rainiest month.

Next month, we remember the 15th of Shevat as the day that trees become one year older (Thursday, February 13). The name of the month comes from an Akkadian word meaning “strike,” also referring to heavy rains striking the land during the winter season.

Each year, we remember the death of loved ones on the anniversary of their death on the Hebrew calendar. To do so is to recall their death and observe Jewish rituals of memory in the context of our calendar, our counting of the months and days.  I encourage you to observe the Yahrtzeit by saying Kaddish on the Shabbat prior to their Yahrtzeit. And if you are able to help gather a minyan on the day of the Yahrtzeit itself, our custom is to say Kaddish on that day as well.

Yes, we are westernized Americans and we live according to the civil calendar. But in order not to forget our indigenous Jewish roots in the Tanakh and in the land of Israel, we should also live our lives according to the rhythms of the Jewish calendar.

Hebrew word(s) of the Month:

  • Kislev, Tevet, Sh’vat – the winter months
  • Adar, Nisan, Iyar – the spring months
  • Sivan, Tammuz, Av – the summer months
  • Elul, Tishre, Marheshvan – the fall months

Divre Harav – September, 2024

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We’re about one month away from the fall holidays. During the month of Elul, beginning on Wednesday, September 4, one month before Rosh Hashanah, our tradition encourages us to engage in introspection.What kind of person do I want to be? Where is there room for growth and improvement? Where have I been holding on to grudges or unresolved issues? How can I correct the course of my life and become kinder, more loving, more forgiving? How can I better reflect the Divine spark within me?

Some people make it a point to journal during Elul. Each evening, before going to bed, spend 5-10 minutes writing about something you did well that day and some place you fell short and hope to improve on. You might consider writing or revising your ethical will, a letter (doesn’t have to be long) articulating some lessons you’ve learned in the course of your life, and moral guidance and hope for future generations. My colleague Rabbi Steven Abraham of Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska, offers the following questions to get you started:

  • What are each of our core beliefs and values?
  • How have these beliefs and values manifested themselves in our lives? Are there further ways we’d like them to?
  • What teachings from our parents, grandparents or siblings that speak to us do we want to pass on?
  • What two or three life lessons need to be written down?
  • What are we grateful for in life?
  • Sometimes imagining that you only have a limited time left brings to mind the things in life that are truly important – what are those things for you?

You might also devote a few minutes a day to reading and learning more about the spiritual practices of Judaism and its holidays. Here are a few website to look at. You can sign up for weekly email to bring a bit of learning right to your inbox.

  • ExploringJudaism.org – this is a new project of the Conservative movement, with a growing number of articles reflecting traditional Jewish practice in today’s world.
  • Myjewishlearning.com/ – At more than 20 years old, My Jewish Learning is a granddaddy of Jewish learning websites.
  • Sefaria.org/community – Sefaria is primarily a library of Judaic texts, but also has a library of articles on topics of holidays, Jewish thought and values, mitzvot, and Torah study.

Elul prep for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can be seen as a kind of self-care for one’s soul. Just as you bring your car into the shop for regular oil changes and tune-ups, and you maintain your home HVAC system, changing filters regularly, your body and soul need attention as well. Marisa joins me in wishing you a joyful high holiday season.

Hebrew word of the Month:

  • Heshbon Nefesh – An accounting of the soul
  • Tzava’ah – An ethical will

Divre Harav – May

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May 14 will be 220 days since the unprovoked attack and horrific massacre of Israeli civilians, men, women, and children, in the area around Gaza. As I am preparing this article in early April, there are still 134 hostages being held by Hamas, approximately 100 of whom may still be alive.

On May 14, we will celebrate Israel Independence Day, the 76th birthday of the modern State of Israel. Israel was established on our ancestral land to be a place where Jews could find refuge and rebuild a state infused with our fundamental Jewish values. By any measure, Israel has been a phenomenal success. It has welcomed immigration of individual Jews and Jewish families and entire Jewish communities from around the world and it has prospered. It has reach out in times of crisis to countries around the world with assistance. It has signed agreements of peace and economic cooperation with a growing number of its neighbor countries in the Middle East.

The upcoming celebration of Yom Ha’atzma’ut ought to be an unqualified celebration, yet we cannot celebrate with our full hearts while hostages are still held in Gaza and while Israeli soldiers are still putting their lives on the line to recover our missing and hold those responsible for October 7 accountable for their actions.

Of these two things I am certain:

  • If the people of Gaza, who elected Hamas to be their representative government, would rise up and return the hostages to Israel along with the leadership of Hamas responsible for October 7, the war would end the next day.
  • If the people of Israel would lay down their arms tomorrow, the hostages would remain in captivity and Hamas would, as they promised, prepare to renew attacks against Israel.

You might wonder whether we should celebrate Yom Ha’atma’ut this year. I do not. I can still see Treblinka, Majdenek, and Auschwitz when I close my eyes, from my trip to Poland last year. Had there been no Israel in 1948, who would have taken in the almost 300,000 European Jews who sought refuge there? The United States took in 150,000 in the 10 years following the Shoah. Israel took in twice that many in just five years. Had there been no establishment of Israel, who would protect Jewish communities of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, and Ethiopia, and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa, in this era of rising antisemitism? Many of these communities chose to make Aliyah in the years following the establishment of Israel. If Israel were to cease to exist as a Jewish State tomorrow, what would happen to its 7.2 million Jews (out of a total population of 9.8 million)? Where would they go – because one thing is for certain, they are not welcome in the Hamas or Palestinian Authority controlled areas of Gaza or the Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”).

It was a Friday afternoon on May 14,1948 when a small Jewish community, led by David Ben Gurion, read the declaration of Independence and proclaimed the State of Israel. I hope you will join me and Ahavas Israel in our celebration of Yom Ha’atma’ut on Tuesday evening, May 14. You can find details elsewhere in the Voice.

Hebrew Phrases of the Month:

  • Megillat Ha’atzma’ut – “The Declaration of Independence”
  • Tzur Yisrael – “Rock of Israel” – a phrase in the Megillat Ha’atzma’ut that some read as a reference to God, and others, to the Israeli army.
  • Medinah Yehudit – “Jewish State” – The Megillat Ha’atzma’ut proclaims the establishment of a Jewish State in …
  • Eretz Yisrael – “The Land of Israel” – The Biblical, ancestral, land of the Jewish people, to be known as …
  • Medinat Yisrael – “The State of Israel”

Divre Harav – January, 2024

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It’s cold and snowy outside, and nothing is growing. Trees are bare and plants and grasses around the yard are dry and dead. Yet our tradition tells us that we should celebrate Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees. A pessimist would look around and conclude that the world is dying and there is no point any more. An optimist looks around and believes that the cold will end and the world will become green and grow again. There is a midrash about Adam and Eve, who are exiled from the garden just before Shabbat of that first week of creation. Shabbat is a beautiful day of light, but as Saturday night approaches and the world gets dark, they become afraid. It’s never happened before (in their very short lives), and they think the end of the world is nigh. So God gives them the gift of fire (which we commemorate as part of the Havdalah ceremony), and the light and warmth of the fire relieves their fear and gives them assurance that the world is not ending.

I believe that Judaism gives us a mandate to be an optimistic people, but Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, went one step further. He writes:

People often confuse optimism and hope. They sound similar. But in fact, they’re very different. Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that if we work hard enough together, we can make things better. It needs no courage, just a certain naivety to be an optimist. It needs a great deal of courage to have hope.

In the Midrash, Adam and Eve lacked the tools and the knowledge to take action to bring light and fire into the world. But we are different. We celebrate the rebirth of the world not only because we have optimism (based on past experience and science) that the world in fact will warm and become green again, but we also have hope that we can affect the environment around us through good stewardship of natural resources. The celebration of Tu Bishvat has evolved from a way to mark the age of trees for purposes of tithing produce, to a mystical Seder celebrating our connection with God through eating different kinds of fruit, to a day celebrating planting trees and care for the planet.

Rabbi Schadick, Cantor Fair, and I will be leading a joint Tu Bishvat Seder on Wednesday evening, January 24th, at 6:00 p.m. It will include a light dinner (a vegan barley soup and fresh baked rolls), along with different kinds of fruits and nuts.

The cost is $10/person for adults and children 12 and over, no charge for children under 12. You can make a reservation online here or by calling/emailing the synagogue at 616-949-2840. Please either send a check to the synagogue or pay by venmo,  @AhavasIsraelGR, account.venmo.com/u/AhavasIsraelGR . The reservation deadline is Sunday, January 12. We cannot accept reservations after that date.

We hope you’ll join us.

Hebrew Phrase of the Month:

  • Tu Bishvat – The fifteenth (the total of the letters Tet=9 and vav=6) of the month of Shevat
  • Hag Ha-Ilanot – The festival of trees. Ilan is a late Biblical word for tree found in the book of Daniel. Etz is the more common word for tree.
  • Tikvah – Hope