By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.
This Shabbat is the final of the four special parshiyot leading up to Purim and Pesach. They each include a unique maftir, the final Torah reading separate from the weekly parsha, as well as a special Haftara connected to the theme of the Shabbat. We began the journey through these four Shabbatot with Shabbat Shekalim, followed by Shabbat Zachor. Just last week was the third of these four special Shabbatot, Shabbat Parah.
And here we are now, at the final of the four special Shabbatot, as it is Shabbat haChodesh, which precedes or falls on the first of the month of Nisan during which Passover is celebrated. In our unique maftir, we read about how on the first day of Nisan, God presented the first commandment of how to “sanctify the new moon” (kiddush hachodesh) for the onset of Rosh Chodesh. Thus the biblical Chodesh Aviv, known today as Nisan, becomes the first month of the Jewish year.
Last weekend we were visited by two JTS rabbis, one of whom taught on this commandment on Shabbat afternoon. Rabbi Joel Seltzer shared an interesting take on “the first commandment.” The first commandment in the Torah at the beginning of Breishit is p’ru urvu, to be fruitful and multiply. This first mitzvah in the Torah was God addressing us as individuals to fill the earth. The divine commandment we read today from Shemot, to sanctify Nisan as the first month of the year, is the first mitzvah addressed to the entire Jewish people.
This was the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people while still in Egypt and also on the verge of being freed: “This month shall be for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” (Ex. 12:2)
Rabbi Seltzer shared several commentaries, one of which is from the 12th century French commentator, Bekhor Shor: “This month is ‘The First of Freedom,’ and so you shall make it the first of the counting of your months, in order that your counting begins at the moment of freedom, and by remembering this moment of freedom, you will remember the good that I (God) did for you, and you will be diligent with your awe, your love, and your worship of me.”
By declaring any new month on the Shabbat before each Rosh Chodesh, the Jewish people have the ability and responsibility each month to sanctify life and the passage of time.
By declaring the month of Nissan, as we will do so this weekend, the Jewish people have the additional ability to show eternal gratitude for our freedom, that of our ancestors and the freedoms we continue to celebrate today. Just as we have two separate “first” commandments for individuals and as a whole community, so too do we have the responsibility, both as individuals and as Am Yisrael, to continue to add to the world, celebrating our freedom through our ma’asim tovim, the good deeds that can help improve the world in which we live.
Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh Tov, and an early Chag Pesach Sameach!
By Rabbi Alex Freedman.
What if Purim and Passover weren’t two separate holidays? What if they were actually bookends for a single month-long process?
Rabbi David Hoffman of JTS taught me such. Notice that exactly one month separates the two holidays – Purim is on the 14th of Adar (15th in Jerusalem) while Passover is celebrated on the 15th of Nisan.
The one-word summary of Purim is chaos. Life nearly ended for all the Jews of Shushan, and then suddenly they were on top. Everything took a 180 degree turn, like Esther keeping her Jewish identity secret to sharing it with the king very publicly. Today Purim is marked by riotous, chaotic fun, costume, and shtick.
When we turn to Pesach, though, we encounter the opposite. In one word, Passover is about order. The holiday is dominated by the Seder, the step-by-step dinner script whose Hebrew word means “order.” We follow time-tested processes and rules on Seder night to move us to a place where we taste slavery and freedom, literally and metaphorically.
The days that move us from Purim to Passover are themselves a step-by-step personal journey from chaos to order. How appropriate is it that this march happens during March? People can’t turn from one strong emotion to another on a dime. We need time and a step-by-step process to get us to somewhere else. And as the days of Passover draw nearer, we then have the opportunity to prepare ourselves for the next stage of the year.
Let us enjoy these two upcoming holidays – and let us find meaning in seeing them as fundamentally connected too.
By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.
Parashat Tetzaveh often falls right around Purim, and both share the theme of fashion, whether it be the uniform for the Kohanim or the costumes we wear for Purim. How we look on the outside defines us. How we dress on Shabbat elevates us physically, differentiating our appearance from the rest of the week… and also it is a mitzvah!
The Talmud explains, in Shabbat 113a, that wearing special clothes for Shabbat is one of the best ways of showing Kavod Shabbat, honor for Shabbat.
By dressing up, we not only honor Shabbat, but this is a physical way in which we “Remember Shabbat and keep it holy,” one of the 10 Commandments that we read just a few weeks ago in Parashat Yitro.
On the theme of Remembering Shabbat, we have yet another connection to this particular Shabbat that connects us to our upcoming holiday of Purim. This Shabbat, Tetzaveh coincides with Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat preceding Purim in which we read a special Maftir and Haftara, both focusing on Remembering what Amalek did to our people. The Maftir begins with “Remember” and ends with “Do not forget,” bookending the passage with the same message in different wordings.
There is a tradition from the Talmud that Haman, the antagonist of the Purim story, was descended from Amalek, hence why we read this on the Shabbat preceding Purim. In the Maftir verses, it is a Mitzvah, a commandment, to remember Amalek, ancestor to Haman, whose name we will blot out with our graggers next week each time we hear his name read in Megillat Esther.
The theme of memory on this Shabbat is both physical and historical. Physically, through the fashion theme of Tetzaveh, we learn the Mitzvah of honoring Shabbat by how we dress on the holiest day of the week. Historically, we are commanded to remember Amalek’s attack on the Israelites. And even in our silliest of Purim costumes, we will blot out the name of evil, remembering the enemies from our past, as well as our current antagonists, with the hope that one day in the future, we will not have to worry about subsequent attacks on our people.
By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.
I was reading a compilation called “Torah Insights” to find some inspiration for a Thursday Thought. And there were a few different passages on Parashat Terumah and they all ultimately had the same lesson. The short version is: The Mishkan is beautiful, and helps us focus on our worship and service of God. However, God dwells among the people, not the place. And it is our actions that are paramount in inviting God’s presence into our reality.
One of the writers wrote about the coming of the Messiah who will rebuild the Temple. Some believe that Mashiach will come unconditionally. Others believe that the entire Jewish people needs to do some form of repentance. Maimonides reconciles the two saying “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Mashiach, and he will only come when the Jewish people repents” – meaning that logically, Maimonides has faith in the Jewish people to bring about the Mashiach. We should all strive to that faith, and we must all be active participants in bring about that miraculous redemption.
The second writer taught about the meaning of holiness. A Mikdash is a holy place – but he writes that it isn’t the place itself which is holy. It is the act of building it, and sanctifying it which makes it holy. We read God’s command, “make me a Mikdash, and I will dwell among them.” God, in His infinity, doesn’t dwell in the finite structures of the Mishkan. Rather by sanctifying our physical space, as we do with time through Shabbat and Holidays, we invite God into our lives. And he goes on to say that when Solomon builds the Temple, God’s presence is dependent on our following the Torah and mitzvot. What we do, what we build, how we act is what ultimately brings holiness into our being.
The third thinker noticed an odd verse about how the Mishkan walls stay standing. “The middle bar across the planks shall extend from end to end” the Torah states. According to Targum Yonatan, this plank was from Abraham’s tent – the quintessentially open and welcoming tent. The Mishkan contained the Ark of the Covenant and was designed according to Torah. It was used for Divine worship – Avodah. But the middle bar which helped it stand was a symbol of Abraham’s chesed – Gemilut Chasadim – loving kindness is also necessary. “The world stands on three things: Torah, Avodah and Gemilut Chasadim.” Another reminder that it is the kindness we show in our deeds that is key to unlocking God’s presence in our world, alongside study and prayer.
These are three different takes on our parashah, and each one is a call to beautify our world, invite God’s presence into our world, and create a sanctuary – and this requires thoughtful action, deeds of love and kindness, and the strength and faith to take the first step.
Some may call it a journey but I have called it my surge…I am referring to the constant energy and propulsion that has allowed me to rise in the past 16 months – the darkest of times-a time when so many want to fall.
This surge has driven my efforts in providing gatherings, rallies, vigils, and weekly hostage walks for our community.
This surge is also what took my husband and I to Israel this past summer at a time when many chose not to go-
I couldn’t fathom going anywhere else in the world – I only had it in my heart to travel to Israel. And so we went, we witnessed and volunteered. We came bome (miraculously) on the last flight out of Israel as the country was waiting imminently for Iran’s retaliation and all flights were cancelled.
Fast forward a couple months and I hear ruminations about a women’s trip to Israel through NSSBE-maintaining the same sentiment of only having a desire to be in Israel in my heart. I join the planning process and ultimately sign up – and then I ensure my husband is able to hold down the fort while I am away.
The surge is still there- it’s pushing me to go and bear witness to more atrocities from 10/7. Admittedly nervous to embark on what would be a very intense couple of days given the nature of our itinerary, I couldn’t imagine not being part of this incredible group of women who so perfectly represent NSSBE.
We bore witness to so much, listening and clinging to each word of the most devastating and detailed accounts of that tragic day. We stood in solidarity and cried on one another’s shoulders- we understood that it is now up to us to continue the surge by bringing these stories home with us and beyond. What will happen when the surge begins to diminish? I cannot bear to think of this – because for now as long as we have even a single hostage left in Gaza- we are not whole.
-Danielle Pearl
The power of this experience is still unfolding. What struck me most was the civic spirit of Israel- the way the whole country is pitching in and working together to take care of each other in spite of trauma, hardship, and political difference. Israel is embodying the idea that the way to heal trauma is through action. I truly felt that we are family and that “all of Israel is responsible for each other.”
-Ali Drumm
Every moment, we are connected. The town of Sderot had a mural next to the destroyed police station with a Torah on it, which was riddled by real bullet holes from the Oct 7 battle, and the letters floating up like in rabbi Akiva’s dream, which was connected to the Torahs that are stored at the Shura base and morgue, where they cleaned and identified the many bodies of young and old from kibbutzim and Nova, doing a sacred work and being a vessel for god, as they so respectfully said, where they also provide torahs to soldiers going into battle, and then we saw a soldier Elia at the Mechina from which he graduated, and though he started as a 14 year old in organized crime, he worked his way to becoming a soldier, and eventually was in a battle back at that town of Sderot where he alone, a 22 year old, fought off multiple terrorists that dark day and then went into Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria and finally to his goal of investment banking. To seeing the grave of Aner Shapira, to the megunit / bomb shelter where Aner saved Or Levy’s life, but lost his own, Or Levy was a hostage released while many of us had arrived and watched from hostage square, to sitting down with Aner’s parents on the last day of our trip and them giving their thanks for the torah cover from Beth El and letting us know they just had met with Or Levy so he could tell them about Aner’s bravery. To finding out my Uncle David, z”l died back here in Chicago while we had just met wounded soldiers at Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital and me recognizing released hostage Moran Stella Yannai on the way out, and while telling her of our admiration for her strength and bravery, she gives me hug for my uncle. Our trip guide, Lyana, who was with us all four days, her niece is at Schechter with our 8th graders, and also by the way can she please show us the grave of her daughter’s boyfriend who died this past Rosh Hashanah in the war and is buried at Har Herzl. And on my own last day there when I said goodbye to my cousins, as Sagui Dekel-Chen was released and didn’t know for almost 500 days if his family, whom he had protected, had survived, but not only did they survive, but he had a new baby daughter, to my cousin’s best friend calling as I was leaving for the airport asking if he could stay in their guest room so he could visit Sagui, his best friend and give him a hug. While there are 15 million of us, our stories are connected, our history is the same, and our futures will be too.
-Sivan Schondorf
I attended the third day, as I wasn’t able to attend more (though Larry and I were in Israel for almost three weeks), I was very impressed with the dedication to Israel and the compassion and care shown by the attendees to those traumatized by October 7 they met on this journey. I know we will all continue to advocate for Israel, do all we can to assist in the ongoing and long healing process, and share our incredible experiences with our families, friends and other NSSBE congregants. Thanks to all who organized this incredible journey.
– Sandy Starkman
By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.
Within the same week, we celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shevat, the new year for the trees, and we read Parashat Yitro, a combination of 2 wonderful things that occur together nearly every year. Our Torah portion contains the dramatic experience of the Israelites receiving the 10 Commandments, those holy rules that remind us of how we should relate both with the divine and with our fellow human beings. Our holiday of Tu B’Shevat celebrates the birthday of the trees, mainly in Israel, where the first tiny saplings poke their heads out of the ground. And while not “rooted” in the Torah, the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) marks a Rosh Hashanah, a new year, for trees, to which, after some debate between the first and fifteenth of Shevat, the rabbis assigned the date of Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of the month of Shevat.
Just as Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei gives us a chance to spiritually start fresh in the new year, so “Tu” does Tu B’Shevat give us a chance to reconnect with nature. In the fall on Rosh Hashana, we spend a great deal of time reflecting on our relationship with God and others, the two main categories of relationships that the 10 Commandments deal with. From the first commandment that God is our one and only God…to the final commandment not to be jealous of our neighbors, and everything in between. Some of these commandments are voiced in the positive (like “Honor your parents”) and others in the negative (like “Don’t steal from others”).
This got me thinking about creating a list of 10 Commandments for Tu B’Shevat. On this holiday, there are several positive things we can do:
And some negative commandments to consider as well
Perhaps this week can give us all an opportunity to reconnect with nature, creating new goals for ourselves at this Jewish New Year of the Trees, this Tu B’Shevat.
What would YOUR 10 Commandments be for this environmentally focused holiday?
What a great opportunity to take a moment and make 10 nature-themed goals for yourselves for the coming year, to help better the earth, our home!
Tu B’Shevat Sameach!!
By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.
This week we read parashat Beshallach, a Torah portion near and dear to my heart. In it we read the dramatic conclusion of the escape from Egypt at the Sea of Reeds. When we reach the other side, the Torah teaches, “Az yashir moshe uv’nei Yisrael et haShira hazot…” So Moses and the Israelites sang this song AKA The Song of The Sea. This is the very first time that the word for singing/song is used in the entire Torah, and by extension the entire Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).
One line in this magnificent first song is exceedingly popular. We recite it every morning, and every evening in our liturgy, as part of the blessing after Shema. The words of “Mi Chamocha.”
מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִים | יְהֹוָה, מִי כָּמֹכָה נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ, נוֹרָא תְהִלֹּת עֹשֵׂה פֶלֶא
“Mi chamocha ba-elim Hashem? Mi kamocha ne’edar bakodesh – nora tehillot oseh feleh?”
Who is like You, Hashem among the [so-called] ‘gods’? Who is like You glorified in holiness, awesome in splendor, Maker of wonders?
This rhetorical question is answered in our Shabbat morning Torah service: “Ein Kamocha ba-elohim Hashem, ve’ein kema’asecha!” There is none like You in the godhead Hashem, and nothing like Your creation.
“Mi Chamocha” has inspired a lot of great musical settings – some we sing in the sanctuary and some that you might find on Jewish Rock Radio. Even Stephen Schwartz quoted this text in Prince Of Egypt – that movie is incredible by the way – the accuracy in visual and musical detail with regard to the Torah text and midrashic interpretation is astoundingly gorgeous and inspired. But I digress.
If you’re a spotify user, check out this playlist called “Mi Chamocha Jukebox” and hear for yourself how diverse the musical interpretations of this text can be. On it you’ll find household names like Rick Recht, Dan Nichols, Debbie Friedman and David Broza (who’s coming to Beth El by the way! May 15th! Be there!) alongside some younger artists I’m honored to call friends. You’ll hear pop, folk, traditional, americana and more. Listen to the way the melodies tell a different story about the text. Imagine the different services (morning and evening) or different audiences they wrote for. Listen also to the different original English lyrics or interpretive translations. If you find a favorite or one version that resonates with you, let me know! I’d be so interested to hear what it means to you. And if you’re so inclined, consider how you would sing these ancient words.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6YipnsnNOAnWik1ZMjclje?si=0b2c10bfd01e4982
This is just a small sample, as I couldn’t even find every single tune I know on Spotify. But it’s a testament to how these words from the very first song we sang as a people – from Parashat Beshallach – have reverberated for thousands of years and are still inspiring us today.
By Rabbi Alex Freedman.
Passover is the springtime holiday, as we all know. That’s actually one of its Hebrew names: Chag HaAviv, literally “The springtime holiday.” So why is this the story we read in the Torah these days, when it is freezing outside? Even in Israel, it’s not springtime yet.
I want to suggest a technical answer and a thematic answer.
First, the technical: we complete the full Torah reading start to finish every year. Simchat Torah is both the finish line and the starting line. Given that this holiday always occurs in the fall, and given that we have to fit 54 portions into a 52-week year, this just happens to be the time when we reach the second book of the Torah. In short, it’s pure coincidence.
But it’s not fair to leave it at that. Whenever we recall the majestic story of Moses and Pharaoh, the march from slavery to freedom, we internalize the core lessons of the story. We dwell deeply upon what freedom means then and now. If we only thought about freedom seriously for one week in the springtime – the week of Passover itself – we would limit its impact and influence. But when we expand the number of weeks that we dedicate to thinking about the morals and consequences of freedom, we multiply the reach of the Passover story. Freedom is too important a tenet to be limited to just one week. It’s so important we should think about it year round… so we do.
Reading about how G-d is on the side of freedom during the winter is another way to achieve this. But the rabbis who collated the Siddur went even further. For them, the story of Passover was crucial enough to think about every single day. That’s why they intentionally selected readings from Scripture that highlighted the Exodus and included them in daily worship. Shirat Hayam – The Song of the Sea – is one example. The third paragraph of the Shma is another, which crucially ends with recalling the fact that G-d rescued us from Egypt.
The goal of thinking deeply about Passover year-round is meant to sensitize us year round to the plight of those who are not yet fully free. That’s a 365-day-a-year task.
By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.
As the moon always waxes and wanes, it reached its fullness on the 15th of both Tevet and January this week. This got me thinking about how so many of our holidays fall during a full moon. It also got a congregant to share the following with me one morning after minyan this week: “Do you know what this full moon means?,” she asked me. “…THREE MONTHS UNTIL PESACH!!!”
And here we are, in the middle of January, thinking about our spring festival. Crazy as it sounds, it’s actually quite appropriate considering where we are in our Torah reading cycle. This week, we begin the second book of the Torah, Shemot, with parashat Shemot. Whereas in English we call it Exodus, the Hebrew name of this book and parasha means Names.
Our portion begins with a list of the names of the sons of Israel and their families who came to Egypt with Ya’akov back at the end of Breishit. As the Israelite families grew, the new king of Egypt decided that he didn’t want his people to be outnumbered. This Pharaoh enslaved them, in the hopes that this oppression would help contain their numbers, and yet the Israelites continued to grow. As the familiar story continues, in an effort to contain their growing numbers, Pharaoh spoke to the Egyptian midwives, specifically Shifra and Puah, telling them to kill the baby boys.
But did they listen to their king? No, they defied him because they had Yirat Hashem, awe/fear of God within them. This phrase is the closest the Torah comes to having a word for religion. Our Eitz Chayim Chumash commentary explains further: “The case of the midwives suggests that the essence of religion is not belief in the existence of God…but belief that certain things are wrong because God has built standards of moral behavior into the universe…The midwives begin a pattern that is continued in the story of Moshe, whose life is repeatedly threatened by men and saved by women.” And these are stories we will read about over the next several weeks. As the Midrash Exodus Rabbah shares: “It was through righteous women that Israel was redeemed.”
How fitting that this weekend we celebrate Sisterhood Shabbat! It is a time for us to benefit from the many Beth El women of all ages creating a special Friday night dinner experience, a beautiful Shabbat morning service, sharing a varied tapestry of the female talents in our congregation. Then an incredible contingent of Beth El women will represent us all on their mission to Israel: B’not Beth El B’Yisrael. And not too long from now, we will all have an opportunity to attend the Sisterhood Art Festival, showcasing the artistry of Israeli and American Jewish women.
Yashar Koach to all of the incredible Beth El women involved in these upcoming programs! Just as the midwives were righteous women who helped to redeem all of Israel, YOU help our entire congregation to shine, you elevate us all!
By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.
This past shabbat, I received the news that my paternal grandfather, Lenny Sandler passed away. I’d like to dedicate this week’s thought to him. Grandpa was a really sweet man, always ready to say how much he loved my siblings and I, with a hug and a kiss. In his latter years, he was awfully quiet and it took concerted effort to maintain a conversation. He loved to play drums, work on handy projects with his tools, and root for the Yankees. It seems fitting that Grandpa is being buried the same week that our patriarch Jacob is buried in parashat Vayechi.
As Jacob is preparing to be ‘gathered to his kin’ he gathers his 12 sons to bless them. If you read the blessings, they aren’t what you might expect. They’re more like predictions about the future tribes, or reflections about the brothers’ character in their father’s eyes. Still, it’s a blessing in itself to be able to share a final moment together.
Grandpa was 89 years old, and I could tell over the past 3 years that he knew the end could be near. I remember how his eyes filled with tears when he told me he wouldn’t see my sister become a doctor. And while she hasn’t earned the MD yet, he was alive for her PhD. Embedded in his fear, I heard a blessing. His grief, albeit premature, was an expression of pride in his granddaughter, confidence in her ability to finish what she started and of course so much love for wanting to witness that milestone.
Similarly, when we got together for Father’s day in 2023, he came to me and gave me a Magen David necklace, which has the Israeli paratroopers insignia on it. The top three triangles of the star have the letters Tzadi, Hay, Lamed – Tzahal and the bottom three have the letters I.D.F. for the Israeli defense forces. He told me he got it in Israel, and with a sad look in his eye, that he wanted me to wear it. The only time my grandpa had ever been to Israel, as far as I know, was on my Bar Mitzvah trip in 2007. In this gift, I felt a blessing. The necklace symbolized his recognition of my deep connection to Judaism and Israel, his hope that I would carry on my Jewish traditions as well as his memory. I could tell he wanted me to know that he would always be with me.
And while I don’t know of a specific moment like that between Grandpa and my younger brother, I do know that they had their own unique bond. Sammy recalled the way that Grandpa would laugh and smile as the three of us would act so silly at family events. Despite being a pretty old-school guy, Grandpa’s love for us shone through as he took our antics in stride. He always showed up for us at the holidays, the performances, the graduations and more. In this I see a blessing to always put family first, to show up and accept people as they are.
I’m grateful that I saw Grandpa just this past Thanksgiving. He was in a rehab center, not doing especially well. But I got to hug him and kiss him and make sure he knew how loved he was. He wasn’t quite lucid enough to give any final speeches, as Jacob does in our parasha. However, the blessings he shared implicitly in the final years will stay with me, along with many loving memories.
We finish Bereishit and say, “Chazak Chazak venitchazek.” As the generations of the patriarchs end, and the next part of our story begins, may we all go from strength to strength.
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