Message on the Jewish Calendar – Rabbi Andy Vogel

On the morning of the 7th day of Passover (observed Tuesday night-Wednesday morning, with a Festival-Yizkor service held at Temple Sinai at 9:30 a.m. on Weds.), once again our tradition highlights the theme of singing.  King David’s song in II Samuel 22 is the Haftarah reading on the morning of the 7th day, a song in which he thanks God for his own rescue from his rival, King Saul.  But what does King David have to do with Passover?

Rashi, the great 11th century rabbi, commented (Talmud, Brachot 31a) that the Haftarah actually mentions the great event of the seventh day after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, the singing of the Song at the Sea.  But there is more than that.  Beginning at II Sam. 22:9 in David’s song, Rashi points out, some two hundred years after Moses led the people from Egypt, David recalls God’s heroic rescue of the Israelites as he gives thanks for his escape from Saul.  Why the Exodus here? David teaches us that every miracle in our lives today is an echo of the miraculous rescue from Egyptian slavery.  In referencing the Exodus at his own personal deliverance from Saul, King David gives us a model: In every liberation, in whatever century we may experience it as Jews, there is a taste of the joy that the ancient Israelites felt when they crossed over the Red Sea.

Sinai Update – April 9-15, 2006

Passover Begins Wednesday night, April 12

Message on the Jewish Holiday – Rabbi Andy Vogel

I want to wish you a very Happy Passover!  The first Seder of Pesach begins on Wednesday night, April 12th, when Jews all around the world will gather around the table to tell our people’s ancient story and discuss slavery and oppression in our own time.

This year, the message of Pesach is, as always, new, inspiring and urgent.  Passover reminds us of our Jewish obligation to end slavery, oppression and tyranny in their modern forms wherever they exist.  The Passover Haggadah’s essential message is that God can take us from “enslavement to redemption, despair to joy, darkness to light.”  This year, as I prepare for my Seder with my family, I am especially aware of the many “darknesses” present in our world: a continuing genocide in Darfur, Sudan; an ongoing destructive war in Iraq; new uncertainty between Israel and her neighbors; the eclipsing of basic human rights as a value of our government; and, among others, an enduring assault on the freedoms of religion and speech within our judicial system.  Now, more than ever, we need Pesach to inspire us to fight injustice and hate, to bring others towards freedom and peace, and to strive for holy living in God’s presence.  As we lift up the matzah at this year’s Seder on Wednesday night, we again recite the hopeful words:  “This year we are slaves, but next year we may be free!  Next year – if we join together to do the needed work to bring redemption – we may experience true liberation!”

I pray that your Pesach will be spiritually uplifting and inspiring for you and those with whom you will celebrate it!

Sinai Update – April 2-8, 2006

Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36)

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

The Eternal Light above the Ark in every synagogue in the world is based in a verse from this week’s Torah portion, in Leviticus 6:6: “A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on it” (the altar).  In some congregations today, this Ner Tamid is an electric light bulb; Temple Sinai is lucky enough to have an actual flame, kept burning by a supply of natural gas.  Many speculations are made as to why we should keep this fire burning at all times.  Perhaps the Ner Tamid symbolizes God’s constant presence in the world.  Perhaps it symbolizes the same pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites out from our Egypt, as if to say: God is with you.

But Rabbi Pinchas Peli, a contemporary Orthodox rabbi, adds one more interpretation of the Ner Tamid, based on an ambiguity in Hebrew grammar.  In the Hebrew, the Torah commands that a “fire shall be kept burning on it, tukad bo,” which could also mean “within him,” the Kohen meant to light the fire.  Rabbi Peli writes that “it is not enough to have a fire burning on the altar.  There must be a perpetual fire of enthusiasm within us when we truly worship God.”  Our own passion for serving God, through worship and through our deeds, must always be lit as we strive for holy living.

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel