D'var Torah

Nisan 5764

Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem

Rabbinic texts and the historian Josephus show that in ancient times, when the Romans ruled Judea, the celebration of Passover was a big deal. My teacher, the late Saul Lieberman, alav ha-shalom, once pointed out that Roman soldiers specifically asked for Jerusalem duty to be able to be in Jerusalem for Passover; some even went so far as to convert to participate in the celebration! Thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, converged on Jerusalem to prepare for the festival. Large numbers of people brought their Passover offering for slaughter and sacrifice. Documents indicate that there were huge numbers of people waiting to slaughter animals within the short time period mandated by the Torah. Apparently, despite the press and stress, in three areas almost like holding-pens people waited patiently for their opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of slaughtering zevach ha-Pesah, the Passover offering we now commemorate with the shank bone on the Seder plate. Unlike other Temple sacrifices, this was the offering of a sacrifice by the laity; this was participatory to the max, with those who offered the Pesah joining with pre-arranged groups afterwards to prepare and share the food and experience of Passover, reliving the exodus from Egypt. The excitement and joy of celebration focused not on the individual but on the community.

With the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the year 70 CE, two alternatives presented themselves: either an attempt to recreate Temple ritual or the transfer of worship to the Jewish home. Christianity and the early Church took the first option – the mass remains the recreation of the Passover sacrifice on the altar; rabbinic Judaism opted for the second through the recitation of the Passover Haggadah, with the family table the site of the re-enactment of the Passover ritual – with matza and bitter herbs, and without the eating of the Passover offering. Judaism requires personal involvement and the communal sharing of the experience. The more one tells of the Passover narrative, harei hu meshubach, the greater is s/he to be praised.

The communal reliving of the redemption and deliverance from Egypt is not achieved through the aegis of another. You will look long and hard and in vain for the name of Moses in the Haggadah. While the sacrifice of Jesus remains central and paramount in the Christian story, for us as Jews, our personal and communal connection to the presence of God is achieved through a personal and communal reliving retelling of the Exodus event and our participation in it. We teach by example and through the experience of the event. “This is what God did for me, when I went out of Egypt.” Judaism is participatory and hands-on--predicated on personal involvement and transmission of our shared past and present, and our anticipation of a shared future, when chaos, oppression, and enslavement will be no more. The Seder was created as, and remains, the quintessential teaching moment and the paradigm of Jewish life and practice.

Hag kasher v’sameakh. May this Passover be a sweet and meaningful experience for us all.

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