Shavua tov and Chag Sameach!!
It’s another very busy and intense week…the last two days of Passover, Pesah, begin this evening, tomorrow is the 7th day and Thursday is the last day of the festival. During the service on Thursday we add the Yizkor prayers as we remember all of our family members who have passed over the years. This is a tradition that is included on the last day of all of the 3 Pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. We also remember all of our loved ones on Yom Kippur as well.
During the next few days we will reading from three separate parts of the Torah. Tomorrow is the 7th day of Pesah and we read the second part of the Passover story. Last week, on the 1st day of Pesah, we read about the story of Moses and his confrontations with Pharaoh and the Plagues. This led to the eventual releasing of our people from their slavery following the 10th and final plague.
Tomorrow’s reading (Exodus ch 13:17-15:26) takes us through the second part of the Exodus story, the Israelites are free and are starting their journey through the wilderness. It is not an easy task and Moses argues with God and with the Israelites about how this disorderly group is to continue on their long walk to freedom. Upon hearing that the Israelites have been set free, Pharaoh has yet another change of heart and sends his army to re-capture them. The Israelites are camped out on the shore of the Red Sea, or Sea of Reeds. Some of them want to return to their lives in Egypt. That is not too difficult to understand. In Egypt, at least before the Plagues, life was settled and although there were burdens of slavery, there was regular food and water and life was calm. In the wilderness, everything was new and that was very fearful for many of the people. Better the difficulty that you know than the difficulty you don’t know.
Finally, after Pharaoh has sent his troops, the Israelites are confronted with yet another challenge, a challenge of water at the Sea. How can we get to the other side? Finally, Moses raises his rod and extends it over the waters as the “east winds” were blowing. There is one Rabbinic story that one of the Israelites, Nachshon, had the courage to jump into the sea before it began to separate showing his faith that God would fulfill the promise to rescue us and lead us safely away from Pharaoh’s troops.
This beautiful and meaningful reading ends with Moses’s sister, Miriam, taking up the timbrels with some of the other women and they all sing Shirat ha-yam, the Song of the Sea, to commemorate this important event in the history of our people.
Thursday’s reading, the 8th day, is taken from the last book of the Torah, D’varim or Deuteronomy. It is only read on the last day of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, since we have one extra day outside of Israel. It is a recap of all of the festivals in the Torah. This is Moses’s last opportunity to instruct the Israelites as they are waiting to cross the Jordan River to reach the Land of Israel. Since almost all of the people waiting to cross over were born after the Exodus, Moses wants to be sure that they have heard about all of the holidays and festivals and their origin to be prepared for life in Israel.
On Shabbat morning we return to the regular cycle of Torah reading with Parashat Sh’mini. Sh’mini means the eighth day and this a continuation of the sanctifying of the priests that we have been reading the last several weeks. This is now the eighth day of purification of the priests and of the Sanctuary. The most interesting event on this week’s reading involves two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. As sons of the High Priest, they also have responsibilities in the Sanctuary. In this account, however, the two sons do not follow the instructions that they are given. They act on their own by putting incense into their fire pans and offer them to God. Since they were not instructed to do this, both of them are consumed by the fire and die. The lesson is that the Priests and the Levites were to keep very close attention to the specifics of the sacrifices and of the other offerings that were being made in the Sanctuary. They were not allowed to act on their own or to initiate their own practices and rituals. Some interpretations have this incident as a punishment for Aaron during the incident of the Golden Calf where Aaron assisted the Israelites in constructing the Golden Calf instead of standing up against building the idol.
Please join us for services and yizkor on Thursday, the last day of Pesah at 10 am on Zoom. And for Shabbat services on Friday night at 7 pm and on Shabbat morning at 10 am.
Passover has always been a very important time for my family. One of my brother’s had his Bar Mitzvah during Pesah. And I can remember back, as long as I have memory, that our mother LOVED Passover and I mean LOVED. Our mom’s yahrtzeit is the 7th day of Pesah, that is tomorrow. The fact that she passed away during her favorite time of year adds even more memories to this special time. I can remember as a young kid when we were living in Pasadena and every year this huge crate of eggs was always delivered just before Pesah so mom would have enough for the seders and for all of the wonderful cooking and preparing that she did.
Our mom, Sophia (Rips) Resnick, was born in New Jersey and grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where her father and mother, our grandparents, owned and ran a kosher market. Mom was a brilliant woman, she was pre-med at the University of Pennsylvania until she got a ‘C’ in biology and switched to psychology which she graduated with honors!! By the time she finished, her parents had sold their store and had bought a liquor store in the Jewish mecca in Southern California, Azusa, yes, they moved to Azusa California in the 1930’s!!
Mom was both right-brained and left-brained…she was a fabulous cook and baker, she was a teacher and an organizer, she had a huge heart and an active and inquisitive brain, she loved to read and write. While not a ‘religious’ person, she always said that she didn’t need to go to Shule because she had a direct line to God, when she went to Shule she enjoyed it and participated.
Our Mom passed 20 years ago and I still think of calling her once in a while. My kids still write about her and talk about her. My brothers and I mention her and quote her in almost every conversation. One of us will say, “Soph would’ve said….or, remember when Soph did….” She was a remarkable woman who influenced her family and friends and students and co-workers in so many positive ways.
Most of all, she was the best cook and baker and I will always remember her preparing for the seders at Pesah time. She will always be a most positive memory for all of us who knew and loved Sophia Edith Resnick.
Thank you for letting me share some of the memories about our Mom on the eve of her yahrtzeit.
Please join us for services and yizkor on Thursday, the last day of Pesah at 10 am on Zoom. And for Shabbat services on Friday night at 7 pm and on Shabbat morning at 10 am.
Chag sameach and Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Ralph