Passover

“The Gift of Celebration”
Revised and updated from Emor 5761-2001)

Parashat Emor features the celebration of Shabbat and the Jewish holidays--the festivals of G-d and the holy convocations that the people observe at their appropriate times. Proper celebrations are necessary for healthy living. It is important for the community to salute all the seasons of the year, and acknowledge that Shabbat and the Jewish holidays are truly remarkable gifts from the Al-mighty.

“On the Seventh Day the Walls of Water Split”
(Revised and updated from Passover 5765-2005)

According to tradition, the Children of Israel marched through the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea) on the seventh day of Passover. The Torah, in Exodus 14, declares twice that “the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left.” This unusual repetition of the phrase begs elucidation, and, of course, there is much to learn from this repetition.

“The Passover Seder–Focus on the Children”
(Revised and updated from Passover 5760-2000)

Even before the enslavement of the Jews began, Pharaoh instructed the midwives to kill all the newborn Jewish babies. The Midrash goes further, asserting that Pharaoh’s disproportionate hatred of Jewish children led him to try to remedy his leprosy affliction by bathing in the blood of Jewish children. On Passover night, every Jew is a child, and every Jew becomes a parent, to underscore the importance of nurturing the next generation.