Tag: Passover
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In Pursuit of Unity: Passover 5785
Tonight we begin the festival of Passover, the holiday that is both rich in its own meaning and symbolism and a paradigm to which we can apply our own meaning and symbolism. Ostensibly, Passover is both a commemoration of the story of the Israelite’s liberation from Egyptian slavery and a celebration of spring. Both of…
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Is This Passover Different From All Other Passovers?
As we move into Passover this coming week, our attention will naturally turn to the events in Israel and Gaza. Indeed, this has been our reality as we have moved into any Jewish celebration or space over these past six months—each holiday, each gathering feels overshadowed by the horrible events happening thousands of miles away.…
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Slow Down to Speed Up
With sunset tonight we welcome not only Shabbat but the first night of Passover. It is a seemingly interesting juxtaposition: the weekly day set aside for rest and slowing down, and the annual celebration of the Exodus, of movement. Indeed, unlike the challah we eat on Shabbat, which takes time to rise and bake, the…
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Torah tl;dr: “Passover”
Celebrate preparation. Listen to the newest episode of my podcast here: 60 SECONDS TO WISDOM. Short teachings on the weekly Torah portion. Suitable for all who seek.
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Don’t Just Mark the Jewish Holidays, Mark the Jewish Intervals
This post originally ran on the Rabbis Without Borders blog. You can read the original here. The Jewish calendar is a bit interesting since we also live on Gregorian time. The fact that it is a lunar-based calendar means that every year the Hebrew dates shift vis-a-vis the “regular calendar” so that certain holidays, while…
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Counting Cards
In the Jewish calendar we are currently in the period of the Omer. Originally, in the Torah, the Omer is a means to mark harvests. An omer is a sheaf of barley, and we are told to count the days between the festivals of Passover and Sukkot, to count the time between harvest seasons. As…
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“Thank you for the simple egg”: An invocation at the Washington State Legislature
On April 20, 2017 I delivered the following invocation in the Washington State House of Representatives: Source of All Life and Blessing, thank you for this season. We as a human family are witnessing the awakening of our world, as nature comes alive once again in spring. We delight in the buds on the trees,…
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For Passover and the Exodus, think Rivers not Seas
This column first appeared in the Rabbis Without Borders blog on My Jewish Learning. You can read the original post here. It’s spring break in our school district, so we are taking a road trip. We left our home in Olympia on the Puget Sound and drove to Boise, ID, where we have family. We…
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Over the Hump
Today is the minor holiday of Lag B’Omer, the 33rd Day of the Omer, the seven week period that spans the weeks between Passover and Shavuot. There are a few associations for this holiday. One is that it is the traditional yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a Talmudic rabbi known for his deep knowledge…
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