The Four Children

Happy Passover and Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

March 30-31, 2018 / 15 Nisan 5778

Shabbat Pesach Day 1

“The Four Children”

Dear Friends,

Why do we mention the “Four Children” at our Passover seders?  What do they have to do with the Passover story?

Just before we tell the story, the haggadah has us stop for a moment to discuss the four children.  Here’s why.  Four times in the Torah we are instructed to tell our children about the Exodus, the paramount Jewish story.  From this our rabbinic sages inferred that there must be four different kinds of children - each asking a different question and each requiring a different answer.  Thus, we consider the Wise child, the Wicked child, the Simple child, and even child who does not know what to ask.

By contemplating the different types of learners at our seder table, we can prepare ourselves to adjust our explanation of the Passover story to suit their individual needs.  No only that, we might recognize these four archetypes within ourselves and thus better understand what we need this year to better approach the lessons of Passover.

Once we are open to our roles as educators for each of our children, then we can embark on telling the story.  For the story we tell on Passover eve is the central and ultimate Jewish story.  It is our spiritual story, our national story, and the story that stands at the core of our Jewish identity.  “Once we were slaves and now we are free…”

I wish you and your families a healthy, happy, and joyous Passover!

Chag Same’ach and Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

You Must Not Eat Blood

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

March 23-24, 2018 / 8 Nisan 5778

Shabbat Tzav/Hagadol

Torah: Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36

Haftarah: Malachi 3:4 - 3:24 | Shabbat HaGadol

“You Must Not Eat Blood”

Dear Friends,

Why does the Torah forbid us from eating blood?  Of course, the rabbinic sages have many opinions.  Maimonides says that it is to prevent us from idolatry, since other peoples did eat blood as part of their worship.  Nachmanides disagrees, by quoting the Torah verse that ‘the soul of all life is its blood.’  He argues that while we are permitted to eat meat, we may not eat the soul or life force of the animal, its blood.

Rav Kook took a vegetarian’s perspective by teaching that eating meat was a temporary measure while we evolved to overcome our murderous instincts.  For Rav Kook, eating meat or blood was a sign of human cruelty.  Nechama Leibowitz continued this line of thinking by arguing that people must eventually show mercy to fellow human beings and all animals.  For Leibowitz, refusing to eat meat or blood was a path to sensitivity and reverence for life.

This Torah injunction is the reason why kosher meat is soaked in a saltwater brine to remove the blood before it is cooked. And that’s why coarse salt is called ‘kosher salt’ – not because it is kosher, but because it is used in making the saltwater brine used to kasher the meat…

Whatever your view on meat-eating, the Torah is clear in understanding that blood is connected with life, and life is holy.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Judaism Without Animal Sacrifice

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

March 16-17, 2018 / 1 Nisan 5778

Shabbat Vayikra/HaChodesh

Torah: Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26

7th aliyah: Numbers 28:9 - 28:15 | Shabbat HaChodesh (on Rosh Chodesh)

Maftir: Exodus 12:1 - 12:20 | Shabbat HaChodesh (on Rosh Chodesh)

Haftarah: Ezekiel 45:16 - 46:18 | Shabbat HaChodesh (on Rosh Chodesh)

“Judaism Without Animal Sacrifice”

Dear Friends,

When Rome destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, that could have been the end of Judaism.  Up to that point, for virtually all of Israelite history, animal sacrifice was the way of communing with God.  Yet, with the Temple in ruins, sacrifice discontinued, and the priesthood inactive, a new leadership was required to carry the Jewish people forward.  That leadership came from a group of scholars know as the Rabbis.

The rabbis focused not on sacrifice, but on studying our sacred Jewish texts.    They focused not on Temple ceremony, but on worshipping God through prayer with two new inventions – the prayer book and the synagogue.  They focused not on the priests as a link to the divine, but on the acts of loving-kindness that each of us can do to make the world better for all. Torah, Prayer, and Good Deeds became the Jewish spiritual path.

In the rabbinic commentary Avot de-Rabbi Natan, it is reported that the great Rabbi Yochanan be Zakkai told his students not to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy Temple.  He said to his students ‘Do not grieve. We have a means of atonement that is equal to sacrifice. It is the doing of kind deeds. For God teaches us, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifices…’ (Hosea 6:6)

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

A Pause in the Brushwork

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

March 9-10, 2018 / 23 Adar 5778

Shabbat Vayak’hel-Pikudei/Parah

Torah: Exodus 35:1 - 40:38

Maftir: Numbers 19:1 - 19:22 | Shabbat Parah

Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16 - 36:38 | Shabbat Parah

“A Pause in the Brushwork”

Dear Friends,

What is the true purpose of Shabbat?  Of course there are many answers.  The Torah tells us to rest because God rested on the Shabbat.  The Torah also tells us to observe Shabbat as a reminder of God’s bringing us out of Egypt.  Put both reasons together and a third reason emerges.  We keep Shabbat because we are free.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism, offers another explanation for observing the Shabbat which relates to God’s resting after the six days of creation.  Kaplan writes:

“An artist cannot be continually wielding his brush. He must stop at times in his painting to freshen his vision of the object, the meaning of which he wishes to express on his canvas. Living is also an art.... The Sabbath represents those moments when we pause in our brushwork to renew our vision of the object. Having done so we take ourselves to our painting with clarified vision and renewed energy.” Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, 1937, p.59)

As we create our lives from day to day, we need time to pause, evaluate, consider, adjust, energize, and continue on our life journey.  Shabbat gives us those moments of reflection and renewal to improve our lives and live to the fullest.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow