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Reflections on a Complicated Pesach by Rabbi Joel Seltzer

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Reflections on a Complicated Pesach by Rabbi Joel Seltzer 1 March 31, 2020 6 Nisan 5780 In a typical year, perhaps our only source of anxiety would be related to cleaning and shopping for Passover. But this is not a typical year. In fact, for many of us, this may indeed be the first time in our lives where our typical observance of Pesach feels truly interrupted. Instead of seemingly-perennial questions like: “Who’s hosting seder second night?” We are now asking: “How are we going to teach Sabba and Savta how to use Zoom?” And, of course, more worrisome questions also trouble us these days. Yet the observance of the Seder ritual during Pesach remains the single-most observed Jewish ritual in the world, and it is important to take note of the countless seders in our collective past which were held in solitude, in fear, and from within the depths. This year let us focus on gratitude as well. Gratitude for our health, something we always say, but now we truly mean. Gratitude for the incredible advancement of technology which allows us to connect to so many, so deeply, despite our solitude and isolation. Gratitude for the doctors and nurses who will not attend our Seders this year because they will be at work; or in isolation; or those that do attend our Seders, but who bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. No this is not a typical year; and this is not a typical Seder supplement. Not surprisingly, with our recent turn to delivering meaningful online content, and with people’s minds being otherwise preoccupied, we don’t have our usual abundance of new material for your Seders. But we are proud to offer you some interesting ideas for this year, as well as all of our past Seder supplements which we hope will bring joy, meaning, laughter, and memories of camp to your Seder table this year. With the Deepest Wishes for a Redemptive and Healthy Pesach Season, Rabbi Joel Seltzer Executive Director, Camp Ramah in the Poconos 2 Compared to What? Reflections on a Complicated Pesach By Rabbi Joel Seltzer Years ago I purchased a book called: She’lot u’Teshuvot Me’ma’amakim - Responsa from the Holocaust by Rabbi Ephraim Oshry z”l. Rabbi Oshry (1914-2003) was a Lithuanian Rabbi who was most famous for being a Halachik Posek, one who answers questions of practical Halakhah, in the Kovno Ghetto during the years of the Holocaust. This tragic collection of his work is both maddening and inspiring. On the one hand, in times of unspeakable oppression - why would one be concerned with minute issues of Jewish Law? On the other hand, in times of unspeakable oppression - the Jewish people have always turned to even the most minute issues of Jewish Law as a source of support, strength, and resilience. Earlier in the year, a Holocaust survivor spoke to a group of students at Kellman Brown Academy about his family’s experience surviving underground. Later in life, after liberation, when times were tough - real hardship, real challenges, real grief - nonetheless he would always remind his family an important lesson in two simple words: “Compared to What?” Below is an excerpt from this powerful book on the topic of Passover in the Kovno Ghetto. It is important for us to reconnect occasionally with difficult struggles of our past. As you read at your Seder, ask yourselves: In what way is this similar to the Story of the Exodus? In what way does this inspire you? In what ways does it make you sad? Is there anything it can teach us about our own worrisome time? Eating Soaked Matzah to Fulfill the Passover Mitzvah Question: In the winter of 5702 (1942), several months before Passover, many of the Jews in the Kovno Ghetto began to try to figure out ways to fulfill the mitzvah of eating 3 matzah on Pesach. At that time even the most basic foods were not available in the ghetto, let alone white flour from which matzah is normally baked. Precisely because of this plight, people made every effort not to be ensnared by depression or apathy but to retain their spirits and their psychological strength, hoping that the evil forces would ultimately be destroyed and the prisoners set free. Toward this end, I organized a small secret group of men who undertook to find ways and means of obtaining flour so that they could bake matzot and fulfill, at the very least, the mitzvah of eating an olive-sized piece of matzah on Passover Eve. One member of the group was Moshe Goldkorn—may G-d avenge him—a Polish Jew who had escaped the German murderers and found his way to Lithuania, only to be cast into the Kovno Ghetto along with us. This man labored in the Jordan Brigade and came into contact with Lithuanians with whom he could barter for flour. The flour was hidden in a secret place guarded very carefully so that no harm would come to it. Bit by bit, Goldkorn smuggled in enough flour to bake matzot for nearly 100 Jews, each of whom would receive one olive-sized piece of matzah. Two days before Passover, Goldkorn was returning from his labor in the evening. He was stopped by German police and searched. A small bag of flour was found on his person. When the Germans realized that a Jew, despite their strict orders to bring no food into the ghetto, had dared violate their edict, they beat him violently and viciously all along his entire body, but the worst of it was that they broke all of his teeth. Afterward, Goldkorn came to me with a very serious problem. As he spoke, he broke into tears. “With my broken teeth, how can I fulfill the mitzvah of eating an olive-sized piece of matzah? Since I come from a chassidic family, whose custom is never to eat matzah that is soaked (gebrochs) on Pesach, how can I break that custom now? Is there any way for me to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah?” Response from Rabbi Oshry: The tradition of not soaking matzah is a stringency. Halacha does not forbid soaking matzah. I allowed the questioner to soak the matzah in water even though he was descended from Chassidim whose custom was not to eat soaked matzah on Pesach—because he had no other way of fulfilling the mitzvah, a mitzvah for which he had risked his life. I did however instruct him to obtain permission from a beit din of three people which would annul the implicit vow of the tradition of his forbears that he had upheld all his life not to eat soaked matzah on Pesach. After we set up a beit din which annulled his “vow,” he proceeded to fulfill the mitzvah of eating an olive’s bulk of matzah together with all the others who, thanks to him, fulfilled this mitzvah. Although his whole body was aching from the beating the Nazis had inflicted upon him, there was no end to his joy and his thanks to G-d for granting him the privilege of eating matzah despite his wounds and his broken teeth. 4 A New Seder to the Seder Given our Current Situation - Perhaps we should make some adjustments to the Order of our Seder Ritual this year. Submitted by Rabbi Joel Seltzer 5 Charoset Buffet By Staci Boiskin Here is a fun activity to do right before your Seder! Invite your guests to participate in making their own “charoset concoctions.” Have a small buffet table set aside with bowls filled with raisins, chopped apples, apricots, prunes, dates, figs, walnuts, almonds, bananas, parev chocolate chips, carob chips, honey, grape juice, wine, shredded coconut, sesame seeds, stewed fruits, ground ginger, etc. Also, have small bowls for every guest to use (plastic bowls are easy to use, especially for kids). People will love to make more than one concoction, so have lots of bowls ready! Have a few recipe cards set up on the buffet so people can put together some traditional recipes, but they can also create their own tasty concoctions and try new things. Some recipes: BASIC CHAROSET ISRAELI CHAROSET GREEK CHAROSET • Chopped apples • Chopped dates • Black raisins • Chopped walnuts • Mashed bananas • Chopped apples • Red wine • Chopped apples • Chopped walnuts • Cinnamon • Chopped almonds • Orange juice • Red wine • Cinnamon • Honey Enjoy, have fun and be creative. Chag Sameach! 6 Rama-kkot: 10 Camp Plagues By Rabbi Eric Yanoff Rabbi Eric Yanoff, Seder 5780 !The Eser Rama-kkot – The Ten Camp Plagues - עשר ה-רמה-כות A Fun-Filled Laugh-at-How-We-Love-Camp-With-All-its-Sometimes-Gross-Stuff Seder Game Note: Best played by taking drops of DominAid ™ Bug Juice or Kedem Shabbat Juice out of a Playing-Card-Paper Cup… PLAGUE TRADITIONAL RAMAH-KKOT – But here’s how it all works out… UNDERSTANDING Camp Version of the Plague! Camp can solve anything! dam) Nil Wat Turn Blood ho weird t bubbl They’r really n ’ just r. Let t ttle… and) דם 1 (undrinkabl er) water ut f h faucet? settle wn. tz’farde’a) Frogs “ orning when You vernight at g and i n u You arriv ba to tzrif, aking – but wi) צפרדע 2 Ph awoke i …”) from sudd torm. great story o ell veryone l xt morning kinim) Lice Really? ‘Nu d Lon ines or head-chec righ o bus… Lice) כינים 3 No creativity ere. Lifters M… load er… and e’ fine. arov) Uncl tually; om say ild Those on he owe eld Hold ou d ver ou d hey go o he) ערוב 4 beast othe y oying highest in st: old p you softball-gloved- insects hand o t, ‘cau ’ higher try to catch he l oo! dever) Cattle isease not enough ws) Ribs and ings nigh shortag h o! lil’ Notzitzim ’ nish thei late Befriend) דבר 5 tzimchoni (vegetarian).
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