– CHOL HAMOED PESACH 2013 By Dr. Bill Cass

Cantor Rosen asked me to accept the daunting challenge of delivering the sermon today – Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach. There is no shortage of topics to choose from pertaining to this day and the concurrence of Pesach and Shabbat. Rather, I had to ask myself what might be of interest to the Congregation, or, at this time of being sandwiched between 4 days of Yom Tov in close proximity, can anything be of interest to the Congregation? Precisely because of all this religious togetherness Shabbat Chol Hamoed is a good time to ask yourself a rhetorical question, “Is there such a thing as too much of the Jewish experience?”

What I would like to do in the next few minutes is share with you a journey I took 15 years ago in the year I said Kaddish for my father, Harry Cassz”l. It was a voyage of discovery. I was well into my 6th decade and without question Judaism was very important to me. Like most I picked and chose what customs to follow. I had never lived the orthodox life but shul attendance had always been a regular event from my earliest years. In tracing the Jewish calendar year, however, I learned how much got left out when there is only picking and choosing and as a consequence, how much I had missed. In fact, the reading for this Chol Hamoed Pesach sets the stage for my comments this morning. It contains a reference to the three pilgrimage festivals which are to be observed at three separate points in the year. One of the most famous books ever written was “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne. To paraphrase the title, this morning I am going to take you around the Jewish calendar in 14½ minutes.

My father passed away on March 1, thus around this time of year. My journey began with regular attendance at services twice a day. All of a sudden life had to be planned around service times. I quickly learned how rich this city is with respect to its Jewish fabric. It has designer minyans – give me a time and I’ll tell you where you can find a minyan. Generally no problem for Shacharit and but Mincha can be tough. This often took me into the world of the orthodox and ultraorthodox and it was a revelation to 2 see the difference between those who attend primarily to say Kaddish and those who attend primarily to pray. When it was time to say Kaddish I likened the experience to the On Ramp when getting on to the 401. There was no slowing down. You looked for your opening and gunned it as hard as you could. It took several months to have the facility to recite the Kaddish that fast.

The second revelation on my journey was Shabbat. I had never before attended the other Shabbat services – Kabbalat Shabbat and Mincha/Maariv Shabbat afternoon - on a regular basis. To me these services are the most beautiful in the Jewish . Each has a special feeling that envelops you with a sense of peace and quiet. These are smaller services, generally with a small attendance. The music of Kabbalat Shabbat is joyful and inspiring – a perfect way to create separateness and usher in a day of rest. The Shabbat afternoon service is noted for the Seudah Shelishit – a time for fellowship and later the Havdalah service – simple, elegant and a gentle way to get you back to the day-to-day reality of the coming week.

The first major holiday I encountered on my journey was Pesach. Seders were not new to me but I had to smile when I became the perpetrator of what had consistently been a childhood annoyance. The Cass family seders were always at my grandparents’ house on Huron Street. How hungry I was waiting for that first taste of matzah and how long we had to wait until my grandfather finally came home from shul. I was sure he had the only key and had to wait until everyone left before he could lock up. Now, my family had to wait for me to come home from shul and history had come full circle. Starting the second day of Pesach I began counting the Omer for the first time in my life. What I particularly liked about it were the little drashas given between Mincha and Maariv during this time, outlining some of the laws pertaining to this obligation. There is a vast body of knowledge to learn about this one custom alone.

3 Pesach was my first Chol Hamoed experience. I thought Chol Hamoed was just a Hebrew phrase signifying “Not Yom Tov” or the days of the holiday between the Yom Tovs. There’s so much more to it than that. “Chol” refers to weekday as opposed to Shabbat and therefore is used to mean secular or non-holy. “” refers to occasion or festival. It is a time when some work is permitted but there are still some restrictions because of the festival. The food customs of the festival are continued. The weekday minyans were a strange sight. Each morning service included , a and . I was bewildered with what to do about and brought them along in case they were needed. In fact there’s a full spectrum of practices relating to tefillin during Chol Hamoed. Some congregations do not use them and some do. For those who use tefillin some say the blessings when putting them on and some do not. Also, for congregations where tefillin are worn they are removed before the Hallel service except on the 3rd day when the Torah reading focuses on tefillin. The tefillin are then removed after the Torah service before the start of Mussaf. A mourner, in the year of Kaddish, does not lead the service as a Shaliach Tzibur during Chol Hamoed because it is considered a festive time.

As you have seen this morning, there is a special Torah portion, Maftir and Haftorah for Shabbat Chol Hamoed. The Haftorah is from the Book of Ezekiel and concerns the valley of dry bones. It speaks to the promise of resurrection – not a small topic to be associated with this day. In many congregations it is traditional to recite “Shir Ha Shirim” or ‘” on Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach. One could talk for hours about this. It is supremely beautiful and evocative and firmly puts to rest the argument that there is nothing sexy about our Tanach.

Shortly after Pesach Taffy and I had made plans to travel to Vancouver to join friends and travel to the west coast of Vancouver Island. As a result of careful planning, on the day we flew to Vancouver we arrived about one hour before Mincha. There was just enough

4 time to retrieve our luggage, get a rental car and drive to the orthodox shul, Shaarei Tzedec, for Mincha. This was our own version of “Around the World in 80 Days” or what is known nowadays as, “The Amazing Race.”

As winter gave way to spring and the days of spring became warmer the count of the Omer progressed. When finally arrived there was a satisfied sense of completion and Tikun Leyl Shavuot or staying up all night to study in anticipation of receiving the Torah had brand new meaning. This is what the count was all about.

After Shavuot it was a steady run for a couple of months until the beginning of . From the 2nd to the 28th days of Elul the shofar is sounded at the end of each morning service, except Shabbat, to serve notice that the New Year is coming. It is meant to be a wake-up call to repent before the arrival of Rosh Hashana. The shofar is not sounded the day before Rosh Hashana to distinguish the rabbinic directive to blow it during Elul and the biblical directive to blow it at Rosh Hashana. This sets up the feeling of awe which takes a giant stride forward with the recitation of Selichot. These are special prayers of forgiveness which are generally first recited the night following the end of the Shabbat immediately before Rosh Hashana. If Rosh Hashana falls on a Monday or Tuesday then Selichot begins the night following the 2nd Shabbat before Rosh Hashana. I have to admit that I only ever associated Selichot with the Motzei Shabbat or Saturday night service. Despite the religiously important reasons for having Selichot, in my year of Kaddish they became an extra burden to bear. After the first recitation at a special night service the Selichot prayers were said before the Shacharit service each weekday morning. They take about 45 minutes and added a huge factor to contend with, both in getting up that much earlier and finishing that much later when office and hospital duties beckoned.

5 After the High Holidays came . Given that I was attending services daily I became the proud possessor of a and for the first time in my life. I must admit that when using them I felt like a rank amateur in the first, awkward attempts at learning any new skill. One of the rewards of the year was the amount of learning that I was privileged to have. Just as the drashas in the spring taught me about the Omer, so the drashas during Succot taught me about the lulav and etrog.

Shortly after Succot I ran into a big problem – Daylight Saving Time reverted to Standard Time and the clocks were turned back an hour. As a result, Mincha was an hour earlier. With a downtown office and hospital, getting uptown quickly in rush hour would prove an almost impossible task. As you know, starting from which is considered part of Succot, we add “Mashiv haruach...” to the recitation of the . It follows that there is a close relationship between turning back the clocks and starting to say, “Mashiv haruach...” The answer to my prayers, or perhaps more to the point the answer that enabled me to offer my prayers, was the Minsker shul in Kensington. As I found out I was not the only one saying Kaddish who needed a convenient minyan for Mincha. There was a welcome bump in attendance in the afternoon service and that service was known as the “Mashiv haruach” minyan.

If we stop for a moment to get oriented on this journey through the Jewish calendar, we see that we’re pretty well through the month of and about to start . This month is often referred to as “Mar Cheshvan or “bitter” Cheshvan and I was curious to know why. The answer, apparently, is that it is the one month in the Jewish year without anything special happening in it.

Following Sukkot it was a pretty straight run to Chanukkah. Without question this is a holiday of joy but it brought its own complexities to my Jewish experience. It is not a biblical holiday and therefore not a Yom Tov with restrictions as per the other religious 6 holy days. There is, however, a daily Torah reading in the morning service. The passages are from “Naso” and describe the offering or gifts to be given by each prince, on his appointed day, to honour the dedication of the Temple. During the year I had been introduced many times to the differences between Beyt Hillel and Beyt Shamai. With respect to Chanukkah they argued and differed about the order for putting the candles in the menorah and then the order of lighting them. Beyt Shamai argued to start with eight candles the first day and then diminish the count by 1 each day. Beyt Hillel argued to start with 1 candle and add another each day. As with most of the arguments Beyt Hillel had the prevailing opinion – the candles are added right to left and lit left to right.

After Chanukkah we’re within sight of the end of this journey, but before we get there I want to share some of the reflections I had when I took it for the first time: 1) Judaism has an order of increasing importance for its special days. This is reflected in the number of aliyot to be assigned for the Torah service on those days: 3 – Mondays, Thursdays, Mincha for Shabbat and , Chanukkah, and fast days 4 – , Chol Hamoed 5 – and the Yom Tov days of the Shelosh Regalim (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot) 6 – Yom Kippur 7 – Shabbat

2) The Jewish experience was infinitely more complex than I ever could have imagined. It was special to gain insight into that experience and to a small extent be a participant in it. I could see how much easier it would have been in the shtetl when you could walk out one door and in another to pray 3 times a day.

7 3) Despite the wonder of my experiences there was no question in my mind of living the orthodox life. On the other hand having learned so much more about the day to day customs and the customs of the special days and times in our calendar, I approach them with a much deeper understanding and appreciate them that much more.

4) I made some wonderful new friends during the year. Part of the Jewish experience everywhere is that regular attendance at a service is an instant ticket to new friends and acquaintances.

5) My father would have been happy that I made this journey.

6) In today’s Torah portion, Moses pleads with G-D that G-D should show him G-D’s ways. G-D has said to Moses that he (Moses) is to lead the people, Israel, up to the promised land and G-D will be with him. In asking to know G-D’s ways Moses wants to have some identification for G-D, more than just G-D’s word, so that he will know G-D is with him. In our day to day life we would like to know the same thing. While it is not for us to have the same relationship with G-D that Moses had, the Jewish experience as defined by our calendar brings awe and wonder and enables us to be one step closer to G-D.

7) Some might say, “Tzis shver zu zein a Yid”. Maybe so. But the rewards are surely worth it.

שׁבּת שׁלוֹם