Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future THE BENJAMIN AND ROSE BERGER TORAH TO-GO® Established by Rabbi Hyman and Ann Arbesfeld April 2016 • Pesach-Yom Haatzmaut 5776 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons Featuring Divrei Torah from Rabbi Benjamin Blech • Rabbi Reuven Brand Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman • Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider Rabbi Yona Reiss • Mrs. Shoshana Schechter • Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner Ilana Turetsky, Ed.D • Rabbi Daniel Yolkut Insights on the Pesach Seder from the Rabbinic Alumni Committee of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Binyamin Blau • Rabbi Eliezer Muskin • Rabbi Moshe Neiss Rabbi Shmuel Silber • Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler Insights on Yom Haatzmaut from Rabbi Nissim Abrin • Rabbi David Bigman • Mrs. Dina Blank Rabbi Jesse Horn • Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky • Rabbi Moshe Lichtman Rabbi Chaim Pollock • Rabbi Azriel Rosner • Rabbi Ari Shvat 1 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5776 We thank the following synagogues who have pledged to be Pillars of the Torah To-Go® project Congregation Ahavas Congregation Young Israel of Achim Shaarei Tefillah Century City Highland Park, NJ Newton Centre, MA Los Angeles, CA Congregation Ahavath The Jewish Center Young Israel of Torah New York, NY New Hyde Park Englewood, NJ New Hyde Park, NY Young Israel of Beth El in Congregation Beth Boro Park Young Israel of Shalom Brooklyn, NY West Hempstead Rochester, NY West Hempstead, NY Richard M. Joel, President and Bravmann Family University Professor, Yeshiva University Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Vice President for University and Community Life, Yeshiva University Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, David Mitzner Dean, Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Menachem Penner, Max and Marion Grill Dean, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Robert Shur, Series Editor Rabbi Joshua Flug, General Editor Rabbi Michael Dubitsky, Editor Andrea Kahn, Copy Editor Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved by Yeshiva University Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future 500 West 185th Street, Suite 419, New York, NY 10033 • [email protected] • 212.960.0074 This publication contains words of Torah. Please treat it with appropriate respect. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Paul Glasser at 212.960.5852 or [email protected]. 2 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5776 Table of Contents Pesach—Yom Haatzmaut 2016/5776 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons The Seder of the Seder Rabbi Benjamin Blech . .. ..................................................................... Page 6 Defining Mesorah Rabbi Reuven Brand . ................................................................... Page 9 In Time, Out of Time, or Beyond Time? Women and Sefiras HaOmer Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman . ......................................................... Page 14 The Giving Jew: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Yachatz and Hachnasat Orchim Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider . ................................................................. Page 18 Understanding an Unfriendly Minhag: Not Eating Out on Pesach Rabbi Yona Reiss . ............................................................................ Page 22 Freedom To…Not Freedom From: Pesach and the Road to Redemption Mrs. Shoshana Schechter . ................................................................. Page 27 When Iyov Left Egypt Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner . ................................................................. Page 31 How do We Transmit Emunah? Maximizing the Pesach Seder Ilana Turetsky, Ed.D. ................................................................. Page 34 The Original Birthright: Seder Night in Jerusalem Rabbi Daniel Yolkut . ................................................................. Page 39 Insights to the Pesach Seder From the Rabbinic Alumni Committee of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary . Page 41 Yom Haatzmaut: An Introduction Mrs. Stephanie Strauss . ................................................................. Page 47 Eretz Yisroel: The Prism of God Rabbi Nissim Abrin . ................................................................. Page 48 The Meaning of the Establishment of the State of Israel Rabbi David Bigman . ................................................................. Page 50 3 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5776 Yom Ha’atzmaut: Heeding the Call Mrs. Dina Blank . ................................................................. Page 52 Eretz Yisrael and the First 61 Chapters of the Torah Rabbi Jesse Horn . ................................................................. Page 54 Kedushat Eretz Yisrael Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky . ................................................................. Page 56 Simchah Shel Mitzvah Rabbi Moshe Lichtman . ................................................................. Page 58 A Torah Approach to Medinat Yisrael Rabbi Chaim Pollock . ................................................................. Page 60 Three Days before Aliyah Rabbi Azriel Rosner . ................................................................. Page 62 What’s So Important About Eretz Yisrael?! Rabbi Ari Shvat . ................................................................. Page 64 4 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5776 Introduction or some families, it is the odors of charred metal mixing with the fresh scents of new plastic Rabbi Yaakov Glasser Fcounter coverings. For others, it is David Mitzner Dean, YU Center for the Jewish Future the neatly piled clothing next to the Rabbi, Young Israel of Passaic-Clifton suitcases being filled to capacity. But for all, the hullabaloo of the night preceding the Pesach seder is broken by the family gathering to fulfill the The answer is that Pesach is about We may all be aware that the search mitzvah of bedikas chametz. Searching more than just celebrating the for chametz will likely produce very for chametz is a process that begins redemption of the Jewish people. limited unanticipated results. Yet long before we begin negotiating Recalling the narrative of our Exodus there is inherent and deep value to the who will hold the candle, feather, from Egypt is an obligation that is experience of “searching” in general. spoon, and bag for our formal bedikas incumbent upon us every single As we walk through our homes, chametz. Our homes are essentially day. The distinguishing dynamic and through our lives, we begin to chametz-free when we commence this of the Pesach seder is that we care appreciate where the exile has taken sacred obligation, and the chametz about more than just the outcome hold, and left our lives incomplete, not located can be rendered ownerless of redemption — we care about the where our “questions” have been left by the process of bitul (nullification). process that anticipates it as well. On unanswered by G-d’s hidden presence, Moreover, our custom (see Rama, the seder night, we are obligated to and how redemption would bring OC 432:2) is to distribute 10 pieces evoke the curiosity of our children seder, order, to our personal, familial, of bread throughout the house in and each other. Beyond providing and national lives. order to ensure that the effort results essays and answers that depict We are living in a generation of deep in some form of productive outcome. the miraculous journey of yetzias confusion. On the one hand, our How are we to understand this , we are also seeking to Mitzrayim home is so well prepared for Pesach, entire experience? On the one hand, inspire the Jewish people to aspire and our world so primed for redemption. searching for chametz is one of the reach for the world of redemption as We enjoy countless synagogues, most central elements of preparing well. Indeed, to question and to search schools, outreach organizations, and for Pesach, yet the mitzvah of bedikas is part of the journey of redemption a homeland to which we can return. chametz — as is practiced today in as well. We engage in many rituals On the other hand, redemption seems homes that are already free of chametz that solicit the questioning of the next so elusive as uncertainty and terror — seems to be a manufactured ritual generation because redemption must grip so many nations, including our that is devoid of any true purpose, be built upon a foundation of desire precious State of Israel. It is our role with an artificial outcome. and aspiration. to continue to aspire, to continue to question, to continue to search, until we discover the ultimate redemption We may all be aware that the search for chametz and can once again celebrate Pesach will likely produce very limited unanticipated together in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. results. Yet there is inherent and deep value to the experience of “searching” in general. 5 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5776 The Seder of the Seder he word seder means order — and yet the order of the seder Tseems very strange. Rabbi Benjamin Blech The ritual of Passover night is divided Faculty, IBC Jewish Studies Program, into three distinct parts. The first is Yeshiva University comprised of all the readings from the Haggadah until the section known as shulchan orech, the prepared table. At this point we pause to eat our meaningful than an intermission