4 RAYMOND ST. NASHUA, N.H. 03064-2317 NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID Nashua, N. H. Permit No.788 April 2017 – Vol. 43, No. 07 • telephone: 603-883-8184 • e-mail: [email protected] • www.tbanashua.org Passover (Pesach) Begins On Monday April 10 Community Seder Is On Tuesday April 11 See Inside For Passover Service Times, Matzah Brei Brunch, Chametz Contract, Seder Match And Passover Kashrut Guide April 2017 Vol. 43 No. 07 Temple Beth Abraham Nisan / Iyyar 5777 Seder: You Know More Than You Realize! Feeling at home Think about it: Across even our through a study book composed with Jewish ritual. relatively small Jewish community in by the sages of nearly two thousand Having access to New Hampshire, there are probably years ago, with commentaries woven studying Torah and a few hundred Seders in people’s in over the centuries. Perhaps as the other Jewish texts. homes. They are led by people who leader you explain some things, or an- Finding joy through know a lot of Hebrew, some Hebrew, swer questions, or get people talking. the rhythms of Jew- Rabbi Spira-Savett or none at all. They are led by people Congratulations – you’re like a rabbi! ish life. Being capable and empowered who are comfortable at Shabbat And so many other things go into as a Jew who can bring our teachings services, or who are not. They are a Seder. Traditional foods, includ- and traditions to bear on life today. led by people with all different kinds ing ones prescribed by ritual and This is what Jewish leaders and of theological beliefs. law. Leading a service. Engaging a educators are after in our work. None – well, maybe a dozen or two tradition – reading the Haggadah, Maybe you think that the previ- at the most – come to rabbis to get deciding how to edit it, adding a ous paragraph describes only a trained in how to lead a Seder. Maybe twist. An intergenerational gather- small number of Jews, and maybe it’s a tradition you watched someone ing. Recitations and songs in the you don’t number yourself among else carry out and you’ve picked up. Hebrew language. them. But I bet you are, or you’re Perhaps last year or this year, you just And of course, at the core, a world- closer than you think. If you can decided to jump in, buy some Hag- changing story with a message about put on a Passover Seder, as a leader gadot, and start. Jewish history and purpose, human or host, then you are there, or well Without any special training, think freedom, dignity, possibility, and hope. on the way. of what you do! You guide people (Continued on the following page …) One Enormous Cookout Back in the day, Lord thy God giveth thee; but at the could perform the sacrifice and have when the month of place which the Lord thy God shall the feast. “And thou shalt roast and Nissan (Aviv) rolled choose to cause His name to dwell eat it in the place which the Lord around it was time in (i.e. the Temple in Jerusalem), thy God shall choose; and thou shalt for the great cook- there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover turn in the morning, and go unto out in Jerusalem. As offering at even, at the going down thy tents.” Eat up everyone. Nothing President it is said, Leviticus Michael Harris of the sun.” should remain. “And there shall be 23:5, “In the first So, is it quite clear? On the tenth no leaven seen with thee in all thy month, on the fourteenth day of the day of the month you should go borders seven days; neither shall any month at dusk, is the Lord’s Passover. out and choose your unblemished of the flesh, which thou sacrificest And on the fifteenth day of the same sacrificial lamb, gather your cookout the first day at even, remain all night month is the feast of unleavened supplies and your clan and trek on until morning.” bread unto the Lord; seven days ye up to Jerusalem. Back in the day, you Okay now, imagine the scene. We shall eat unleavened bread.” see, it might take us two or three days have all trekked on up to Jerusalem, This was a communal cookout. from our town or village to make our three or four days, us, our neighbors You couldn’t do it at home the way way up to Jerusalem. When we got people from the next town over, the we do it today. No, as it says in there, we had to set up tent and get town after that and so on from all Deuteronomy 16:5, “Thou mayest ready for the great cookout so that over the land. Animals everywhere, not sacrifice the Passover offering when came the setting of the sun on doing what they do. Children run- within any of thy gates, which the the fourteenth day of the month we (Continued on the following page …) 3 Seder: continued… You have the capacity to pull this This year as always, I hope you find I’m of course happy to teach you off. There’s what you know and have something profound in our annual more, about Pesach and about the learned and absorbed; there’s the gathering to examine and reenact the Seder. But I hope you will see at your Haggadah; and there are all kinds Exodus. Our world is always in need own Seder that you are already the of resources in people and online. of the transformations that no one Jew who is poised to carry all facets And what you create, as the Seder before had ever thought possible. of our tradition, to lead others, and host or leader, is far more layered The Exodus reminds us that any to make Judaism sing in old ways and than if you just said, “Hey, come on people, no matter how degraded new ones in our world. Not just on over for dinner and let’s talk about or disregarded, can become indis- Passover, not just at your table, but human freedom.” pensable. That the most frozen and throughout the year and everywhere The Seder is a microcosm of Ju- oppressive reality can be shattered Jews gather and learn and act. daism. If you can host or lead a by hope and faith and action. That A zissen Pesach – Have a sweet Seder, you have all the ingredients we as Jews have a special role as the Pesach, for being a modern Jew who draws people who brought this story into Rabbi Jon from our rich tradition and takes the world, and hold ourselves and on the challenge and responsibility others to living by its implications. of making it speak to your life and our world today. One Enormous Cookout continued… ning around and playing. Teenagers a count of the number of sacrifices. stroyed. We no longer go up to meeting friends from other towns. The historian, whom we call Jose- Jerusalem for the Pesah sacrifice. We -go to the shop. We no longer get to בן מתתיהו Big excitement. Our tents all set up, phus but whose name was Yosef ben Matityahu, actually gether in our tents like a huge tailgate, יוסף the preparation of the festive foods commences. We sacrifice our lamb, recorded the count of the number party on the hills of Jerusalem. We roast it and have a great feast. Us, of sacrifices as 256,500, which, at have adopted the Greek custom. We our neighbors and people from all ten people per sacrifice would mean have a Passover Seder in our homes, over – some we know and some one enormous cookout. E. P. Sand- we have the Haggadah. We tell the from distant parts. ers in ‘Judaism: Practice and Belief story. We sing and drink wine. We It was forbidden to perform this 63 BCE - 66 CE’ (p. 126) contends have intellectual discussions. Some sacrifice and feast alone. It is said that the Josephus number is exagger- say we no longer do animal sacrifices that at least ten people, but often ated. Using various means, Sanders (because those were only done in the more, would participate in the feast estimates the actual number of at- Temple), but somehow the animals for one sacrificial animal. But how tendees to be 300,000 to 500,000. are still killed, we still roast them big was this giant communal cook- Even if Josephus is off by a factor and have a feast. out. In the time of the Romans, the of five or ten as Sanders thinks, it But back in the day, what a cookout! emperor Nero asked for a census. is still an enormous cookout. All these people come to Jerusalem, all May you have a happy and a kosher Now, since it was a commandment Pesah. for everyone to go up to Jerusalem, these tents. Roman soldiers milling חג שמח וכשר .it was thought that a way to estimate about. Quite some event שלום וברכה -the population would be to perform Of course, the Temple was de Michael Harris 4 Services and Community Passover Service Schedule BULLETIN PUBLISHED MONTHLY April Service Monday, April 10 ELEVEN TIMES A YEAR VOL. 43, NO. 07 Schedule Siyyum for First Born 7:30 AM BY TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM Services are held every Friday Tuesday, April 11 4 RAYMOND STREET NASHUA, NH 03064-2317 evening at 8:00 PM (unless otherwise 9:30 AM noted), Saturday at 9:30 AM and (603) 883-8184 Wednesday, April 12 FAX (603) 594-8983 Monday –Thursday at 7:30 PM.