The 4 Questions is more than just a child song #Passover2026#devartorah#haggadah

 I am blessed with young grandchildren. I kvell when each one excitedly shows how much he or she has learned by reciting individually and as a group The 4 Questions, the Ma Nishtana. I’m so proud of them as they have begun their Jewish education journey.

Rabbi Daniel Kohn in his book The Way In: Essays On How The Seder Shapes The Soul teaches The 4 Questions is more than just a child song.

“Almost any child, when asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ will answer with a dream of impact: ‘I want to be a firefighter, a scientist, a teacher.’ From an early age, we yearn to make a difference, to matter, to shape the world. That longing is the seed of meaning within the human soul.

“True freedom is not doing whatever we wish; it is knowing that what we do counts-that our choices shape the world and bring new realities into being. Not all choices are equal. Some align with truth, love, and holiness; others diminish life. Cheirut is the freedom to choose what is real and worthy, the freedom to act as a partner in creation.

“Tonight is different. And in noticing the difference, we recognize that life itself is not static. We are not prisoners of circumstance; we are participants in shaping the world’s unfolding story. Just as the year returns and brings new possibilities, just as the Exodus story renews itself with every retelling, so too can we.

“Ma Nishtana is more than a child song. It is the return of the child dream to matter-the awakening of the soul to its own power to choose, to change, and to create meaning in the light of freedom.” (page 37)

Passover calls us to become the people we truly aspire to be. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are only six months away. Avoid the High Holiday rush by awakening your soul now to its own power to choose, to change, and by making a positive difference in your small corner of the world. If together we succeed choosing to align our lives with truth, love, and holiness, our final redemption will be right around the corner.

Why don’t you recite the blessing shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ) the first time you don tefillin? TB Menakhot 75

Today’s daf TB Menakhot 75 explains when we say the blessing before we observe a mitzvah for the first time and when we don’t. “Rav Yosef said: From where do I say this halakha? (If a cooked dish contains pieces of bread there the size of an olive-bulk  like challah kugel and matza brei one recites the blessing hamotzi. Otherwise if the cooked dish contains less than an olive-bulk pieces of bread, one recites the blessing borai menai mezanot, בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי מְזוֹנוֹת.-gg)  “As it is taught in a baraita: The first time an Israelite would stand and instruct a priest to sacrifice meal offerings in Jerusalem on his behalf, he would recite: (shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ) Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has given us life and sustained us and brought us to this time, as it is the first time that the Israelite fulfills the mitzva of bringing that offering. Following the removal of the handful, when the priest would take the meal offerings in order to eat them, he would first recite the blessing of: Who brings forth bread from the earth. And we learned in the mishna: And in all meal offerings that are broken into pieces, the priest breaks them into pieces the size of an olive-bulk. This proves that over pieces of bread that are the volume of an olive-bulk, one recites the blessing of: Who brings forth bread from the earth.” (Sefaria.com translation)

Why should one recite the blessing shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ) when offering the minkha for the first time, but not the first time the child dons teffilin? Both are mitzvot!

Note 23 concerning this passage on our daf in the Schotenstein explains the difference.

“(The blessing of shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ) is a prayer of thanksgiving to God for having brought one to a particular occasion, such as the performance of a mitzvah that comes at a certain time.) The Baraita teaches that it is recited by a Kohen when he offers a minkha-provided that he has not yet brought a minkha that year…

“Tosafot explain that the Kohanim were divided into mishmarot that served in the Temple one week at a time on a rotating basis. The number of mishmarot was 24, allowing for the rotation to begin anew twice a year. Every mishmar was divided into batei av (a family), each of which served for one day of the week. An individual Kohen would serve as a member of his beit av only one day and every six months. When a Kohen offered a minkha or animal offering for his first time on the day assigned to his beit av, he will recite the shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ), as one does before performing a mitzvah that is limited to a particular date, e.g. shofar and lulav.”

The donning of tefillin isn’t limited to a particular date; consequently, the first time somebody puts on tefillin s/he doesn’t recite the blessing shehekhiyanu (שֶהֶחֱיָינוּ) Any day except Shabbat and holidays is always a good day to don tefillin!

Elijah’s most important job #Shabbathagadol#devartorah#haftorah

There are many traditional reasons why the Sabbath before Passover is called Shabbat Hagadol, the Great Sabbath. I think it’s great because we’re heading into the final countdown to Pesach. Although I dread how much more cleaning we have to do before the holiday, I look forward to the Seders when my children and grandchildren will be around the table. I can’t wait.

There is an Elijah connection between Shabbat Hagadol and the Passover Seder. Elijah is mentioned in this week’s haftorah and near the end of the Seder we open up the door to invite Elisha into her home.

“Reb Shlomo (Carlebach) would teach that Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah the prophet, delights in bringing children and parents together. As it says in the book of the prophets (which we read this Shabbat as the haftarah) "Behold I send you Elijah the prophet... He shall restore the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents." (Malaci 3:24)

“Rabbi Shlomo taught that the Seder night is all about bringing parents and children closer to one another. So at the end of the Seder, Elijah the prophet knocks on the door to say that before the Messiah comes, he needs to do the work of bringing parents and children closer to one another. We hope and pray that when Elijah visits our home he will say, ‘I am happy to see that I will not need to make another stop here before the coming of the Messiah... Because here I see that you have come so close to one another.’" A Night that Unites Haggadah Page 224-225

I hope that your family Seder will be filled with love and harmony that when Elijah enters your home he will see parents and children’s hearts turn towards each other and thus we shall merit our final redemption on your account.

 

TB Menakhot 72b-73 Why there are two versions of Rashi’s commentary

Yesterday we finished the sixth chapter of our massekhet. It went off topic because it discussed the laws of the ’omer that was offered up on the second day of Passover and the two loaves of Shavuot. Today with dappim TB Menakhot 72b-73 we returned to the discussion about typical menakhot. The Mishnah on daf 72b begins “And these are the meal offerings from which a handful is removed and the remainder of the offering is eaten by the priests: The meal offering of fine flour; and the meal offering prepared in a pan; and the meal offering prepared in a deep pan; and the meal offering baked in an oven that is brought entirely of loaves; and the meal offering baked in an oven that is brought entirely of wafers; the meal offering of gentiles; and the meal offering of women; and the omer meal offering, i.e., the measure of barley brought as a communal offering on the sixteenth of Nisan; and the meal offering of a sinner; and the meal offering of jealousy, brought by a sota.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Vilna edition of our massekhet contains two versions of Rashi’s commentary. The Schottenstein daf yomi edition explains why:

“The Vilna edition of our tractate contains two commentaries called “Rashi” for chapter 7-10. The first is the commentary that was attributed to Rashi in the earliest printed editions of the Talmud, beginning with Venice 5282. The other is a manuscript version taken from the margin of the Gemara of R’ Bezalel Ashkenazi, the compiler of the Shitah Mekibetzes, who recorded it in his own hand, and who asserted that it and not the printed version is the authentic commentary of Rashi. Indeed, the quotations of Rashi that are cited by Totafos to these chapters are from the manuscript version. There is no manuscript version for the other chapters, and R’ Bezalel Ashkenazi (in at note printed in Shitah Mekibetzes at the beginning of chapter 11) concedes that the printed commentary for those chapters is indeed that of Rashi.

“As to the original ‘Rashi’ commentary to chapter 7-10, R’ Ezra Altschuler, in the introduction to his Takanas Ezra and tractate Me’ilah, cites reasons to believe that it was authored by Rebbeinu Gershom. Similarly, Dikdukai Sofrim notes that this commentary is strikingly similar to that of Rebbeinu Gershom to our tractate, and would seem to have been called from his commentary. The recently published Dikdukai Sofrim to Chullin states that the original ‘Rashi’  was to chapter 7-10 was actually authored by Rebbeinu Elyakim who was a student of the disciples of Rebbeinu Gershom and a contemporary of Rashi. [Rebbeinu Elyakim authored a Rashi-style commentary at almost the Talmud, which only the commentary to Tractate Yoma has come down to us.]”

Menakhot 70 The prohibition against kitniyot, legumes, is a mistaken custom

I’m sure we’re all preparing for Passover by shopping for all the Kosher for Passover foods we need and reviewing the Haggadah to make our Seder interesting and meaningful. Daf TB Menakhot 70 could not have arrived at a more timely moment. I’m sure that many of you know the Ashkenazi prohibition against eating kitniyot, legumes, on Passover. I’m going to show you based on a Teshuva written by Rabbi David Golinkin that this is a mistaken custom; consequently, kitniyot are most definitely permitted during Passover.

 The Mishnah on this daf enumerates five different types of grain that the Gemara will limit the making of matzot to them. “Wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye…The Gemara asks: And there, with regard to matza itself, from where do we derive that it must be from one of those five grains? The Gemara answers: Reish Lakish said, and likewise a Sage of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught, and likewise a Sage of the school of Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov taught, that the verse states: “You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it matza, the bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3). This verse indicates that only with regard to substances that will come to a state of leavening does a person fulfill his obligation to eat matza by eating them on Passover, provided that he prevents them from becoming leavened. This serves to exclude these foods, i.e., rice, millet, and similar grains, which, even if flour is prepared from them and water is added to their flour, do not come to a state of leavening but to a state of decay [sirḥon].”

The Mekhilta deRabbi Yishmael 8:1 teaches the same prohibition and exemption. "Seven days shall you eat matzoth"(Exodus 12:15): I might think that all types of matzoth are understood (i.e., that all grains are permitted as matzoth). It is, therefore, written (Devarim 16:3) "Do not eat chametz upon it; (seven days shall you eat matzoth upon it"). Scripture speaks only of something that can become chametz (i.e., that can turn sour) — wheat, barley, rye, oat, and spelt. This excludes rice, millet, poppyseed, pulse, and sesame, which do not become chametz, but which putrefy.

We have an explicit Gemara where the rabbis ate rice! “The Gemara asks: What are these two cooked foods (in honor of the festival) mentioned in the mishna? Rav Huna said: Beets and rice. The Gemara relates that Rava would seek beets and rice for his meal on Passover night, since this ruling came from Rav Huna’s mouth. Although Rava realized that Rav Huna was merely citing examples and did not mean that one must eat those specific foods, he wanted to fulfill the statement of his teacher precisely. ” (TB Pesakhim 114b)

The prohibition against kitniyot also contradicts the theory and practice of the Amoraim in Babylonia and in Israel, the Geonim and most of the early medieval authorities in all countries (altogether more than 50 Rishonim).

This prohibition isn’t an ancient one in Israel. This custom is mentioned for the first time in France and Provence the beginning of the 13^th century by Rabbi Asher of Lunel, Rabbi Samuel of Falaise, and Rabbi Peretz of Corbeil-from there and spread to various countries and the list of prohibited foods continued to expand. Nevertheless, the reason for the custom was unknown and as a result many sages invented at least 11 different explanations for the custom. So many different explanations means that nobody knows the real reason why kitniyot was originally forbidden. As a result, Rabbi Samuel of Falaise, one of the first to mention it, refer to it as a “mistaken custom” and Rabbi Yrukham called it a “foolish custom.”

Rabbi Golinkin posits a reason why this mistaken custom took root. “It is not the custom to eat kitniyot on a holiday since is written (Deuteronomy 16:14) ‘You shall rejoice in your holiday’ for there is no joy in eating cooked kitniyot” (Rabbi Manuakh, Provence, 1265 ca, his commentary on Rambam, Laws of Hametz and Matza, halakha1) Many Talmudic sources associate the eating of kitniyot as the opposite of rejoicing. Similarly, poor Greeks, Romans, and Arabs also ate kitniyot. It is not surprising why those who forbid the eating of kitniyot on the holiday. Especially kitniyot were served in a house of mourning and on 9^th of Av from the Talmudic times onward as well in the Middle Ages in Germany and Austria. In is logical to infer it eating kitniyot was not an appropriate symbol food on the happy holiday as Passover which has so many food requirements.

Many rabbinic authorities have ruled that it is permitted (and perhaps even obligatory) to do away with this type of “foolish custom” including Maimonides, the Rosh, the Ribash, and many others.

There are many reasons why we should do away with this “foolish custom”. It affects from enjoy the holiday by limiting the number of permitted foods especially those who are gluten intolerant.

 

Teshuva by Rabbi David Golinkin, 5749, published in Responsa of the Va’ad Halacha of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, Volume 3 5748-5749.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TB Menkhot 65ff The counting of the omer at our second Seder

The opening mishnayot of the sixth chapter discusses the omer minkha of barley which permits all the new grain now to be eaten. The ritual is described in great detail to publicize the correct procedure as opposed to the sect of Jews called Boethusians who didn’t accept the oral law. According to the rabbis one begins counting the omer from the second day of Passover with the 50^th day culminating as Shavuot. The Boethusians started the countdown from the first Sunday after the 15^th of Nisan, the first day of Passover.

“(Remember in the land of Israel only the first day of Passover is celebrated as a Yom Tov. The second day would already be Hol Hamoed) How would they perform the rite of the harvest of the omer? Emissaries of the court would emerge on the eve of the festival of Passover and fashion the stalks of barley into sheaves while the stalks were still attached to the ground, so that it would be convenient to reap them. The residents of all the towns adjacent to the site of the harvest would assemble there, so that it would be harvested with great fanfare.

“Once it grew dark, the court emissary says to those assembled: Did the sun set? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: Did the sun set? They again say: Yes. The court emissary next says to those assembled: Shall I reap the sheaves with this sickle? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: With this sickle? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary then says to those assembled: Shall I place the gathered sheaves in this basket? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: In this basket? The assembly says: Yes. “

If the sixteenth of Nisan occurs on Shabbat, the court emissary says to the assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves on this Shabbat? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: On this Shabbat? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary says to those assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him in response: Cut. The emissary repeats: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him: Cut.

“The emissary asks three times with regard to each and every matter, and the assembly says to him: Yes, yes, yes. The mishna asks: Why do I need those involved to publicize each stage of the rite to that extent? The mishna answers: It is due to the Boethusians, as they deny the validity of the Oral Law and would say: There is no harvest of the omer at the conclusion of the first Festival day of Passover unless it occurs at the conclusion of Shabbat. The publicity was to underscore that the sixteenth of Nisan was the proper time for the omer harvest.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We who live in the Diaspora treat the first two days of Passover as Yom Tov; consequently, we have two Seders. At the conclusion of the second Seder, we count the omer with a blessing. Dr. Jon Greenberg’s Haggadah Fruits of Freedom: Ancient Seder Insights from Nature, Food, and Farming provides a very important understanding of this ritual.

“To a farmer in the land of Israel, the sefira, or counting, from Pesach to Shavuot is a time of anxiety. The weather in Israel is notoriously mercurial at this time of year, keeping farmers continually on edge about whether rain will arrive when it will benefit the growth of the crops, or when warm dry weather is needed to promote the activity of pollinating bees in the ripening of fruits and grains. The first fruits, bikkurim of the Seven Species, were brought to the Temple with great rejoicing beginning at Shavuot. These crops are quite diverse, but they share one important trait: each of them is pollinated at a different time during sefira, and is therefore vulnerable to the vagaries of weather during this unsettled period. Like the highly varied landscape of the land of Israel itself, the competing needs of the Seven Species tempt the farmer to appeal to gods of rain, sun, and other natural phenomena for favorable local conditions. Dedicating one’s bikkurim to the one supreme God is an act of complete and exclusive faith, and abstention from offerings to other gods precisely when the farmer would be most tempted to appeal to them.

“It is perhaps in this light that Midrash Rabah connects the biblical commandment to count seven shavuot temimot (or perfect) weeks, of sefira with the idea of complete faith: Just as we must count seven complete weeks, so, too, must these be weeks of complete faith, when we trust exclusively and with complete confidence in our One God despite the uncertainty of the season that may tempt us to appeal to other gods. The same midrashic passage also states that God will reward our dedication with protection for crops from harmful weather conditions during sefira.

“In Temple times, sefira was inaugurated on the second day of Pesach with an offering of the first of the new spring barley crop. The measure for this grain was known as an omer. Later, this term also came to be the alternative name for the sefira period. The end of sefira was marked by a similar offering always on Shavuot. Because of this greater gluten-forming capacity, wheat flour is preferred over barley flour for bread making. Thus wheat bread has always held a higher status than barley bread. Noting that wheat is mentioned before barley in the biblical list of the Seven Species, for example, the Talmud states that even broken pieces of wheat bread are more appropriate to the dignity of the motzi blessing that whole loaves of barley bread. Even in biblical times when food was generally much less plentiful than it is today, barley was sometimes fed to livestock. The lower prestige of barley and in particular its association with animals and animalistic behavior is also reflected in its use as the offering of the sotah, a woman who was suspected of marital infidelity in Temple times. (the omer and the Sotah minkha were the only two barley menakhot. All the rest of the menakhot offerings were wheat-gg)

“As part of the omer offering, the barley was waived up, down, and in all four compass directions to indicate its designation for the sacred purpose. The meaning of this action is suggested by several midrashim. These sources suggest that the waving in all directions is an acknowledgment that God controls all the world, including its weather conditions that determine the success of crops. One of the midrashim compares God to a cook who asks to sample the dish (the farmer’s crops) at an earlier stage (the second day of Pesach, when the omer of barley is offered), in order to adjust the seasoning (the balance of rain and sun) so as to maximize the harvest.” (Pages 130-133)

So don’t forget to count the omer on April 2^nd at the conclusion of your second Seder. Counting the omer reinforces our faith in the Holy One Blessed be He. Father John Dean taught me this about faith: “Don’t keep the faith. That’s selfish. Spread it around!”

We must become the prayer #Vayikra#parashathashavua#devartorah

We begin the third book of the Torah Vayikra, Leviticus, this Shabbat. Now that Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle, has been erected parashat Vayikra deals with the aspects of the sacrificial cult that is offered up in it.  Our ancestors sought to draw close to God through the animal sacrifices offered up first in the portable Tabernacle and then in the Temple in Jerusalem.  In fact the Hebrew word for sacrifice is korbon and its root meaning is “to draw close”.  We no longer offer up sacrifices as our mode of worship. Today we worship God through prayer.

Rambam explains why prayer has taken the place of sacrifices since the Temple has been destroyed and we can no longer offer up sacrifices. “It is a positive Torah commandment to pray every day, as [Exodus 23:25] states: "You shall serve God, your Lord." Tradition teaches us that this service is prayer, as [Deuteronomy 11:13] states: "And serve Him with all your heart" and our Sages said: Which is the service of the heart? This is prayer.” (Mishneh Torah, Prayer and Priestly Blessing, 1:1, Sefaria.com translation)

In his book Listening for God in Torah and Creation Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg teaches for prayer to be meaningful we must become the prayer. He

“Yet the sacrificial system did not simply disappear; it left a profound imprint on the entire pattern of Jewish worship. The Talmud makes it clear that the three daily prayers correspond in their timing to the morning and afternoon sacrifices in the night-time rituals in the Temple (Berachot 26b). There are also deeper, more intrinsic connections, as Arthur Greene suggests:

Prayer comes in place of sacrifice. In true prayer, we give the only gift we have to offer: ourselves. Va’ani tefillati says the Psalmist, felicitously mistranslated by later Hasidic readers as ‘I am my prayer.’ (Ehye: A Kabalah for Tomorrow. Page 158)

Instead of bringing animals to the altar, we give ourselves, writes Green, ‘by opening our hearts, by being present to God’s presence in our lives, by sharing with others, by generosity towards the needy, among whom God’s presence rests’. (Ibid., page 158)

Perhaps it is this focus on the heart that makes an undated medieval poem so mysteriously beautiful, with this chorus listing all the different kinds of Temple sacrifice:

          God, You are my God and my Redeemer; I place myself before You.

          God who was and shall be, God who was and is, truly Yours is all the earth.

The Lord of hosts, with how many wonders He holds together his tent!

In the paths of the heart He plants the heart’s growth, the Rock whose work is perfect!

And our thanksgiving, burnt-and meal-offerings, are sacrifices for              sin and guilt, for peace and purification: we give them all so that you will draw us close. (Anonymous, author’s own translation) (page 172)