If you ask people what one word comes to mind if you say Passover, most Jews will respond with "freedom." Chag Haherut, "Festival of Freedom," is one of Passover's four names. And, of course, we have the endless jokes about "Let my people go," God's order to Pharaoh, conveyed by Moses, which takes on...
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This post is something a little different -- instead of my ideas, I'm including links to other "Passover Torah" (well one of them is mine...). Below find links to some Passover Torah I found online and appreciated, with a brief excerpt from each one that caught my eye. If you have any favorites you'd...
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This week we celebrate “Shabbat HaGadol,” the big or great Sabbath. Which is kind of a weird name if you think about it. What is it that makes this Shabbat especially big or great? Maybe it’s because this is the last Shabbat we have challah before Passover. Which is a great thing. By comparison,...
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As of last week, I'm the chairman (well, co-chair actually, along with Rabbi Moshe Yehudai) of Rabbis for Human Rights.On hearing this, some friends have reacted with a little surprise, knowing I have a heavy work and travel schedule. Like I didn't have enough to do with my "spare time."I accepted, with humility, this...
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On the night of March 29, if previous years are any guide, something truly miraculous will happen. Something like 93% of all Jews in North America will find their way to a seder, to celebrate Passover together with other Jews. Religious Jews, secular Jews, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox Jews, Jews who are...
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If you think about it, Passover is a very difficult holiday from a human rights perspective -- we have collective punishment, as in the plagues that punished every Egyptian, not just hard hearted Pharaoh, and we have what might be considered a "disproportionate response," the total annihilation of Pharaoh's charioteers in the Reed Sea....
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