Preparation for Passover Participation!

Passover is almost upon us! A holiday that we eagerly await and celebrate joyfully.  Passover, with its timeless story of the escape from freedom to slavery, the symbols of the Seder which delight all of the senses, and the excitement of joining together around the Seder table with family and friends to retell the ancient story is looked forward to with great anticipation. As adults, we know the deeper meaning of the holidays - the Passover story of freedom, and the importance of passing on our tradition to the next generation.
 

But with children, where do we begin?  As it says in the Pesach Haggadah: For the young one, who does not know enough to ask the question, you shall begin with the story, explaining it simply: “This is what God did for me, when I went forth out of Egypt.” The Haggadah’s message not only reminds us that we should begin where a child can understand, but that the celebration of the Jewish holidays is meant to be experiential.  After all, we are taught that “In every age, one must regard himself as if he himself had come out of Egypt”.  So, make your celebrations experiential and try to involve everyone present!

Children love stories and one of the best ways to get children involved in the celebrations of both Purim and Passover is by reading or telling them the story at an age-appropriate level.  Doing this in advance of the holiday will whet their appetites and prepare them for the events to come.  Children also love to play dress-up and act.  To get them involved in this year’s Passover Seder, have them act out the story as you read it from the Haggadah, or make paper bag puppets and act it out for them.

  
Children also love songs, especially simple ones with repeating choruses.  Try to interject singing  into your celebrations.  Try playing CD’s in the car or at home a few weeks ahead so they’ll be familiar.  If you don’t feel confident singing by yourself, bring CD’s or an iPhone loaded with mp3’s to your celebration and everyone can sing along.
 
Almost every Jewish holiday has special foods that accompany the celebration.  Involve your child in the preparations - have him help you shop for the ingredients.  Give her simple tasks to do in preparing the Seder plate for Passover.  As you mix the different elements for the charoset, ask your child what the foods smell and taste like.  Are they sweet? salty? sour? crunchy? soft? Children can also make special table decorations for each guest, which can be used every year for your celebration of the holidays. 

Need help with resources?

Passover recipes, customs and rituals, and how to put together a seder plate

An extensive collection of songs for Passover is available for free download at the Jewish Birth Network

Passover trivia? Try this quiz

Hag Sameach!  Happy Pesach! 

Hashkiveinu - Let us lie down in peace

הַשְׁכִּיבֵנוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ לְשָׁלוֹם

Hashkiveinu Adonai Eloheinu L’shalom

Let us lie down in peace O Eternal our God

As anyone who has children knows, bedtime is one of those both sacred and scary times for kids.  And I think the same is true for adults.  We all have some sort of bedtime ritual, whether it is falling asleep in front of the TV, or reading a book, or practicing some sort of relaxation exercise.  Yet, the experience of going from a state of wakefulness to sleep can be a difficult time for many of us whether we are children or adults.

Recently, a dear friend who has been ill shared just how comforting an acknowledgement of God’s presence has been to her at bedtime.  During her stay in the hospital she has recited the traditional prayers before sleep not only at night but also as she was being put under anesthesia.  Praying the words, and making this part of her nightly ritual, had helped her to not only be less fearful, she told me, but also to recognize an opportunity for blessing – that God was with her as she went from wakefulness to sleep. 

These moments of connection with God, which exist in the lull between the hours of a busy day are the most precious and the most prayerful.  As we drift off to sleep, we are all linked to the divine source of life, and ask God to bless and watch over us as we find comfort and shelter in a night of rest.


(cross-posted in Moments of Inspiration -  Lafayette Journal and Courier - March 22, 2014)

ופרש עלינו סכת שלומך Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha

Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha  

Spread over us the shelter of Your peace

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ייְָ, הַטּוֹב שִׁמְךָ וּלְךָ נָאֶה לְהוֹדוֹת

Baruch atah Adonai, ha-tov shimcha ul’cha na-eh l’hodot. 

Blessed are you Eternal One, Your name is Goodness and You are worthy of thanksgiving.

These words form the chatimah, or seal, at the end of the Hoda’ah prayer, the second closing benediction of the Amidah (Modim Anachnu Lach). It is natural for us to go about our daily lives scarcely noticing the many blessings that we have each and every day. The words of the Hoda’ah remind us that we are surrounded by miracles and blessings – our lives, our health, our families and friends, our work in this world.  The words of this prayer remind us to pause and notice them, to take a moment and lift our eyes up to see the beauty that is in this world, to feel the sun on our face, the wind in our hair, to see the beauty of autumn’s splendid palette of colors as the leaves float down to the ground.

From the sounds of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we have moved into the shelter of the holiday of Sukkot. The Sukkah is a simple structure. It provides a shelter from some of the elements, while letting others, such as wind and rain, come in through the roof.  In the Sukkah we can see the stars. In the Sukkah we can appreciate the wonders of nature, and the fragility of life.

The sixth tractate of the second division of the Mishnah (rabbinic commentary on the Torah, 200CE) is called Sukkah.  The very first verses give a detailed description of how to build a Sukkah:

1. It must be less than 30 feet high.
2. The walls must be strong enough to withstand ordinary wind gusts.
3. The shade offered by the roof of the Sukkah should be able to block most of the sun’s rays while allowing the stars to be visible at night.
4. There must be at least three walls, made of any material.
5. The Sukkah must be a temporary structure.
6. It is a mitzvah to eat one’s meals in the Sukkah.
7. While it is a mitzvah to live in the Sukkah as much as possible, you are not obligated to sleep in eat, especially in colder climates.  And if it is raining hard enough that there is more water than soup in your bowl, you may finish your meal indoors.
8. The Sukkah can be decorated with fruits, vegetables, and art projects.
9. There is no minimum size, but the Sukkah must be large enough for at least one person.

It is a mitzvah to build your own Sukkah and live in it during the week of Sukkot.  It’s also a mitzvah to wave the lulav and etrog, and to invite guests to join you in the Sukkah.

When we spend time in the Sukkah, we get a unique chance to experience the natural world. We feel wind and rain, hot and cold. We see the sun and the moon and stars through the schach, and as we eat our meals we are joined by bugs and bees, and sometimes birds and squirrels. We become closer to nature and are reminded of our interdependence with all that lives and grows.
Living in the Sukkah connects us to our ancestors who left the protection of secure roofs to journey forward in the time of the Exodus towards freedom. They placed themselves under God’s protection, the only true source of protection and security

ופרש עלינו סכת שלומך         

Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Sh’lomecha 

(Spread over us the shelter of Your peace).

When we pray the words of Hoda’ah and give thanks for the miracles that we experience each and every day, we realize that we cannot take them for granted. Life is too precious, and these gifts are too important to notice them only when they are gone.  Our daily recitation of the words of the Hoda’ah can lead us to a practice of being aware and appreciative of the miracles that surround us each day, and to also make it a practice of expressing our gratitude to God and to our loved ones.

At this season of thanksgiving, we are thankful for the daily miracles that surround us each day.  As our awareness of them grows, may we be changed, lifted up, and transformed.

Moadim L’simcha!
(cross posted at Kol Isha, the blog of the Women's Rabbinic Network)  

Spiritual Reflection During Elul

We are now in the month of Elul, the Hebrew month that leads us into the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days.  Many Jews use this time period to think back on the year that has passed in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. A few years ago my colleague, Rabbi Debra Orenstein, introduced me to a very meaningful spiritual tool to prepare for the Days of Awe.  The custom is to use the last 12 days of the month of Elul (this year from Sept. 5, 2012 onward) until Rosh Hashanah to review and meditate each day on one month from the last year. On the day of Erev Rosh Hashanah, you review Elul, the month just gone by.

Some people will begin each day in meditation or make a quiet space to reflect on the month they are focusing on each day.  If you are in the habit of praying the morning prayers, Rabbi Orenstein suggests that you might find this to be a particularly good time to reflect.  “The daily prayers in the Amidah, asking for wisdom, forgiveness, healing, justice, a good year, and peace, among other aspirations – create a beautiful vision against which to measure the past year.”  

This reflection can be done with a study partner, a friend or spouse, or written in a journal.   You might look in your calendar – paper or electronic, from the past year to remind yourself of where you were during each of the months of last year.
Spiritual reflection can lead to a deeper self-awareness of self, of community, of the world, because it helps us to do teshuvah – literally to return to who we really are.

We also do this kind of reflection together as a community during these Days of Awe. And when you are in synagogue for all of the services of Selichot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, if you pay close attention to the themes that run throughout the liturgy of these days, you can see the threads of self-reflection, communal confession and prayers of selichot, asking for forgiveness. But it is really to our benefit to prepare for these 10 days before they begin and then by continuing to let the questions go through you as you go through the ten days of teshuvah – return. 

My family and I wish each of you a Shanah Tova U’Metukah, a year filled with health, joy and the sweetness of life.  May this new year of 5773 be a year of health, happiness, and growth for you and your family.

Everyday Blessings

Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-olam, Shekachah Lo B’olamo
Praised are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has such beauty in the world.

As summer has passed by all too quickly, I have delighted in watching my three children enjoying the outdoors and the world around them.
All too often I find myself caught up in the busyness of life and forget to notice and be thankful for the many blessings that surround me.  One of the reasons I am grateful for my family is that they remind me to appreciate the many small gifts that are a part of every day.

Jewish tradition teaches us to utter brachot (blessings) throughout the day, and in so doing to live at a deeper level of awareness of experiences that we might otherwise miss.  In reciting a bracha (blessing), we invite in or recognize God’s presence in our midst. Blessings can be said in any language, and express a kavannah, an intention from one’s heart.

According to the great medieval Jewish philosopher, the RaMBaM – Moses Maimonides, there are three types of blessings:

Birchot HaNehenin – Blessings that we recite before eating, drinking, or smelling nice things.
Birchot HaMitzvot – Blessing that we recite prior to performing a commandment.
Birchot Hodaah – Blessings that express praise of God and give our thanks to God, or ask God for things.

There are traditional blessings for many of these experiences of life; you can find these in the siddur.  It is also appropriate to create your own blessing. Begin with the traditional formula: “Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-olam Praised are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe” and then continue with whatever you want to say – about your life, your health, how you are feeling, something good or bad that has happened, the world, your spouse, your children….

Reciting blessings open us to the potential for holiness in the world, and remind us that everything is interconnected, linking us to the oneness of God.

(cross posted at Kol Isha, the blog of the Women's Rabbinic Network)