Redemption not Salvation

In just two weeks, Jews the world over will sit down at their home tables and celebrate the Pesach Seder.  This holiday is known as “the time of our freedom” because at this time our ancestors were liberated by God from the power of Pharoah in ancient Egypt.  Yet “freedom” is only a part of the story.  The real theology of the holiday is Redemption.

Redemption is more difficult to understand than freedom.  What does it mean to be redeemed?  And why do we need redemption?  You see, for a rabbinic Jew, what happened to our ancestors happens to us.  What God promised to them is promised to us.  What God has done for them, God will do for us.  It is not about spiritual salvation, but physical redemption.

Redemption is one of those religious words that sounds good, so we leave it alone.  Like Moral, or Covenant. Sounds great, but what does it mean?

The Hebrew is “Ge’ulah”.  It can mean to save, to protect, or to redeem.  To redeem is something other than so save or to protect.  To redeem something is to recover ownership of it.  To redeem a person is to rescue or ransom them from evil or from evil people.  I can also redeem myself when I return to the core values which I have been breaking.  I redeem myself when I make up for past sin or error with good acts of attonement.  All three aspects of Ge’ulah, - Recovery of property, rescue, or attonement are present in this word Redemption:  which are we praying for?  The Passover holiday proclaims all three.

Ownership:  Am zu kanita – this nation, you God have acquired.  God owns us.  Pharoah stole us.  “I will show Pharoah who is God”.  And we are still God’s people in Egypt? God has acquired us, and our status in the world changed.  Pesach must be about knowing that we are God’s people and that brings with it responsibility, or no redemption will come.

Phsyical Protection – Saving: Egypt here is the suffering of all oppression.  The slave-wages laborer, the abused and unprotected immigrant, the abandoned or swindled elderly with no one to protect them. Pesach must be about action in just cause of human rights and dignity regardless of race, culture, language, gender, or religion.  Only in the cause of real and measurable redemption does Pesach make sense.

Attonement:. While the English word can be used to redeem oneself, it is not a rabbinic concept.  We do teshuvah.  We seek Kapparah – attonement.  Yet Pesach does have a sense of your own redemption about it.  In each generation we are challenged to think, feel, and believe that we ourselves each individually and as a group came out of Egypt. 

And in our day we have added one particular prayer to our observance where we talk about Redemption:  We say in the blessing after meals, Harachaman hu yevarekh et Medinat Yisrael, Reishit Tzmichat Ge’ulateinu.  God bless the State of Israel: the first flowering of our redemption.

Pesach is a festival of freedom to be sure.  Yet in the end, Pesach is an assertion that God calls, demands, and acts to redeem – to provide redemption.  It is physical, and it is spiritual.  It is personal, and it is communal.  And despite the fact that it comes from God, it depends on you.  And ultimately, it flowers in Israel to redeem the world.

A sweet and kosher Pesach for each of you.  L’shanah ha’ba’ah birushalayim.  Next year in Jerusalem.

Purim Mitzvot

Purim is coming!

Close your eyes and listen carefully: can you hear the peals of children’s laughter? Can you smell the hamentaschen? Are you ready to laugh with (at?!) me and the others in the shpiel?  Can you feel the undeniable urge to be silly celebrating the ancient victory of our People over the Evil Haman in the far away land of Shushan?  Adults and Children of all ages are searching for and designing their Purim costumes. 

Purim is a joyous time, and such an easy way to throw yourself deeply into our Jewish traditions.  It engages the whole family, and the mitzvot (commandments) of Purim are easy to fulfill.

Often you will hear, for example, the word mitzvah translated as “a good deed” or “a blessing.” The mitzvot are indeed wonderful to perform and a blessing in our lives, but as Conservative Jews we also believe that they are our sacred duties to perform.  The word mitzvah in Hebrew means a “command.” The Jewish way of life, known as Halakhah, is based on that understanding.    Fulfilling our sacred obligations was never more fun than now.

So let’s review: What are the mitzvot of Purim? 

They all come from the Book of Esther, more commonly known as the megillah.

…the fourteenth… of Adar every year… the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy.  They were to observe them as days of (a) feasting and (b) merrymaking, and as an occasion for (c) sending gifts to one another and (d) presents to the poor.

- Esther 9:22

Here we have four specific commandments (a-f).

(a)   The Purim Seudah – a Festive Meal.  Commanded to eat!  Wonderful!  Certain simchas are connected to an actual obligation to have a feast (for example, a Bris or a Wedding).  The Purim seudah should be festive and full.  As is proper, we celebrate this on Purim day (not Purim night), Thursday, March 8.

(b)  Merrymaking.  Rabbinic tradition offers Purim as a day for great mirth and frivolity.  One custom allows a bit more alcohol than you might ordinarily take, with care.  Purim, in essence, should be joyful.  Our Gala Fundraiser in the evening, and the Purim Carnival during the day will be wonderful examples.

(c)   Mishloach Manot – (sometimes called “shalah manot” or “shalah manos”)Gifts of Food. We fulfill this obligation by giving at least two different people each two different types of food.  The idea is that they should have plenty for their feast, and we should remember our friends.  Our annual Purim Basket drive allows you to sponsor baskets to your friends, families or teachers by having your name listed on a basket that is given to them at Purim.  It is a wonderful fundraiser, and part of this mitzvah.

(d)  Matanot L’evyonim:  “Gifts to the Poor” is always a mitzvah in Judaism, as our traditional generosity as a people through tzedakkah demonstrates.  But on Purim it is even more commanded to give gifts directly to alleviate poverty of individuals.  Support of Food Banks, Mazon, or direct gifts to the needy are all ways to fulfill this important Purim Mitzvah.

(e)   Reading the Megillah:  The Megillah is to be chanted at services both in the evening and in the morning, and is traditionally read from a kosher parchment similar to a Torah scroll.  The Megillah reading has become the most famous and well observed Mitzvah of Purim.

(f)   And finally, there is Ta’anit Esther: The “fast of Esther” is one of four minor fast days, so called because it does not begin on the evening before (like Yom Kippur does), but lasts only through the daylight hours.  This fast commemorates the loss of life associated with saving the Jews from Haman’s evil plot, and mirrors Queen Esther’s courageous preparation to confront the King to save our people.  This year it will take place on Wednesday, March 7^th.

There you go!  Maimonides, in the 11^th Century C.E. codified the 613 Mitzvot that are found in our Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).  Those are the 6 that are specific to Purim.  I look forward to sharing their observance with each and every one of you.

Chag Purim Sameach!

Rabbi Robert L. Tobin