“For All Time”:

Of Passover, ‘Teaching Our Children Well’ and Jewish Ritual Observance in the 21st Century

   A number of times in the Torah, we read specific commandments from God to the Jewish people to observe a set of ritual practices to mark specific sacred times and spaces.These commandments often have attached to their statement a final expression which basically says that ‘You shall …(whatever it is) for all time’, or ‘throughout the ages.’ Observance is not only handed down from generation to generation by example; our sacred Torah texts, many thousands of years old, very explicitly, directly remind us that God’s presence and power is eternal by their use of the terms ‘in perpetuity’, ‘forever’, ‘for eternity’ with respect to Jewish observance. Thus, well over one hundred forty generations later, when we read Torah texts, we understand that we are directed by their precise language to follow through on the practices of our forefathers and foremothers. While the commandments were intended for the Jewish people when they were becoming and when they became Israelites, there is a tag line at the end of the commandments, that speak to the ‘future’ and to ‘forever.’ This is one of the true marvels of the Torah as a sacred text.

   In this month’s column, I explore with you some of these relevant texts for Passover. In the Book of Exodus, the Torah tells us of our ancestors’ preparation for their departure from Egypt. There are explicit references to the observance of Passover ‘for forever’:

   Exodus 12:1 ff. – First God explicitly commands Moses and Aaron to speak to the whole community regarding slaughtering of the paschal lamb communally at twilight, the spreading of its blood on the lintel and doorposts, the eating the lamb’s flesh the same night, roasted over a fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. He tells Moses and Aaron expressly how they should tell the people to eat it: “your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly; it is a passover offering to the Lord, For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord…”

   Exodus 12:14 – And then God says:. “This day shall be to you one of remembrance; you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time.” It’s as if God is setting down here the imperative of ‘teach your children well,’ since clearly the day cannot be remembered for all time by the current population of Jews leaving Egypt. Eventually they will die. Someone, namely future generations, will have to carry the memory forward. And here is how they will do so…

   Exodus 12:15 ff. – “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you.”

   Exodus 12:17 – And then God says, “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time.” So twice God tells Moses and Aaron that the day must be observed forever and they must tell the people so.

Exodus 12:21 ff. – Then Moses and Aaron repeat all of God’s intentions and commandments to the people as He commanded them to do: “…Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover offering. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts…”

   Exodus 12:24 ff. – Then they say, “You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants, and when you enter the land that Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’” It is only at this point in the text, only when Moses and Aaron go to the people to speak God’s commandments which He previously imparted to them, that reference is made explicitly not only to the present population, but to their offspring, as well. And most importantly, there is the element of teaching implied by the language of question by children and answer by parents, for the children will not have direct knowledge of the exodus.

   Exodus 12:40 ff. – After a description of the actual departure in the middle of the night of the Israelites  “…about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside children…, we learn “the length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt. That was for the Lord a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is the Lord’s one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages.” Here we are told of the event of the Exodus not by God, and not by Moses and Aaron, but by the Torah’s Narrator. At this point the Narrator is telling us that the night of the departure from Egypt was an event to be remembered for all time, i.e. forever. So there are multiple actors delivering the same message over and over: God, Moses and Aaron, and the Narrator, each time reinforcing the previous statement. There is no doubt whatsoever that this was a singularly important event.

   We’ve come a long way since the words of Exodus appeared on parchment in torah scrolls. Yet, here we are today, in 2010 or 5770, over a hundred forty generations later, partaking of a Seder ritual that is, at its core, a reflection of the basic Torah commandments described above. How amazing – miraculous, frankly – that God set forth explicitly the need for the story of Passover to be retold by creating the imperative of ‘thoughout the ages’ and ‘for all time.’ And that Moses and Aaron had the wisdom to add explicitly what God implied: “When your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord…’

   So in 2010, we gather with our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to recite the story of Passover as compiled by the sages in the Hagaddah, now highly embellished over the centuries since rabbinic Judaism, incorporating more and more additional rituals. As a reflection of our contemporary times, many homes now have two cups set on the Passover table: Kos Elijah and Kos Miryam. With the advent of feminist ideologies in the late 20th century, drinking from a Kos Miryam filled with water from the symbolic Miriam’s well, the lifespring, at the beginning of the seder, becomes the nod to our ancient past and the important roles played by women. Current spiritual leaders have acknowledged the significance of our total Torah past as part of our collective Jewish identity. We embrace new ritual, as exemplified by Kos Miryam, as we reinterpret the P’shat of the Exodus story.

   Letters will go out next week for selling your hametz and proper Passover preparation.

  I wish everyone a ‘zissen Pesach.’ May we continue to embrace the commandments of Jewish remembrance and observance for all time.

Cantor Marsha Dubrow, Ph.D.

cantor@bnaijacobjc.org

(201) 910-4334