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Scholars inform us that bitter herbs were eaten at the Spring festival in ancient times. The sharpness of the taste awakened the senses and made the people feel at one with nature's revival. Here in the Shmita year, Maror is abundant.  What role does bitterness play in our lives? What is important about experiencing the sharpness of Maror? As we prepare to dip the maror into the sweet charoset, what does it look like for us to temper our bitterness with...

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In the ninth century B.C.E., a farmer arose to challenge the domination of the ruling elite. In his tireless and passionate advocacy on behalf of the common people, and his ceaseless exposure of the corruption and waste of the court, Elijah sparked a movement and created a legend which would inspire people for generations to come. Before he died, Elijah declared that he would return once each generation in the guise of any poor or oppressed person, coming to people's doors...

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A little commentary.. The word Yisrael (Israel) When found in the liturgy (religious text) does not refer to the modern nation/state of Israel, rather it derives from the blessing given to Ya'akov (Jacob) by a stranger with whom he wrestles all night. When the stranger is finally pinned, Ya'akov asks him for a blessing. The stranger says," Your name will no longer be Ya'akov but Yisrael for you have wrestled with G-d and triumphed." Therefore when we say "Yisrael" in prayer...

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"I have concluded that one way to pay tribute to those we loved who struggled, resisted and died is to hold on to their vision and their fierce outrage at the destruction of the ordinary life of their people. It is this outrage we need to keep alive in our daily life and apply to all situations, whether they involve Jews or non- Jews. It Is this outrage we must use to fuel our actions and vision whenever we see any...

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The following is a Prayer for Peace that is traditionally included in the Shabbat (Sabbath) service. May these words come true: May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease when a great peace will embrace the whole world Then nation shall not threaten nation and humankind will not again know war. For all who live on earth shall realize we have not come into being to hate or destroy We have come into being to praise, to labour and...

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At the heart of Nhat Hanh's teachings is the idea that "understanding is love's other name" - that to love another means to fully understand his or her suffering. ("Suffering" sounds rather dramatic, but in Buddhism it refers to any source of profound dissatisfaction - be it physical or psychoemotional or spiritual.) Real, truthful love, he argued, is rooted in four elements - loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity - fostering which lends love "the element of holiness." The first of...

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The songs we join in are beeswax candles burning with no smoke a clean fire licking at the evening our voices small flames quivering. The songs string us like beads on the hour. The ritual is its own melody that leads us where we have gone before and hope to go again, the comfort of year after year. Order: we must touch each base of the haggadah as we pass, blessing, handwashing, dipping this and that. Voices half harmonize on the...

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It has been said that the ultimate testament to freedom is the ability to ask questions. A person with all the answers has no need to ask questions and is therefore not free to think for themselves, to wonder, and to open their mind to the possibility of learning something new. It is a blessing to us to be free enough to question the world around us, to learn more for ourselves, and to seek the answers to things that perplex...

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So, first of all, the four children appear in the Jerusalem Talmud, where Rabbi Hyyia, a student of Rabbi Judah the Prince, is quoted as bringing this parable. Hyyia's text varies quite a bit from the text we know today: for one, the simple child is not "simple" but stupid. But it is Rabbis at the time of the collection of the Mishnah and Talmud who are creating this rubric. And so we proceed: The "Wise" Child asks about the rules...

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Since Rosh Hashanah 5782 we've been talking about how this year is a Shmita year. We've been talking about rest, renewal, and ways to let certain parts of our lives be fallow this year, abolish certain debts, and re-connect with the more natural state of things.  Just as the story of creation describes working for six days and resting on the seventh, the Shmita year is one of rest. Debts are to be forgiven, agricultural lands to lie fallow, private landholdings...

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True freedom requires sacrifice and pain. Most human beings only think they want freedom. The truth is they yearn for the bondage of social order, rigid laws, materialism. The only freedom man really wants is to be comfortable. ~ Emma Goldman Take the middle matzah and break it into two, one piece larger than the other. The larger piece is set aside to serve as Afikoman. The smaller piece is put back, between the two matzot. This smaller piece, along with...

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"Passover is the night for reckless dreams, for visions about what a human being can be, what society can be, what history may be."  ~ Rabbi David Hartman

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Avigayil Halpern wrote: In a stunning Senior Sermon, my friend Rabbi Mary Brett Koplen... points out that in the verses about the Plague of the Firstborn, the Torah makes visible a figure we would otherwise not have noticed. וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה כֹּה אָמַר ה כַּחֲצֹת הַלַּיְלָה אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם׃ וּמֵת כׇּל־בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבְּכוֹר פַּרְעֹה הַיֹּשֵׁב עַל־כִּסְאוֹ עַד בְּכוֹר הַשִּׁפְחָה אֲשֶׁר אַחַר הָרֵחָיִם וְכֹל בְּכוֹר בְּהֵמָה׃ Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians,...