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Category: Rabbinic Thoughts

  • Parashat B’midbar: We count!

    Incredulous! That’s how I felt, after requesting and then learning my Uber passenger rating. You see, drivers get to rate and rank you too.”4.8! That’s it?” I thought. “I’ve never been impolite or unfriendly. I never cancel a request after submitting one. What reason could there be for denying me a full five stars?”Once again, here was one small example of the many ways each of us is reduced to numbers as we go about our post-modern lives. The world knows us by our ID Numbers and PINs. Job performance and health are quantified and compared. We rank and rate universities, restaurants, wine, cars, and even dates.It goes without saying that qualification makes large amounts of data easier to categorise and understand. But it also has the effect of obscuring beauty, individuality, and difference. We have only to think of the Nazis’ practice of tattooing numbers on our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents and we shudder with horror.Perhaps, the dehumanising quality of quantification is the reason Jews have generally frowned on counting people. I remember counting students for a minyan whispering, “Not one, not two . . . ” In fact, this concept goes back to the Babylonian Talmud where Rabbi Isaac taught, “It’s prohibited to count the Jewish people, even in order to do a mitzvah” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 22b).Then again, in this week’s Torah reading, Parashat B’midbar, God instructs Moses to, “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clan, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names of every male, head by head” (Numbers 1:2). The parashah goes on to count and compare the male populations of the various Israelite tribes.In Rashi’s commentary on this parashah, Rashi turns the whole idea of taking a census on its head. For him, this isn’t an act of bureaucratic expediency. Rather, he writes, “Out of God’s love for them, he counted them often” (see Rashi on Numbers 1:1). For Rashi, counting doesn’t dehumanise or obscure, it’s an expression of love and care — one manifestation of God’s protection and devotion to God’s precious treasures.We don’t normally experience counting in this way. More often than not, to be counted is to feel more like digits and ratings — robbed of our identities. Yet, Rashi’s interpretation of our parashah, reminds us what we all know deep down: We are much more than the numbers assigned to us. We are much more than ones and zeroes and Uber rankings. We are all precious treasures, worthy of love and affection.  We count!  Rabbi Adrian M Schell  (Source: Joseph A. Skloot) 

  • Behar – Bechukotai: Walking upright and unafraid

    In our parashah, God vows to enact a series of blessings and curses for the Israelites—blessings if they observe the commandments, and curses if they do not. In her interpretation, Rabbi Lisa Exler explains that the blessings are “curiously framed” by the image of walking.Walking is, for many of us, our most basic vehicle for navigating the world. Yet we probably don’t put much thought into it. We’re more concerned with where we’re going than how we’re getting there; and unless we’re on a hike, we rarely think of walking as an end in itself, or count it among our blessings. Our biblical passage opens with God stating the condition for receiving these blessings:“Im bechukotai teileichu—If you walk in accordance with My laws and observe and do My commandments.” And the section concludes with God’s promise to walk, in return: “V’hithalachti b’tochechem—And I will walk in your midst, and I will be your God and you will be My people.”The section of blessings could have ended there, with the final inspiring blessing being one of reciprocal relationship and intimacy between God and the Israelites. But it doesn’t. Instead, it ends with the following verse, a seemingly superfluous description of God’s role in the Exodus, which, significantly, also includes the image of walking:“I am Adonai your God who took you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright—va’olech etchem komemiyut.”A midrash explains that the word komemiyut, upright—which appears only this once in Torah, means “with a straight spine and unafraid of any creature.” In other words, God reminds the Israelites that they are no longer oppressed slaves living in fear; but rather, dignified people who can stand tall and walk proudly and are free to choose their own paths. The Israelites’ ability to walk upright, which they attained through their experience of the Exodus, was the necessary precondition for the other “walkings” described previously in the text—walking in accordance with God’s laws and God’s reciprocal walking among the people, bestowing upon them the blessings of rain, food, peace and fertility.May we continue to be blessed to walk upright and to share our blessings with those in need. Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat and a meaningful week.Rabbi Adrian M Schell  

  • Parashat Emor: Making the Holy One, holy.

    The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take, and there is little in the Torah that talks about what we have that God could possibly need. What can we give to God? That doesn’t mean we don’t have a whole section on sacrifice in this week’s portion, Emor, and throughout the Book of Leviticus. But, it does mean that there really isn’t any indication that our actions here on earth affect God in some way that is bounded by the relationship.And then, for one precious moment, our portion steps aside from the questions of sacrificial rite and priestly purity to ponder this question: how do we make God holy? In Leviticus 22:32 we read: “You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people-I Adonai who sanctify you.” Translation issues become important here. The text says v’nikdashti, “and I will be made holy” amidst the Children of Israel. Or, in other words, “You will make Me holy just as I, Adonai, have made you holy.” Here, for a moment, there is a relationship. We do something for God in response to what God has done for us. The only problem with this magic moment of relationship is that it makes no sense. How can we profane God’s Name or make God Holy? How can our human acts help, in any way, to make the Holy One, holy?Perhaps the most intriguing response of all the classical commentaries can be found in P’sikta D’Rav Kahana, one of the oldest collections of midrash and commentaries on the Torah. The P’sikta teaches: “Thus said Shimon bar Yohai: “If you are my witnesses then I am the One, the first One, neither shall there be any after Me. But if you are not My witnesses, I am not, as it were, God.” (P’sikta D’Rav Kahana, 12) In the context of the Torah, our lives, our very existence as a people, are dependent on the actions of God. And here for this one shining moment, the Torah teaches us that God’s Holiness, God’s Presence in the world, is dependent upon us.Having a relationship with God is a feathery thing. One never really knows what God is thinking, when God is present, and how we can truly bear witness to God’s will in the world. And yet, through prayer we are reminded of all that is Holy in our world and in ourselves, and through this we form a bridge of connection. We become partners with God in the perfection of this world. It is then that we can truly make God holy. By repairing the brokenness in ourselves, by repairing the brokenness of our world, we repair the brokenness that has resided within God since the first moment of creation and in this way we can indeed make the Holy One, whole once again.Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat and a meaningful week.Rabbi Adrian M Schell (Source: Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport) 

  • Acharei Mot – Kedoshim: Holiness is about sharing

    The holiness code detailed in Leviticus 19 opens with the command: “You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.” The chapter then goes on to describe in exquisite detail the means to achieving holiness. Surprisingly these laws are not by and large about rituals but instead about ethical precepts. Do not steal. Do not place a stumbling block before the blind. Love your neighbour.Throughout, the words of neighbour and fellow, stranger and poor are repeated. We are commanded to love the neighbour. Do not hate your fellow in your heart. Leave the gleanings of the field for the poor and stranger.In ancient times, it was not only a mandate to give tzedakah to the poor but to allow them to gather their own food. Farmers were commanded not to pick their vineyards bare or gather the fallen crops. This not only allowed them to gather necessary food but preserved their dignity as well. It is this command that is one of the opening dictates of chapter 19 and therefore creates the framework for the entire holiness code. Concern for others is this chapter’s overarching theme.Curiously there is also an introductory command about the shelamim offering. On the surface one would think that this is about rituals and not ethics. However the Torah also commands: “[The offering] shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the day following; but what is left by the third day must be consumed in fire. If it should be eaten on the third day, it is an offensive thing…” (Leviticus 19:6-7) One might surmise that the basis of this law is a concern for health.This however is not the intention of the law’s prohibition. The shelamim offering was a voluntary sacrifice that was offered by individuals or families in order to thank God. Much of the sacrificial animal was eaten and enjoyed in a grand feast. The Torah deems it offensive if it was not a shared meal. It was not acceptable for there to be leftovers. That could only mean that not enough people were invited. The circle must be enlarged on occasions when we offer thanks. One’s gratitude is expanded by sharing it with others. The framework of this chapter and its fundamental teaching are that all the laws come to solidify our commitments to the larger community. The chapter opens: “Speak to the whole community of the children of Israel…”Even if a sacrifice emerged from private gratitude it only gained its true meaning by being shared with others. It is not a proper thank you if it remains private. Joy and gratitude must be surrounded by neighbours and fellows. Even the poor and the stranger must be invited in.Holiness is about sharing. It is about drawing others into community. And that is why the shelamim offering shares a root meaning with shalom, peace.Rabbi Adrian M Schell (Source: Steven Moskovitz)

    Torah ReadingShabbat Acharei Mot-KedoshimLeviticus 16:1- 20:27; Reading Lev. 19:1-25Plaut p.798; Hertz p.497Haftarah Amos 9:7-9:15; Plaut p.814; Hertz p.509In our weekly Torah portion:* The duties that the head kohein must perform on Yom Kippur are delineated and the ceremony of the scapegoat is outlined and Moses instructs Aaron about the Yom Kippur laws for fasting and atonement.* God issues a variety of commandments, instructing the Israelites on how to be a holy people.* Various sex offenses are discussed and punishments for them are presented.

  • Tazria-Metzorah: Our people’s approach to life

    While Rabbis often dread having to preach about our Torah portion (who likes to speak about skin eruption called tzaraat), it is a very suggestive one, and presents, an image of the holiness of the Israelite people.Tzaraat is a substance that is supposed to remain inside the body; it is “unnatural” when it flows out, in other words, our reading is about boundaries. Because the skin eruption is a death-skirting impurity it is appropriate that the patient be examined by the kohen, as though he or she were an offering being brought to the altar. Indeed, we are given much more detail about how carefully the kohen is to examine the human subject than we are told how he would examine a sacrificial animal.If the person is found to be a m’tzora, someone infected by tzaraat, the person is put in quarantine for seven days It is remarkable that the same procedures are instituted for the most pure, the priests – the same amount of time Aaron and his sons were secluded during the period of their consecration –, and the least pure, the m’tzora.And it continues in the same way: the priest purifies the “healed” m’tzora  in the same fashion as the priests are consecrated—by sprinkling blood on them. Of course, it is in the spaces between these extremes—the most pure and the least pure—that the body of Israel dwells. While the non-priest cannot attain to the purity of the kohen, men and women are protected from the destructive impurity of tzaraat by the procedures outlined in our reading, in which the affected person comes as close to the experience of the kohen as a “layperson” is permitted. The ordinary Israelite’s vulnerability to tzaraat paradoxically creates a kind of democracy erasing some of the distinctions between kohen and Israelite.In non-leap years like this one we read both Tazria and M’tzora together. There is comfort in this pairing: the first portion describes the outbreak and treatment of the disease; the second portion describes the welcoming of the healed victim back into the community. On years when they are read separately, it is as though we are living out the victim’s condition—for a whole week; the victim’s weeklong isolation becomes part of our life as well, until the person is welcomed back when it is time to read the new portion. In years like this one, by condensing the diagnosis, treatment, and welcome into the same week, we are reminded of the hopefulness that is so much a part of the Jewish people’s approach to life; though we may begin a period of time with bad news, there is treatment and transcendence waiting at the end.May we draw strength and transformation from the spiritual waters, the study of our Torah. Shabbat ShalomRabbi Adrian M Schell(Source: Rabbi Richard N Levy)

    Torah Reading Shabbat Tazria-MetzorahLeviticus 12:1-15:33; Reading Lev. 13:29 – 40Plaut p.735; Hertz p.460Haftarah II Kings 7:3-20; Plaut p.765; Hertz p.477In our weekly Torah portion:* God describes the rituals of purification for a woman after childbirth and sets forth the methods for diagnosing and treating a variety of skin diseases, including tzara-at (a leprous affection), as well as those for purifying clothing.* Priestly rituals to cure tzara-at when it afflicts humans are described and those to rid dwelling places of tzara-at.* The parashah denotes male impurities resulting from a penile discharge or seminal emission. * The parashah concludes with accounts of female impurities caused by a discharge of blood.

     

  • Yom HaShoah: Reinstating the memory and names as a permanent remembrance

    When someone we love passes away, we experience deep sorrow and grief. We miss that person’s presence and caring. We miss the support and all that we shared. Jewish mourning rituals and customs are meant to help us cope, to face the loss realistically, and to find comfort. Jewish tradition helps us to understand that “death is not the end” but rather that our loved ones continue to live in our memory and keep influencing the ones left behind.A fundamental cornerstone of our Jewish tradition is that every Jew should have a proper gravesite, a place that reflects the dignity of the deceased, and which serves as a enduring place to commemorate lost love ones for the bereaved.One of the heinous crimes during the Shoah was to deny the victims this fundamental right. Not only were they deprived of their names, their dignity and dehumanised during their lifetime, they were refused a funeral. They were murdered, burned and hastily buried anonymously. Their death sought not only to extinguish their lives but their memory, too.Sadly, we cannot provide the victims of the Shoah with a proper gravesite to undo what the Nazis did to them, but what we can do is to remember them and their lives by coming together. We can bear the legacy of each of them, and reinstate the memory and their names as a permanent remembrance. As a Jewish community we can – together with the society we are living in – create places and occasions for grief and commemoration. We can at least try to restore all that was taken away so brutally from the victims of the Shoah: their dignity, their uniqueness, their individuality, and their divine spark, which is inherent in every human being.Coming Sunday (23 April) we will have another opportunity to remember them.  For the women, men and children they were, with all the ups and downs, moments shared and missed, and all the divine sparks scattered during their lifetime. Let us be one family for the millions murdered and persecuted in the Shoah, comforting the survivors, and underlining that “death is not the end” but rather that all of them live in our memories.The memorial service at Westpark Cemetery begins at 10.00 for 10.30.Thank youRabbi Adrian M Schell(Picture: The Last March’, bronze sculpture by Natan Yaakov Rapoport, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem)

    Torah Reading Shabbat SheminiLeviticus 9:1-11:47 Reading Lev. 10:1-11:3Plaut p.709; Hertz p.445Haftarah II Samuel 6:1-7:17 Plaut p.729; Hertz p.454In our Torah portion:* Aaron and his sons follow Moses’ instructions and offer sacrifices so that God will forgive the people.* Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer “alien fire” to God. God punishes these two priests by killing them immediately.* God forbids Moses, Aaron, and his surviving sons from mourning but commands the rest of the people to do so. Priests are told not to drink alcohol before entering the sacred Tabernacle and are further instructed about making sacrifices.*Laws are given to distinguish between pure and impure animals, birds, fish, and insects.Rosh Chodesh Iyar is on Wednesday and Thursday

      

  • Torah Sparks: Resurrection of the death?

    This coming Shabbat, we have a dramatic haftarah reading from Ezekiel 37:1-14. The prophet shares the vision of dry bones coming to life. What does this vision have to do with Passover, our festival of freedom, our deliverance from slavery? The Haftarah Commentary, by Gunther Plaut, offers the following opinion on the connection between Passover and this prophecy: “The connection of the Shabbat of Pesach and the main body of the haftarah (37:1-14) lies in the theme of Israel’s deliverance: in the Torah it is delivered from slavery: in the haftarah, from death.”The story of Passover is the celebration of the Exodus from Egypt, yet the story is incomplete without a messianic vision. Ezekiel, preaches to his people who are exiled from Israel, after many have been killed in battle; they are given a vision of the return of the dead to Jerusalem and a restored homeland.Are there other possible connections to Passover?One interesting connection is that we end our seder with the song “Chad Gadya”, the so-called “children’s song” that follows the chain of violence and death from one goat to God’s striking the Angel of Death. By this time in the seder, most of us are too tipsy, tired, and full to pay attention to the incredible theological message- masquerading as child’s play, sung in Aramaic. Its message of ultimate redemption echoes in the seder and is fully disclosed in Ezekiel’s prophecy of hope and restoration.But, was Ezekiel’s prophecy meant to be real or a metaphor? Is it really a description of physical resurrection or spiritual resurrection?  And how do we moderns-and particularly we Progressive Jews-find meaning in this?The prayers for the resurrection of the dead were among the first to be excised from classical Reform prayer books. But our more recent Mishkan T’filah has put the prayer back as an alternative reading. Could it be that the last century, with its extraordinary events, reminded us that “resurrection” is possible?In our haftarah, Ezekiel will send a shiver down your spine: “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost (v’avdah tikvateinu), we are cut off [from life]!” These words, written sometime in the sixth century BCE, resonated in the hearts, minds, and pens of our early Zionist dreamers! The rebirth of Israel is probably the most powerful cultural resurrection of the twentieth century. Ezekiel was right, “I will put My breath into you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land” (Ezekiel 37:14).  Recited century after century, this haftarah has changed from a wistful prayer to a clarion call to action.Wishing you all a very meaningful Pesach Rabbi Adrian M Schell (Source: Rabbi Naamah Kelman )

    A thought on last week’s parasha by Rabbi Yosef SolomonHe shall remove his garments and wear other garments and he shall take out the ashes.” ~ Leviticus 6:4 The first daily Temple-service was the removal of the previous day’s ashes from the Altar. Why did the priest need to change clothes? Sorry budding Kabbalists, no hidden mysticism here and not even a mitzvah! Rather just simple common-sense: since he’s likely to soil his holy garments from the dirty ashes, the priest should change into ‘overalls’. Evidently, certain clothing is unsuitable for specific pursuits. If you dress appropriately for business-meetings or social-functions, why should spiritual ones be any different? The famous proverb “clothes maketh the man” points to the fact that people generally judge others by their external reality.  Judaism points in the opposite direction: judge the moment and align your internal reality by dressing accordingly.

    Torah Reading Shabbat Chol HaMoed PesachExodus 33:12-34:26 and Numbers 28:19-25(Plaut 592; Hertz 362)Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:1-37:14 (P1465 Hertz 1015)With the reading, we are reminded of the age-old desire to know God. Moses implores God to let him see God. While God will not allow Moses to see God’s face, God tells Moses, “I will make My goodness pass before you…” Perhaps we experience the divine presence through the goodness we create in the world. The Torah then sets forth the thirteen attributes of God, among them that God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. By emulating these very attributes, we create the goodness which allows us to know God.

      

  • Pesach Seder: A very Jewish version of a symposium

    The most well-known thing that Jewish people do during Passover is to gather together for a ceremonial festive meal called a seder. The main thing to understand about a seder is that it combines a delicious meal, the telling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt, and a lot of symbolic foods and rituals tied to the Exodus story. Whether you are hosting a seder at your home or you are a guest at someone else’s, a typical seder is set up like a dinner party with a script. There’s a book, called a Haggadah in Hebrew, which contains the ritual order of the meal – traditionally comprised of 15 steps, or ritual units.History: The seder and the Haggadah were developed by a group of ancient rabbis who lived in the Land of Israel under Greco-Roman cultural influence. They did some cultural borrowing in crafting the Haggadah, using the Greco-Roman concept of a symposium and filling in Jewish content. A symposium was a meal with guests during which an important subject would be discussed and a specific number of cups of wine would be served. The hosts would issue invitations, which would state the topic for the evening’s discussion and the number of cups of wine that would be served. At the beginning of the evening, guests would arrive and be invited to get comfortable – reclining on pillows and cushions and preparing to eat and drink, talk and argue deep into the night. Familiar?  Exactly, the seder is our very Jewish version of a symposium:The Topic: The Exodus from Egypt and freedom,How many cups: 4 cups of wine and lots of food.Wishing you all a very meaningful PesachRabbi Adrian M Schell(Source: ITJ Handout on Pesach)

    Torah Reading – Shabbat HagadolParashat TzavLeviticus  6:1-8:36 Reading Lev  8:10-36(Plaut 694; Hertz 436)Haftarah: Malachi 3:4-3:24 (P1459 Hertz 1005)In our weekly Torah portion the five sacrifices that the priests are to perform are described. Further, limitations on the consumption of meat are outlined by the Torah.Our portion concludes with details about the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests and the preparation of the Tabernacle as a holy place. Pesach—First dayExodus 12:37-42;13:3-10 (Plaut  414) and Numbers 28:16-25 (Plaut 1082)Haftarah: Isaiah 43:1-15 (P 1462)Omer CountingBeginning with the second night of Pesach we count the Omer until we arrived in our calendar at Shavuot. To help you with the counting, we have prepared for you a leaflet with a calendar, the blessings and the numbers (COUNTING THE OMER 2017). Traditionally the Omer is counted in the evening, after sunset.

      

  • Torah Sparks: Teach it to your children

    An old saying teaches that we believe what we see, but the reverse is often true: we see what we believe.  And what we believe is often coloured by the stories we’ve learned. In less than two weeks, we are going to celebrate Pesach, Passover. The most important mitzvah for Pesach is to share knowledge with the next generation. But why?When Abraham told the story of one God creating the universe, the idea of history—the belief that we can learn from our past—was created. After all, if there were many gods, as so much of the ancient world believed, what happened yesterday might have no bearing on today, because we might be dealing with a different god.  But with one God there could be one plan and one set of rules, so learning from the past—from yesterday, from our parents, or from the lives of our ancestors—became both possible and essential. It is no wonder that the TaNaCh, our Bible, not only records the victories of the Jewish people, like the hieroglyphics do for the Egyptians, but also our failures.  We must learn from both. Peoples, nations, cultures, faiths: all have stories that inform their vision and help shape their thinking.For many Christians, the world is seen through the story of death and resurrection. For many Muslims, through the image of spiritual struggle and war. For Jews, our vision is one of leaving the slavery of the past, wandering through the wilderness of the present, and moving toward the promised land of the future.Significantly, while so many other peoples speak of “the golden age of the past,” Judaism’s story puts the best of times in the future.  It is the Jewish vision that laid the groundwork for the belief in messianic times for so many people of the world. So important is the Jewish belief in the power of stories—and in particular, our Jewish story—that four times in the Bible we are commanded to tell our story to our children, whether or not they ask to hear it.Our Pesach Haggadah translates this mitzvah into the story of four children—for a good reason. Jewish teaching explains the verse “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”—as opposed to “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”—as a lesson that each of us must find their own way to connect with the Jewish people, its history and with faith until that “faith relationship” becomes personal.  The lesson of the four children teaches us that we must work to understand each individual and hear each question before we respond. Otherwise, we may be providing answers important to ourselves, not those important to our students or children. Our hope is that all our children—every Jew and non-Jew alike—will be connected to our people, our history and our God.Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Adrian M Schell(Source: Lauren Eichler Berkun)

    Torah Reading Shabbat VayikraLeviticus 1:1-5:26 Reading Lev  4:1-21(Plaut 666; Hertz 417)Haftarah: Isaiah  43:21-44:23(Plaut 682; Hertz 424) In our weekly Torah portion God instructs Moses on the five different kinds of sacrifices that were to be offered in the sanctuary: * The olah or “burnt offering” was a voluntary sacrifice that had a high degree of sanctity and was regarded as the “standard” offering. * The minchah or “meal offering” was a sacrifice made of flour, oil, salt, and frankincense.* The zevach sh’lamim or “sacrifice of well-being” was a voluntary animal offering from one’s herd, sometimes brought to fulfill a vow. * The chatat or “sin offering” was an obligatory sacrifice that was offered to expiate unintentional sins. * And finally the asham or “penalty offering” was an obligatory sacrifice that was required chiefly of one who had misappropriated property.

  • Torah Sparks: Shabbat haChodesh—Time is relevant

    The spiritual cycle of the Jewish year depends on an interaction among the flow of holidays, the marking of Rosh Chodesh (the new month) and the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) observance. The holidays and fast days sometimes permeate the surrounding Shabbatot (plural of Shabbat) with holiday themes. These special Shabbatot may create the mood for an upcoming festival, reflect or enhance festival themes, or ease the transition from a festival back into the weekly flow of Shabbatot.This Shabbat we celebrate Shabbat HaHodesh. Shabbat HaHodesh occurs either on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nisan (this year on Tuesday) or on Rosh Chodesh itself. The traditional maftir reading is Exodus 12:1-20, which details eating the  Passover sacrifice, with “your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand”; eating bitter herbs and unleavened bread; and putting blood on the doorposts; and it lists the Passover laws.” The haftarah for our Shabbat, Ezekiel 45:16-46:18, describes the sacrifices that the Israelites are to bring on the first of Nisan, on Passover, and on other festivals in the future Temple.The first day of Nisan is also important as the occasion for God’s commandment, sanctifying the new moon, which begins the additional Torah reading, “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” This commandment moved the determination of months from God’s agenda into the hands of the Jewish people–giving them control over time and the theological/liturgical cycle.  (Source: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/)It is deeply significant that the first national mitzvah that God gave us, while still in Egypt on the very threshold of redemption, was to take control of our time. A slave has scant need for a calendar: he sleeps and wakes, eats and works, lives his entire existence, according to his master’s timetable. Only a free person can determine his own schedule, and only a free nation can determine its own calendar.“Anything that can be done at anytime by anybody will be done at no time by nobody.”All major ideas of Judaism, even though they are intangible, are made accessible by being embedded in time. Therefore, it is of great importance that we mark our time, that we continue to be aware of our “Jewish time”, and not to get lost in the secular calendar. As Jews we give great space to the world around us, and we are even willing to embrace different traditions into our own.  This is good, and important. But we need to be careful not to become slaves again, slaves again of someone or somewhat who determines time for us. On our way to Pesach, it is not only of importance to clean out our cupboards, but also our calendars. Let’s make space for some more Judaism, for Shabbat, festivals and time with our (extended) Jewish family.Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Adrian M Schell