Are You the Fifth Child?

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

April 26-27, 2024 • 19 Nissan 5784 • Pesach (Lev 13-15).

The goal of this blog is to bring the fifth child to the Shabbat table.

One of the most familiar motifs of the Pesach Seder is the number four:

Four Cups of Wine

Four Questions
Four Children

There are numerous interpretations of this number, with layers of Biblical and mystical meaning.

But there's one small problem with all these interpretations: according to Rambam (Maimonides), there were originally five questions. And according to Rabbi Tarfon there are supposed to be five cups of wine. Indeed, we follow the Rambam and pour a fifth cup "for Elijah" although we don't drink it.

So that's two of the fours. But what about our third set of four:

Is it possible that there is also a fifth child?

The easy answer is: Sure, that's the one who didn't show up to Seder.
 

But there is another approach to the Four Children that has been mentioned by commentators:

The gematria (numerical value) of rasha (רשע – wicked one) is 570 and of sheinav (שניו – his teeth) is 366. When we "knock out his teeth" — i.e., we subtract 366 from 570 — we are left with 204, which is the gematria of tzaddik (צדיק – righteous one). 

In other words, the goal of responding to the Second Child is not to win the argument — it’s to help him become the righteous child that he has the potential to be.

Now I would like to add one small idea. Each of us has a bit of each child in us. Sometimes we're the wise child who wants to know the details of how to live a meaningful life. Sometimes we're the simple child who simply asks, "Why?" Sometimes we're the too-young child who simply needs to be told. And yes, sometimes we're the wicked child who puts himself outside of the community.

The wicked child is the one who says, "I'm Jewish enough, I don't want to do any more than I'm doing right now, that's for others to do."

Whenever we're in such a mindset, we need our "teeth knocked out" - we need to be told, "No, you are as much a part of the Jewish People as any other Jew - time to step up to the plate. Time to pull your weight. Time to learn a little Torah. Time to start giving tzedakah. The Torah belongs to you as much as as it belongs to anyone else; and your Torah and mitzvos matter as much as anyone else's."

Two weeks ago, we all witnessed an open miracle when Iran launched its long-avowed attempt to attack Israel. This week our enemies brought major universities to their knees in order to broadcast their hatred. What's next? What will it take to wake up this sleeping giant of a Jewish People? Isn't the writing on the wall?

Fun fact: "The writing is on the wall" is a Biblical expression. (I mean our Bible, not theirs.) How many Jews that you know know this? How many can name the book of Tanach where it's found?

When you decide to become the Fifth Child, you're drinking from the Fifth Cup.

Something to think about as you chew matzah and eschew chametz.


Happy Pesach and

Shabbat Shalom

This post originally appeared on the Times of Israel.

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Will This Night Be Different?

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

April 19-20, 2024 • 12 Nissan 5784 • Metzora (Lev 13-15) and Shabbat HaGadol.

The goal of this email is to prep for Pesach at the Shabbat table.
Dedicated to Hinda Chana bas Sarah - may she continue to recover.

Will This Night Be Different?

Two big announcements this week.

First: we've given the JSLI home page a major makeover and it launched yesterday - please send me your feedback: https://jsli.org 

The second announcement needs a bit of preliminary....

Last week I tried to wow you with something new and startling.

This week, the goal is to wow you with something old and startling.

To get to that, try asking this question at the table: Is the joy of Pesach in that it's basically the same Seder every year, or is the joy that there is something new every year?

How about a little of each?

For the first time in three years (this is Announcement #2), we have updated the JSLI Passover Kit. This year's kit includes PDFs of:

+ The Art of Amazement Haggadah - Leader's Edition
+ The Art of Amazement Haggadah - Freedom Edition
+ Seder Bingo ("MATZAH")
+ Seder Charades
+ 40 questions
+ 50 trivia questions (NEW)
+ Various games and activities for younger children
+ 9 videos for all ages
+ and so much more

Here's the download link for the docs part of the kit.

You'll need to enter a password: 613.

Here's the download link for the videos. Same password.

(In the past we made you pay for the kit - this year there is no charge but if you use it, kindly make a donation.)

Now that we got those announcements out of the way, how about another question for your table: What's your favorite part of the Seder?

Hard to choose, right?

One of my personal highlights is everyone singing together the song about the massive attack of 300 missiles and drones and not one hitting its target. 

You know which part of the Haggadah I'm referring to?

I refer of course to "V'hee Sheh Amdah".

V’hee sheh-am-da la’a-vo-taynu v’lanu

sheh lo echad bilvad amad aleinu l’chalotaynu

elah sheh’b’chol dor va-dor omdim aleinu l’chalotaynu
v’ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu matzi-leinu miyadam

 

And it is this that has stood by our ancestors and for us.

For not only one has risen up against us to destroy us,

but in every generation they rise up to destroy us.

But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us from their hands.

The point I'm trying to make is that it ain't nothing new.

(If you don't know the tune, there is still time to learn it - here's a recording.)

What about those who are still in captivity? What about those who will have an empty chair at their Seder? Yes, we will also think about them while we sing. That's what it means to be a Jew.


Wishing you a

Shabbat Shalom

and an HHH Pesach!!


PS... It's rare to meet a Jewish person who doesn't attend a seder. But they're out there - all kinds of Jews who would love to attend a Seder but don't have the wherewithal to make there own. If you have the wherewithal, how about finding one or two and inviting them? And if you're one of those Jews, how about letting it be known that you're available to be invited?

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

My Parents Went to the Eclipse and All I Got Was Lousy Paper Sunglasses....

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

April 12-13, 2024 • 5 Nissan 5784 • Tazria (Lev 12-13). 

The goal of this blog is to change perspectives at the Shabbat table.
Dedicated to Hinda Chana bas Sarah - may she have a complete and speedy recovery.

In a dramatic contrast to last week's announcement of bringing light to the world, this week has been all about darkness.

I refer of course to the Eclipse.

(Notice how I capitalized it there?)

I have literally been thinking about the Eclipse all week.

On Sunday we drove five hours to Ohio to experience the four minutes of shadow.

On Monday we spent half the day preparing for the four minutes of shadow (including making a short video about it), then drove five hours home, still thinking about the shadow.

On Tuesday I started to prepare a Zoom Talmud class about eclipses.

On Wednesday, I taught a Zoom Talmud class about eclipses.

On Thursday I kept telling about it and today I'm writing about it.

The whole week. So I hope you will forgive me if I don't say anything further about the eclipse at this time.

Except maybe one small thing.

When my children (yes, left behind) slapped on those disposable shades to view the 87 percent eclipse, they thought it was pretty cool. It was indeed pretty cool. No, it was more than that - it was way cool.

And I can tell you from first-hand experience that 97 percent is even cooler.

But even 99 percent doesn't compare to 100 percent.

It wasn't merely 1 percent darker. It instantly went from being quite bright to being quite dark, as if someone had simply thrown a switch and shut off the lights.

It's like the difference betwen being in a dark room and a dark room with the shades slightly open on a very sunny day.

In other words, the sun is so strong that even a tiny sliver of sunshine can brighten the whole world.

We all know that the sun is mighty and mighty big, but how mighty and how big? 

It has been said that you were somehow to transport a cubic centimeter of sun to the surface of the Earth, everything with 2 miles would be burnt to a crisp (this video says it better). And the sun is 1,000,000 times the size of the Earth.

But I think we're pretty comfortable with that. Or at least, we're used to it, like we're used to death and taxes, they're simply unstoppable forces that we live with.

So imagine how you'd feel if there were an announcement that taxes were going to be cancelled this year, because the government has enough money. But only for people within a certain area at a specific time on April 15.

Would you drive five hours to be there at that time?

Or how would you feel if someone found a way to literally kill death for anyone who happens to be in central Ohio on a specific day at a specific time?

Would you take the trouble to be there?

Or would you be like those two guys I saw at the Starbucks from where we viewed the eclipse who didn't budge from their indoor business meeting the entire time?

It's easy to write fiction stories about these things, but what if it really happened?

That's what the eclipse is - until you experience it 100 percent, it's like a fiction fantasy.

But then it does happen - the sun's power is gone - in the middle of the sky.

It doesn't need to last more than four minutes - that's plenty of time to get the message. 

Question for your table: What is the message?


Shabbat Shalom

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

Restoring the Kuzari

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

April 5-6, 2024 • 27 Adar 2 5784 • Shemini (Lev 9-11). 

The goal of this blog is to bring some tradition to the Friday night dinner table.

Continuing last week's theme of thinking and thanking...

A few months ago, I saw a comment online about a new book that "destroys" the Kuzari Argument.

The thesis intrigued me because the Kuzari is arguably the backbone of Judaism.

So I of course bought and read this book and — lo and behold — discovered seven major errors, both factual and logical.

So I decided that his rebuttal needed a rebuttal and wrote my own new book (or booklet) on the Kuzari.

While the impetus was a rebuttal to the rebuttal, the final product is actually a great vehicle for simply teaching the Kuzari Principle. Even if you never read the book I'm rebutting, you (or someone you know) may find it quite interesting.

Features:

1. It's short - very quick read.
2. It explains in very clear terms what the Kuzari is and why it matters.
3. It delineates the two different Kuzaris (very few people know that there are actually two).
4. It's available in paperback, hard cover, Kindle, and Apple Books.

(The paperback version is pocket-size.)

By a happy accident, it is out just in time for Pesach. If you are planning to participate in a Seder this year (in just over 2 weeks!) this may be a meaningful gift for everyone at the table.

What is the Kuzari?

In a nutshell, it's an answer to the following question (which you might try at your Shabbat table):

Did the Pesach/Passover story really happen?

To which we might add: 

Does it matter either way?


Shabbat Shalom

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.