Subject: PASSOVER: THE SHOOTS OF SPRINGTIME
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 00:39:20 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il, arutz7-b@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 Op-Ed: THE SHOOTS OF SPRINGTIME
THE SHOOTS OF SPRINGTIME
by Rabbi Yossi Sarid
Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio
Broadcast on April 9, 1998 / Nisan 13, 5758
In This Article:
1. Holiday of the Mouth
2. The Two Births
3. Nisan: The Spiritual and Social Birth
4. Togetherness
5. Shooting Forth in the Springtime
6. Uniting Creation
1. HOLIDAY OF THE MOUTH
Pesach - the Hebrew word for Passover - can also be read as "Peh-sach,"
meaning, "the mouth speaks." This is in fact is a fine representation of
Pesach: we are obligated to speak, to tell, to relate the story of the
Exodus from Egypt, and, in the words of the Haggadah, "Whoever relates more
is the more praiseworthy." But we use our mouth for other holy acts during
Passover: we eat the matza and maror, and recite special blessings over
them. On no other holiday do we recite a blessing over the act of eating.
This is thus a holiday of the mouth that talks, the mouth that eats, the
mouth that is holy. Just like Shavuot is the holiday of the ears - "the
ears that heard the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai" - and Sukkot is the
holiday of the eyes that behold the "hadar" (beauty) of the lulav and
etrog, Pesach is he holiday of the mouth.
>From the day we are born, we use our mouth to obtain food, so that we may
subsist. The use of our mouth as a tool for speech begins much later, when
we begin to connect with our environment, and with those that comprise our
society. Speech is what distinguishes us from other forms of creation.
Our Rabbis have taught us that creation is divided into four levels:
inanimate forms, plant life, animal life, and those that talk. Our use of
speech, then, is what raises us above animals.
2. THE TWO BIRTHS
The use of the mouth to eat and to speak represent the two births of a
person, as my rabbi and teacher Rabbi Elimelech Bar-Shaul wrote in his work
Mitzvah VaLev: "Every person is born twice - once against his will, and
one in accordance with his will; one by others, one by himself; one birth
is cursed with labor pains, the other is blessed with the pangs of
creation; the first is over quickly, the second continues for one's whole
life; one is chiefly the birth of a body, the second is the birth of his
soul; one is his exit from his mother's womb, while the other is the
revelation of his inner spirit via Torah and its commandments."
3. NISAN: THE SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL BIRTH
The Talmudic dispute whether the world was created in the month of Nisan or
in Tishrei is a manifestation of the above differentiation. The private
birth, that of the body, is in Tishrei [the physical beginning of the
year], while our social and spiritual birth is celebrated in Nisan. The
famous first [passage of] Rashi [commentary] in the Torah quotes Rabbi
Yitzchak who says that the Torah should ostensibly have started with the
first commandments to Israel, that of the month of Nisan and the Exodus
from Egypt. The question is based on the above concept, that Nisan is our
national birthday, our emergence as a nation, as an entity that
communicates, as the recipient of the Commandments.
4. TOGETHERNESS
The main aspect of the Pesach commandments is the "togetherness": We eat
the Paschal lamb as a group, and there must be enough people to complete
it, and if not then neighbors should join together, etc. For this reason,
the Pesach commandments are based on talk, on making contact in this way,
talking, telling, asking, answering. The main feature of the holiday is
the "Korban Pesach" (Paschal lamb) - to "come close" (korban) via the
"talking mouth" (Peh-sach).
5. SHOOTING FORTH IN THE SPRINGTIME
The Torah states, "Today you are departing [Egypt], in the month of
spring." Pesach is the time of "coming out." Until now, each person in
the House of Israel had been his own private individual, living unto
himself. Pesach was the time at which all of the individuals emerged from
themselves into the "klal," the whole society. At this time they began to
realize their relationship and responsibility to others, and to the
commandments that join us together as one team. During the period that a
person builds himself as an individual, strengthening himself and his
roots, this is the time of his "winter." But when he goes forth to the
community, he begins his springtime, the time of blossoming and flowering,
when he gives forth fruit and aroma. In this way the entire materialistic
creation takes on meaning. From this night of Pesach, during which we come
to understand the significance of our "speaking mouth," we may also
understand the holiness of our body. We bless the act of eating, because
it is holy. The physical work of the mouth, too, is part of our spiritual
growth and build-up.
6. UNITING CREATION
This year, the festival of Pesach begins on a Shabbat, and ends [in Israel]
just as the next Shabbat arrives. Our rabbis taught us, "If the Jews
observe two consecutive Shabbatot, they will be immediately redeemed." The
Sabbath that we celebrate every week is based on two types of Sabbath: the
remembrance of Creation, and the remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. If
we know how to keep these two Sabbaths, if we can unite the entire Creation
by uniting the work of the body together with the work of the soul - the
material construction of the society together with the building of its
national soul - this will be the "Day that is Entirely Sabbath," a day of
Redemption, a day of song, a day when we will come and "Sing before God a
new song."
A Happy and Kosher Pesach to all!
* * * * * * *
Rabbi Yossi Sarid, the first hesder student ever, is a founder and teacher
in the Meretz Educational Center (not to be confused with MK Yosi Sarid of
the Meretz party) and the Chairman of the Mevaseret Zion Religious Council.
Arutz-7 wishes our readers a joyous Pesach. Today, Erev Pesach, there will
be no news report.
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