Posts Tagged ‘Pesach’
Special Dvar for Pesach (Passover) 5770
April 2nd, 2010 | 
Author: 
As we sit down on Pesach (Passover) night at the Seder, we make a transition that we wouldn’t realize unless we think about it. All day we prepare the food, making sure we don’t have Chametz (leavened bread), making sure we have all the Marror (bitter plants) and eggs ready. The unleavened bread is to remind us that we’re still poor, the Marror to remind us of the past exile, and the eggs dipped in salt to remind us that we’re still in exile. Then, we start the Seder, and the first thing we say is how this is the “time of our freedom”. We continue by telling the story of how we were freed, and we even act like we’re kings by leaning when we sit! Are we slaves, or are we free kings?
R’ Yerucham of Mir explains that the “time of our freedom” means that not only was it when we were freed from slavery many years ago, but it’s the time when we can do the same TODAY. What does that mean?
Aren’t we free? And if we’re not, how does Pesach ‘free’ us? That’s where Pesach, Matzah and Marror come in. Those are the 3 things that remind us, especially when we’re feeling like kings, that we were slaves, and that we’re still in bitter surroundings. If you think about it, because we were saved from slavery by G-d, we are now indebted to Him, which means that we’re still not, and never will be, really free. The point we have to take from all this is that although we’re free to do as we wish, it’s only worth something when we use that freedom to do something good, and be constructive with our lives.
Pesach teaches us that “freedom” used just for the sake of being “free” is pretty “dumb”!
Passover in 2010 will start on Tuesday, the 30th of March and will continue for 7 days until Monday, the 5th of April.
Note that in the Jewish calander, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Jews will celebrate Passover on the sunset of Monday, the 29th of March.
Tags: 30 March, 5770, 5th April, 7 days, bitter plants, Chametz, eggs, Egypt, exile, free, Freedom, leven bread, Marror, Passover, Passover 2010, Pesach, salt, Seder, Special Dvar | 
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March 2010
| 1 | Annual | National Day of Wales. Feast day of St David. |
| 1 | 1887 | The western occult society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, was founded. Members include the poet WB Yeats and occultist AE Waite, creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. |
| 1 | Annual | Matronalia, the Roman Festival of Motherhood |
| 3 | Annual | The third day of the third month is considered a good time for witches to perform spells of self-empowerment. Invoke the Triple Goddess of the Full/Waxing/Waning Moon and charge up your energies. |
| 4 | Annual | Sacred to Rhiannon, Celtic Mother Goddess. Listen to the song Rhiannon by Fleetwood Max |
| 4 | 1968 | The Church of All Worlds in America, was formerly chartered becoming the first federally recognised church of Neo-Paganism |
| 5 | 1936 | The British fighter plane Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh, Southampton. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine the aircraft will enter service with the Royal Air Force in the next two years |
| 7 | 1876 | The Scottish-born inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, patented the telephone. |
| 7 | 2009 | NASA’s Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. |
| 8 | Annual | International Women’s Day United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace |
| 8 | Annual | Cranberra Day is a public holiday in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on the second Monday of March each year. It commemorates Canberra’s official founding in 1913 and highlights a major festival in the territory. |
| 11- 13 | Annual | Festival of Holi, Central Asia. The Festival of Holi begins on March’s Full Moon and is the first major festival in the Hindu calendar. While the first day of Holi is signified through the lighting of fires, the second day is celebrated by people all over Northern India, Nepal and Mauritius who spend the day throwing colored water around. |
| 13 | Annual | This is said to be a lucky day for witches due to significant numerological vibrations. This is a time to do things that you have been putting off as results are guaranteed |
| 15 | 44BC | “Beware the Ides of March” – Julius Caesar is stabbed by Marcus Brutus. |
| 15 | Annual | Tagata Shrine Hohen Festival, Nagoya, Japan. The village of Komati (just north of Nagoya City) hosts a truly bizarre harvest festival. Komati celebrates the harvest (and continuing fertility). In order to offer a symbol of fertility to a designated deity, the residents of the small town carry a hulking great phallus through the streets, before setting it down in front of a shrine. Meanwhile, onlookers cling to smaller incarnations, while snacking cheerfully on penis-shaped foods. |
| 15 | Monthly | New Moon |
| 16 | Annual | Rosh Chodesh Nissan |
| 17 | Annual | Green, green, and more green. St. Patrick’s Day. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 176. http://www.history.com/content/stpatricksday/history-of-the-holiday |
| 18 | Annual | Sacred to Sheila-na-gig, Pagan Fertility Goddess |
| 19 | Annual | Las Fallas celebrated in Valencia, Spain. Over a five day period leading up to St. Joseph’s Day, satirical statues made of paper-mache are displayed throughout the city of Valencia. Then, come the 19th, they’re set on fire! |
| 20 | Annual | Mabon (Southern Hemisphere) |
| 20 – 21 | Spring Equinox (Northern Hemisphere) when the length of daytime is exactly equal to the length of night time, thousands gather round the ancient Mayan ruin at Chichen Itza and gaze as the temple’s steps cast the shadow of a snake creeping down towards the ground. | |
| 20 – 23 | Annual | Ostara, one of the lesser Sabbats. It is a time of initiation into male mysteries and celebration as Spring is under way and the land is waking up (Northern Hemisphere) |
| 21 | Annual | International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination |
| 21 – 28 | Annual | Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination |
| 22 | Annual | World Water Day |
| 23 | Annual | World Meteorological Day |
| 24 | 1603 | The crowns of England and Scotland were united when King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne. |
| 26 | 1902 | British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes died in Cape Town aged 48. Rhodes who controlled 90% of the world’s diamond production, was influential in establishing the British crown in South Africa and Rhodesia. |
| 27 | 1871 | England and Scotland played their first rugby international, in Edinburgh; first blood to Scotland. |
| 27 | Annual | Lazarus Saturday is the day before Palm Sunday and is part of the Easter celebration of Eastern Orthodox Church and observes the time when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead depicting Jesus’ power over life and death. Christians have celebrated the day before Palm Sunday as “The Saturday Of Lazarus”. |
| 30 | Monthly | Full Moon |
| 30 – 6/4 | Annual | Pesach/Passover. Passover begins at sundown on 29 March and ends at sunset on 6 April. |
Tags: AE Waite, Alexander Graham Bell, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), British Crown, British fighter plane Spitfire, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Town, Cecil John Rhodes, Celtic Mother Goddess, Central Asia, Chichen Itza, Christians, Church of All Worlds in America, Cranberra Day, Easter, Eastleigh, England, Feast day of St David, Festival of Holi, Fleetwood Max, Florida, full Moon, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Hindu, Ides of March, International Peace, International Women’s Day, Ireland, Japan, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Kepler Mission, King James VI, Komati, Las Fallas, Lazarus Sunday, Mabon, Marcus Brutus, Matronalia, Mauritius, Milky Way, Nagoya, NASA, National Day of Wales, Neo-Paganism, Nepal, new moon, Northern Hemisphere, Northern India, Ostara, Pagan Fertility Goddess, Palm Sunday, Passover, Pesach, Racial Discrimination, Racism, Rhiannon, Rhodesia, Rider-Waite tarot deck, Rolls-Royce Merlin, Roman Festival of Motherhood, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, Royal Air Force, rugby, Sabbats, Scotland, Sheila-na-gig, South Africa, Southampton, Southern Hemisphere, space photometer, Spain, Spring Equinox, St. Joseph’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Tagata Shrine Hohen Festival, triple goddess, United Nations Day, United States, USA, Valencia, WB Yeats, Women's Rights, World Meteorological Day, World Water Day |
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Special Dvar for Pesach (Passover) 5769
Pesach (Passover) is filled with the ponderous joys of ancient rituals. After the initial Kiddush follows the ritual of washing our hands, cutting Matzah, having it stolen by kids, having them hold us hostage, refusing to return it until they get what they want. Somewhere in all of this is also dipping a vegetable in salt water, uncovering the matzot, re-cover the matzot, drinking the wine,
refilling the wine, and so on. Why? So our kids (and anyone curious)
should ask why. But as the four questions asked in the “Ma Nishtanah” (“what is different?”) indicate, they are not answered! Why does it seem that we’re more focused on the questions than we are on the answers? Read the rest of this entry »
