Celebrating Pesach as Liberal Jews - by Rabbi Elli Tikvah-Sarah
Today is Shabbat Ha-Gadol – ‘The Great
Sabbath’ that precedes Pesach – when, traditionally,
rabbis are supposed to deliver great, long sermons about Pesach
observance… So, here goes! A not so great, long sermon
on Pesach observance – with a difference…
On Wednesday evening, Jews the world over will begin celebrating
the festival, which, arguably, is the most important one in
the entire Jewish calendar – and incredibly, despite denominational
and cultural variations, the great majority will be doing, more
or less, the same thing: Sitting down to a seder and reading
the tale of the Exodus recounted in the Haggadah –
or rather in the version of the Haggadah that they
use. What an amazing phenomenon: The Jewish people united in
this special act of identification with the event that has defined
our existence ‘from Egypt until now’ (Leo Baeck).
The Jewish people as one: The Hebrew expression for this is
k’lal Yisrael. For some people, the imperatives of being
k’lal Yisrael mean that all Jews must express their Judaism
in line with Jewish tradition as interpreted by the Orthodox.
The approach of Liberal Judaism is quite different: The People
Israel encompasses a plurality of ways of Jewish life: We are
all part of one people that emerged out of the experience of
our liberation from slavery, but we make sense of our inheritance
in different ways, which means we also live our lives as Jews
in different ways.
Imagine for a moment that it was possible to zoom around the
world on Seder Night and look into the windows of every home
and every synagogue – Santa Claus on Christmas Eve comes
to mind, but the Jewish Pesach version would, of course, be
Eliyahu Ha-Navi, Elijah the prophet. Anyway, what would we see?
People sitting around a Seder table. But Elijah is not expected
to hover outside. So, imagine, you are Elijah, knocking at every
Jewish door across the globe, and sitting down with the assembled
gathering in every place. What would you really see when you
got that close to the proceedings? That every Seder is different.
But each one is a Seder. There are thousands of different Haggadot
in print – and more are published each year – but
each one is a Haggadah.
I’m sure no one here would have any problem recognising
that – to recall Gertrude Stein’s famous three-fold
utterance – a Seder is a Seder is a Seder, even when there
are so many different forms of Seder and so many different Haggadot.
But, of course, the Seder is only one of the observances associated
with Pesach. What about the practice of removing Chameitz –
leavened foods – and refraining from eating Chameitz during
the entire period of the festival? Surely, you either remove
it or you don’t? Surely, here it’s not possible
for there to be plurality within the one practice. But the fact
is it’s not just a choice between removing or retaining
Chameitz, between keeping a Jewish observance and not keeping
it. There are a plurality of ways of interpreting both what
constitutes Chameitz and what we should do with it. Long before
there were denominations, designated as Orthodox, Liberal, Reform,
and so on, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews defined Chameitz differently.
The original text found in the Torah, in Exodus chapter 13 (:6-7),
couldn’t be clearer: leaven must be removed. But what
does constitute leaven? For Ashkenazi Jews, with roots in potato-eating
northern Europe, Chameitz includes foods that behave in a leaven-like
way, like rice and peas and beans, which expand when cooked,
so these foods must be removed. For Sephardi Jews, on the other
hand, with roots in more southern climes, for whom, rice and
legumes are staple foods, these items are not Chameitz and may
be eaten. So when a Sephardi Jew observes the practice of removing
Chameitz, she or he actually retains some items that are Chameitz
from an Ashkenazi point of view. So, Chameitz is Chameitz is
Chameitz – even when it isn’t.
And what about Liberal Judaism? What do we do about Chameitz?
Of course, the minute I ask this question I encounter a problem.
The basic difference between Liberal Judaism and other denominations
is that we do not lay down rules that everyone should observe,
but rather enable individuals to make informed choices about
what they will do and not do. So, the first answer to my question
must be that, Liberal Jews do different things when it comes
to Chameitz. But, while Liberal Judaism does not issue rules
and regulations, it does articulate particular values and principles,
which Liberal Jews are urged to adopt, and which have implications
for how we practise our Judaism. As I’ve said on other
occasions, if the catch-phrase of Orthodox Judaism, is na’aseh
v’nishma, ‘we will do and we will listen’
– recalling the People Israel’s response to the
Covenant as recorded in Exodus chapter 24 (:7), the catch-phrase
of Liberal Judaism is Nishma v’na’aseh, we will
listen and then we will do: Liberal Jews listen before we act;
studying Jewish teaching and listening out for what the Eternal
One requires of us today is the first step.
So what are the values and principles that might inform what
Liberal Jews do about Chameitz? To respond to this question,
we must examine how our particular understanding of Judaism
informs our approach to observing Pesach altogether. In the
current issue of the shul magazine, Open Door, I have focussed
on the core Liberal values associated with Pesach, and drawing
on these values, outlined what is distinctive about observing
Pesach as a Liberal Jew. I would now like to explore what I’ve
said there a little more deeply.
In my view, a Liberal Jewish approach to Pesach begins with
three key Liberal Jewish commitments, which have implications
for how we observe Pesach as Liberal Jews. The first of these
is:
A commitment to do what we can to put the message of
liberation and justice at the heart of the Exodus story into
practice in the world in which we live
Putting the message of liberation and justice into practice,
involves relating the story of our ancestors to, for example,
the plight of those living under oppressive regimes today, and
taking practical steps, like supporting the Medical Foundation
for the Care of Victims of Torture and the other campaigns related
both to refugees in this country and to people suffering persecution
elsewhere, for example in Tibet.
The second commitment is related to the first:
A commitment to ensure that the invitation, ‘Let
all who are hungry come and eat’, with which the Seder
begins in earnest, is not an empty gesture.
At face value, this is a call to hospitality, but another Pesach
observance – the removal of leaven – can also be
highly relevant when it comes to putting a commitment to feed
the hungry into practice. Perhaps, because people are bewildered
and shocked by the excesses of the mainstream Ashkenazi Orthodox
approach to Chameitz, there is a tendency for many Liberal Jews
to reject the practice of removing leavened products. Or, maybe,
it feels hard for one individual in a household to remove Chameitz,
when other people in the same household are not Jewish or do
not wish to observe this practice. I know the dilemma well:
While my Jewish mum removed leavened foods, my Jewish dad kept
them – in a special cupboard for the purpose! What a fuss
you might think? Why bother to remove Chameitz?
I might tend to agree – if it weren’t for some
very positive Liberal Jewish spin-offs. When it comes to the
dos and don’ts of Jewish practice Liberal Judaism is clear:
Liberal Jews should not maintain a Jewish practice if it contradicts
our core principles of justice and equality. Alternatively,
we should maintain a Jewish practice if it demonstrates our
core principles of justice and equality. A Liberal Jewish approach
to Chameitz enables us to fulfil both these requirements: Instead
of destroying the leavened products we remove or selling our
Chameitz to a non-Jew for the duration of the festival, which
are the standard Orthodox practices, we can turn the removal
of Chameitz into an opportunity for Tz’dakah by donating
our leaven to help non-Jews in need. And, indeed, for the past
two years the Migrant Help-Line in Brighton has been the recipient
of our collective leaven donations at BHPS. Meanwhile, if we
don’t approve of expensive products labelled ‘Kosher
for Pesach’ that have nothing to do with leaven, like
‘Kosher for Pesach’ coffee, for example, we can
always donate the money we save by not buying these goods to
Tz’dakah.
Pesach doesn’t just remind us of our common inheritance
as Jews, and it doesn’t just rehearse some of our key
values as Liberal Jews, it also gives us an opportunity as Liberal
Jews to put our values into practice by directing our observance
of Pesach to doing what we can to help those who are persecuted,
marginalised and vulnerable, as well as the poor and needy in
our midst. But the festival of liberation is not just about
what we do for others – and this is where the third commitment
comes in:
A commitment to making a connection between our ancestors’
experience and our own experience.
As I say at the top of the sheet about Chameitz included in
the April issue of Open Door – and pinned up on the Notice
Board: Pesach is a time of renewal. One of the ways in which
we demonstrate our readiness to renew our lives is by removing
Chameitz, which symbolises everything that is puffed up, stuffy,
stagnant, toxic and excessive. At Pesach we have the chance
to celebrate the liberation of our ancestors and the arrival
of the spring by cleaning out our homes, cleansing our systems,
refreshing our spirits, and making a new beginning. So, making
a connection between our ancestors’ experience and our
own experience, involves examining the ways we are enslaved
in our daily lives and using Pesach as an opportunity to break
destructive habits – by spending a week eating a simpler,
healthier leaven-free diet, for example: Just imagine it –
Pesach as an annual ‘de-tox’ opportunity! No bread
or pasta or cakes for a week – or special Pesach products,
which are designed as substitutes for leaven, including imitation-leaven
Pesach goodies – just plenty of fresh organic vegetables
and fruits, alongside some healthy brown rice and pulses, of
course!
So, Pesach, Liberal Jewish style – it couldn’t be
more different – but it’s still Pesach. May the
Season of our ancestors’ liberation inspire us to renew
our own lives, and to do what we can to make a difference to
the lives of the needy and oppressed throughout our world. And
let us say: Amen.
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah,
Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue – Adat Shalom
Verei’ut
8th April 2006 – 10th Nisan 5766
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