Confessions of a Matza-holic

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By the time you read this, you will have eaten as much matzah as is ritually prescribed and THEN some.  You will have seen it in its many permutations; Matzah Brye, Matzah French Toast, Matzah Pizza, Matzah Kugel, Chocolate Matzah, Matzahball soup, and any number of dessert ‘confections’ made with that mysterious substance… MATZAH FLOUR, which I can only imagine to be the remains of sandblasted matzah… or, perhaps, the PYRAMIDS themselves!

I’ve hunted for matzah in Paris, where it is known as “Pain Enzyme’ defined as pain sans levain que le peuple Juif mange à Pâques (Hébreu) – bread without leavening which the Jewish People eat during the Hebrew Easter!  I’ve eaten U.S. Army surplus matzah in the synagogue in Tokyo, where, I believe, all unconsumed matzah originally sent to soldiers in the Pacific is shipped after Passover, and where it is consumed at kiddish luncheons for THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!! (The perfect accompaniment to ARMY SURPLUS GEFILLTE FISH?)

The largest matzah eating orgy I’ve attended was at Kibbutz Ein Harod where over a thousand kibbutzniks and their extended families all ate in one very large hall at a VERY large seder!  Even though this was a secular kibbutz, Passover brought everyone back to the fold… even if it was only for one night.

The most poignant matzah sharing was the seder held at my sister’s home only hours after my father’s funeral. My sister was convinced that dad had somehow “rigged” his passing so that she would be compelled to host a seder for the ENTIRE family!

Before the holiday of Passover, traditionally we “search for the Chumetz” that is, to clean out all the crumbs of food that contain leaven and then ceremonially, burn the last few crumbs. There is to be no chumetz in our settlements… or in our automobiles for the aficionados of the “drive up window.” Certainly, this is a form of “spring cleaning” but the symbolism of the chumetz, or chametz, can’t be missed.  Chametz is all that is inflated within us.

I am thinking, however, that what we SHOULD have at the END of Passover is a collection of MATZAH CRUMBS!  Instead of counting down the minutes until we can order PIZZA again, maybe we should COLLECT matzah crumbs!  They can be symbolic of all the Passovers we have spent with loved ones, the Passovers celebrated during good times, the Passovers observed during difficult times.  The matzah crumbs can also recall the times when, out of memories of loss, we are reluctant to even sit down to the Seder table and reenact the story.  Eating matzah has been part of our ritual heritage since the very beginning… but it has been part of our OWN life experiences as well, whether growing up Jewish or coming to Judaism later in life.

Jews are storytellers by virtue of their literary heritage.  After all, what is the Passover Seder if not story telling?  But AFTER we’ve told the story we are commanded to tell, it is time to kick back and collect a few matzah crumbs.  Those matzah crumbs tell OUR stories.  Everyone has matzah memories.  Take a moment to inventory YOUR matzah memories.  Try to reinterpret them as an adult… since many of your memories probably come from your youth (especially the memories of how hungry you were before the seder, how long the seder was, and how it was all done in Hebrew so you didn’t understand a word!)

Take a moment out of your busy day, sweep up some matzah crumbs, and ponder the following:

•    What are your earliest Passover memories, not just the seder, but preparing for the holiday?
•  When did you first participate in a seder?

•  Can you recall the people at past seders?
•  Do you remember the food, the melodies, the atmosphere?
•  Do you think back on those who have died, but now live on in your Passover memories?
•  Have there been marriages and births, enabling you to create new memories?
•  How does it feel to share the Passover experience with others who are not related to you?
•  What are your most unusual Passover stories?

As you eat up the last few boards of matzah… look deeply into that empty box, stare at the last few crumbs, and firmly place the events of THIS Passover in your mind so that you may look back on this time and remember.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

Once we were THE CHOSEN! – Now we are all JEWS BY CHOICE!

When I was a kid, I travelled quit a bit. Usually the most exciting thing in the room (I pre-date mini-bars and in-room movies) was the PHONE DIRECTORY!  In every city I looked up the category “SYNAGOGUES and TEMPLES.”  In a big city, this list could run several columns.  You’d find the usual, “Beth El” – House of God, “Beth Torah” – House of Torah, “Rodeph Shalom” – Pursuer of Peace, “Temple Har Sinai” – Mt. Sinai.

HOWEVER, on occasion you might come across more creative names, “Bet Shira”– House of Song, “Bat Yam” – Daughter of the Sea,  “Sha’ar Zehav” – Golden Gate (located in San Francisco),  “Kol BeRamah” – A Voice in a High Place (Santa Fe, New Mexico) , “Or Ha-Tzafon” – Light of the North (Anchorage, Alaska).

Many years later I walked into a shul called Congregation “Bet Breira”.  I had no idea what that meant so when I met the founding rabbi of the temple, I asked… “What does ‘Bet Breira’ mean?”  His answer confused me!  “It means ‘House of CHOICE!’”

I was momentarily befuddled.  Had it been named “HOUSE OF UNBENDING RULES” or “HOUSE OF THE THREE HOUR SHABBAT MORNING SERVICE” or HOUSE OF IT’S OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY” – I could have grasped it.  But what could “House of Choice” possibly mean?  The rabbi put it in terms any Jew could understand.

“You know how in a Chinese restaurant there are so many options on the menu that you can’t choose which appetizer you want, so you order the Pu Pu Platter that has a little of this and a little of that?  Well, think of our shul as the Pu Pu Platter of JUDAISM!  You don’t have to decide all at once.  You don’t have to take everything… but you can try a little of everything and take what you like.”  It turns out he was a man WAY ahead of his time.

The phrase “Jew By Choice” has, traditionally, been reserved for people who have converted to Judaism and adopted a Jewish life.  It goes back to the Book of Ruth when Ruth says to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “Your People shall be MY People and YOUR GOD shall be MY GOD.” But that isn’t the case anymore.  Today we are ALL Jews by Choice.

How is that?  Well, we live in a global marketplace of ideas, products, and commitments and we find ourselves constantly making choices about how we will spend our time (our most valuable asset) and our money (our second most valuable asset.)  As the array of secular opportunities grows, things that pull on our time can pull us away from our “Jewishness.”  But we also live in a world of increased JEWISH opportunities and choices.  In fact, Judaism or “Jewish-ness” has evolved into a marketable item! We “choose” not only with the click of our mouse, or our checkbooks, but most significantly, we “choose” with our “feet” and our time.

We look at the calendar of events and try to make I all “work out.” Just look at the Baltimore Orioles and the Ravens and their “Rosh Hashanah Dilemma” or trying to fit Passover Seders into the Secular School Vacation Calendar!

We all make choices.  We have families who have chosen to enroll their children in Religious School.  We have congregants who have chosen to come out on Saturday morning for Torah study.  We have many folks, members as well as “not yet” members who find the time for fellowship, food and prayer on Friday nights and festivals.  We have members who have chosen to give time; we have others who have chosen to give money. Our Book Club chooses to read Jewish Books. 

So how can we find other ways to engage so that each one of us will choose to be part of a life lived “Jewishly” however YOU choose to define it?

As you are preparing for next week’s Passover Seders, think back on the Israelites who left with Moses.  We explain to our children, “I do THIS because of what the Lord God did for ME, taking ME out of the Land of Bondage with a strong hand, with signs and wonders.”  Yes, God CHOSE to take us out of Egypt and out of Bondage, however we don’t become “THE CHOSEN PEOPLE” until God reveals what He expects from us.

“Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the LORD had given him. All the people answered with one voice, "We will do everything the LORD has commanded." Exodus 24:3.

We have been “Jews by Choice” ever since that day.

Chag Sameach!

Wishing you and yours a Sweet Passover,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

Where there’s SMOKE there’s --- A PAPAL ELECTION! And now the age-old question, “Is it Good for the Jews?”

The first time I watched the throngs of the devoted in St. Peter’s Square awaiting the white smoke, I was nine years old. It was June of 1963 and, thanks to the Telstar Satellite, I was able to sit mesmerized in front of my portable black and white television set and watch it all unfold.

This time, I sat in front of my computer watching live pictures and up-to-the-minute “tweets” scrolling on the side of my screen. On the radio I listened to speculation by broadcasters, and finally, the white smoke. And then there was silence. No one expected the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and a Jesuit, as the new Pope, soon to be known as Pope Francis.

As modern Jews in America, we don’t usually think much about the “Papal Connection” but it has been a point of speculation in ‘higher’ Jewish circles ever since Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement. Who would the new Pope be and would he be “Good for the Jews?”

Thursday afternoon I was asked to participate in a conference call briefing on the recently selected Pope Francis and his views, set up by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the America Jewish Committee. We were briefed by Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, who discussed Pope Francis’s views on the Jewish community, including anti-Semitism and Israel as well as his history and interaction with the Jewish community in Argentina.

I would like to give you a brief synopsis of the highlights, in bullet points, of that conference call, which was, all-in-all a very positive and informative experience. Let me begin by saying that Rabbi Marans expressed that “regarding Catholic/Jewish Relations we have been given the most positive results we could want for positive relations.”

• There had been concern that the potential Pope might emanate from a place where Jews have not lived side by side with Catholics.

• As Archbishop of Buenos Aires he is the first Pope in recent history to live among a “living, vibrant, thriving Jewish community that was known to him and where he participated in more than just commemorations.”

• Argentina has a Jewish population of 200,000 (with most living in Buenos Aires) which is the 7^th largest Jewish population in the world. He has had a very positive relationship with the Jewish community there.

• He wrote a book, along with Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer, the head of the Conservative Seminary in Buenos Aires, dealing with issues such as Inter-religious perspectives on God, the Holocaust, and homosexuality.

• He was vocal and in solidarity with the Jewish community after the 1994 bombing of the ‘Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina’ building, where 85 persons were killed and hundreds wounded in a terrorist attack.

• As Archbishop, he was strongly aware of the pro-Zionist tilt of the Jews of Argentina. However the Vatican has been very cautious in Israel-Arab relations; not outspoken in a judgmental way. Catholic –Israeli political relations is not a primary thing… rather inter-religious relations.

• He has already visited Israel, and there is every reason to believe he will go again, being the third Pontiff in a row to visit Israel.

• President Shimon Peres, during a meeting at his Jerusalem residence with the leaders of the Catholic Church in Poland, congratulated the new Pope. President Peres invited the new Pope to visit Israel and said, "I would like to take this opportunity to invite the newly elected Pope to pay a visit to the Holy Land at the earliest possibility. He'll be a welcome guest in the Holy Land, as a man of inspiration that can add to the attempt to bring peace in a stormy area. All people here, without exception, without difference of religion or nationality will welcome the newly elected Pope."

• Addressing relations with the Vatican, President Peres said, "The relations between the Vatican and the Jewish people are now at their best in the last 2000 years and I hope they will grow in content and depths. I strongly hope to be able to contribute to the progress that the relations between Jews and Catholics have known since the Second Vatican Council, in a spirit of renewed collaboration and in the service of a world that can always be in more harmony with the will of the Creator.”

• Pope Francis reached out immediately to the Chief Rabbi of Rome to attend his Consecration on Tuesday. In his first day as Pope, Francis I wrote to the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome, Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, inviting him to his Inauguration on March 19, and expressing his hope of a renewed collaboration with the Jewish Community.  

We are certainly about to enter a new era in Catholic- Jewish Relations. We’ve had an evolving relationship for 2,000 years. With a non-European Pope, there is hope that we can forge a new relationship with the Vatican, and the next few years should be fascinating as that relationship unfolds.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose