This week’s Torah portion is Emor. This passage gives the most complete biblical account of the holy days. An important feature of any culture or religious system is a regular cycle of festivals and sacred occasions. These celebrations dramatize the ideals of the community and impart color and joy to the life of the participants. The ancients felt that the Festivals were divinely ordained. For the ancients and some modern people as well, it was urgently necessary to observe the Festivals exactly according to God’s commands and on the day prescribed by God.

In Liberal Judaism we have a harder time to make the holidays holy. We give ourselves latitude in celebration rituals. I believe we should do our best to celebrate the holidays as authentically as possible. By celebrating them on the prescribed day we force ourselves to submit to the rhythm of Jewish life. We “see the world with Jewish eyes.” We are always discussing how to celebrate holidays with our children and I mention holiday rituals at services. Let us make every effort to hold on to traditions and celebrate the holidays as authentically as we can.

Cantor Sussman

This week’s Torah portion is a double portion just like last week’s, it is Acharei Mot and K’doshim. K’doshim is the perfect portion to read this week because K’doshim means holiness. President Obama recounted the stories of kindness exhibited by the people of Boston faced with the horror of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. The medical students who were off on Monday rushed back to the hospital to serve, people opened up their homes to stunned runners and everyone raced in to help. They acted in a holy fashion. It says in our holy books, when all the world acts terribly we are always to act as a mensch. The antidote to evil is holiness. We absolutely do not understand how people can perform such heinous crimes. What we do understand is that when people are in need and are helpless, we need to help. God commands us, in this week’s Torah portion K’doshim,”You shall be holy for I the Lord Your God, am holy”. We all applaud Boston for its’ actions following the tragedy. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, we also reach out to that beautiful city of Boston and its’ inhabitants.

Cantor Sussman

In this week’s Torah Portion Sh’mini Aaron begins the job of the High Priest. He is told by Moses to bring sacrifices to the Tent of Meeting. At the conclusion of the sacrifices The Presence of God appears to all those who were present. This was an incredible moment for Aaron as God accepted his offerings and he now knows that he can function as the High Priest for all the Children of Israel. Nadav and Abihu , Aaron’s sons put fire and incense in their fire pans, the Torah calls it alien fire to God. A fire then appears from God and they are immediately vaporized. Moses explains God’s actions to Aaron, saying that the deaths of Nadav and Abihu specifically demonstrate that the responsibilities of the Priest are to do exactly what God asks of them and are not to deviate. Aaron remains silent and does not respond.

The Rabbis have discussed this passage in great detail. They come up with many explanations all of which sound hollow. It is a very troubling passage and no explanation can explain it away. I want to draw attention to Aaron’s response which is silence. There are moments in life where talking does not help and on the contrary is a hindrance. Many times words are not enough they can not explain the depths of feelings that people are experiencing. In our tradition it says when you enter a house of mourning do not say anything to the mourners until they speak to you. Good advice. Before talking it is best to assess the feelings of the mourner, by waiting for them to speak to you, you can respond in kind. We should remember that oftentimes just the presence of a loved one or dear friend is enough.

Cantor Sussman

We just completed celebrating our Seders and I hope they were enjoyable and uplifting. I had a wonderful seder at home with family and friends on the first night. On the second night I co-officiated at a community seder at the JCC. More Jews celebrate Passover than any other holiday during the year. It is a time for families to come together to share in this remarkable story of liberation and faith. Jeremy celebrated Passover in Israel, we of course missed him very much, but due to technology we Skyped and shared Passover greetings. He sent me a picture of the seder table at the house of the people he was staying with. I sent him a picture of our seder table as well so he could have a little slice of home. I have included both the pictures in this article. I purposely did not label them because they look alike.

The table in Israel could be any table set by Jews throughout the world, the same can be said for the Sussman-Vaida seder table. That gave me a moment of reflection concerning our tradition. It is a tradition that spans time and space. When you come to services on Friday night, think for a moment that Jews around the world at that very moment will be singing the Sh’ma with us. So too, last Monday and Tuesday night Jews throughout the world qvelled as their youngest child sang the four questions as their mothers and fathers did before them. It gave me comfort to know that although Jeremy was thousands of miles away he would feel the warm embrace of being with a Jewish family doing exactly what he did when he was with us.

Chag Sameach
Cantor Sussman