Torah Study, Take Two

Torah study (not recently)

I tried Torah study several months ago at a Reform congregation in a neighboring community. That time, in the room crowded with people, all munching on bagels and chatting, I didn't feel that the content was covered in a way that enlightened me to the meaning in the text. It was mostly people expressing their opinions on the biblical content--not the knowledge or wisdom of the rabbi--or other scholars--leading us.

But last night was different. With Rabbi R R, my Chabad guide, along with me and two other men, sat in the quiet shul at a plastic card table and carefully went through a few sections of this week's Torah portion.

I learned a lot. We listened as the rabbi explained possible interpretations of the text--how different scholars would approach it. We learned there was a reference in a later part of the Torah that shed light on the portion and went there to read it.

We read some Hebrew--the language of the Torah. We had English to look at, too. We asked questions. We discussed what happened.

Did you know that the biblical Jews sent spies into Israel before attempting to enter the promised land? And that when the spies gave a report of a "land of milk and honey" -- but fierce people living there -- the leaders decided to stay in the desert? For that, they paid a price. They would stay in the desert for 40 years, and none of them would enter the land when the Jews finally went in!

How to interpret this? Here's one way to look at it. It was not necessarily that the leaders were afraid of the occupants of the land. That wasn't the issue. It was that in the desert all their needs were met, and they could study and be close to G-d all the time. However, they realized that entering the promised land promised to be a huge and difficult job. That's their big mistake.

How about that?

As these portions go, there are multiple topics. This one also mentioned the use of tzitzit (special fringes on the corners of four-cornered garments), which serve to remind Jews to observe the mitzvot. I enjoyed the fact that one of the three paragraphs I read every day when I put on the tefillin is right there--in the Torah!

I begin to see how a lifetime of this kind of study can slowly illuminate the story of the Jewish people. I'm looking forward to returning again for more.

Don't Pass Over Passover

I went to a Passover seder this year at the Chabad group I've been attending. It was certainly the largest one I've ever been to--with at least 100 folks in the Masonic Center (next to and across from the Christian churches). It was a nice experience, although I was surprised that it seemed to contain a good number of folks who are not Orthodox Chabad members. There were only a couple of black hats and long beards in sight.

That could be because there's a more intimate seder the day after at the Chabad house itself that may be the one the members gravitate to, but I know that as a non-member (but not a non-Jew) I felt like I fit in just fine.

When I walked in (early, of course), I met up with two couples (two brothers and their wives)--one with their handsome high-school-age son, and we got into a conversation. Apparently they've done seders here before, but the wives are not actually Jewish. The two brothers' father was not Jewish either, but mom was--and I met her--a sweet, friendly woman about my mother's age. The sisters and daughters arrived later.

We sat at the end of a banquet-room-length table--paired with another one on the other side of the room and a head table containing my friendly Rabbi RR and his brother, sister, and brother-in-law, among others.

A seder can go on for quite a while and you get pretty hungry before the meal arrives, so we were given a tasty salad to tide us over before the service actually began (at 8:09 p.m.--when three stars are visible in the sky). The we got down to the business of commemorating and reliving the Jews' historic exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago, led by the famous Moses.

I recognized the pieces of the seder plate (see photo) --the baked egg, lamb shank bone, parsley, horseradish, charoses, and so on--because I had seders as a kid, too. The ones I remember were in my family when I was maybe 10 to 15. The last one I had with my family was in 1968 when my father rejoined us just for the seder after my parents' divorce and we all sat around the dining room table and went through the story. I attended a seder in Israel in 1974 but I don't remember it very well--I had just arrived. I have had friendly ones in people's homes over the last few years, too.

There are thousands of different versions of the Haggadah (story of Passover in book form). Some are gender neutral, some are modern, some are quaintly old-fashioned. The book we used (in large and teeny versions) was charmingly illustrated and didn't seem to belabor any of the points. We got through the seder in 90 minutes or so. According to one of the Chabad members I knew from before--John--we may have had a  little "seder lite." He noticed that the rabbi didn't always read the entire passage, but skipped some. Perhaps the significant population of non-regulars prompted his decision.

Like so many aspects of Jewish ceremony, you're supposed to relive the experience, not just sit and talk about it. That's why during the week of Passover you eat matzo--unleavened bread--instead of regular bread. Traditionally, you clean the house thoroughly of any sign of risen dough before Passover. It sounds like a great reason to do a thorough spring cleaning --always a good idea.

The rabbi said we don't want to see this as some quaint observance of things long past, but as a living participation in the seminal event of Judaism. Yes, Abraham was born earlier, but the exodus into the holy land is what made Jews Jews.

Of course, Passover (or Pesach, as it's called in Hebrew) is ancient, and has not always been celebrated this way. According to Hayyin Schauss in The Jewish Festivals, it started out as a spring holiday that was combined with an unleavened bread holiday. It had its highest level of observance when the second temple stood in Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Romans, when real animal sacrifices were done en masse and people gathered in groups to consume the special meat. Things broke down after the temple was destroyed, but Schauss says that Jews in the Middle Ages, who had  many issues to contend with, celebrated Passover much as we do today.

Joining in at a Chabad Saturday Service

I was invited to attend a Saturday morning service by Rabbi RR, and I accepted. It was to be followed by lunch, so I figured I'd get a good chance to meet some of the people who attended the shul and see how they felt about things. Rabbi RR suggested I drop in once the service had already started, so I got there at about 10:30 a.m.

The Rabbi placed a tallit over my shoulders, directed me to come up to the front of the room, and I grabbed a siddur (prayerbook) and joined in.

While Reform and Conservative synagogues are set up on the "church" model, where the professional religious staff performs a ritual that parishioners may or not be involved in, the Orthodox model is more participatory. Although the rabbi is the nominal leader, anyone can direct the service who knows how it goes. There is an order, and there are some long prayers in Hebrew to say, but they're all there in the book. Occasionally, I watched the rabbi say a passage very quickly--like an auctioneer--and then slow down. Some of the people spoke the prayers at their own pace, and you could hear them in the background.

The centerpiece of a Saturday service is reading from the Torah--the sacred scrolls containing what a Christian would recognize as the first five books of the Old Testament or the Pentateuch. The common English translation is NOT the King James version, but it reads in a "thee and thou" way. There are other translations into more standard modern English too, but it's most satisfying to hear it in Hebrew, and then have the Rabbi explain what's going on.

It's an honor to help with the reading--to be called "up" for an aliyah. There is a short prayer that you chant before the section of the Torah portion that is read while you're up there, and a short concluding prayer. I was surprised--and pleased--to be called up for the fourth of the seven aliyahs. Using my Hebrew name--Shlomo ben Mendel--the rabbi beckoned me up to the folding table that he used to hold the precious Torah, which had been ceremonially removed from the "ark" where it normally lives. It had the wooden spindles on each end and the beautiful hand-written text on its parchment.

I said the first prayer--which I not only remembered, but got to hear three others recite before me, and it was written on a large card on the table in case you needed help to remember it. I was surprised that it was the very same one we used in the Reformed temple when I was a kid!

I stood next to the rabbi as he read, with my hand on the Torah's wooden handle. After reciting the concluding prayer a few minutes later, I moved to the side as a young man, came up and did his part. After you finish and step back to your seat, others shake your hand, congratulating you for participating. It felt great.

The service proceeded after the Torah reading for a while, including a Haftorah reading from the Prophets. At the end of the service, the rabbi wished us "Good Shabbat" and we stepped away to have lunch.

There was a nice spread in the kitchen, and I helped myself before sitting down at the long table with the others. We had a very pleasant and interesting conversation about Jewish subjects, including a little wine and some hard liquor (in small quantities). Shabbat is a happy time, even though we also discussed a few people who were ill and one man's sister, who had just died unexpectedly a few days before--in her 40's. The man had said the mourner's kaddish prayer during the service, so assumed that had suffered a loss recently.

The Orthodox service, as done by the Chabad folks, is inclusive, and I was pleased that I knew enough to participate. I felt at home there, which surprised me a little. I will be meeting with the rabbi this week to talk about the upcoming holiday of Purim, and I'm sure I'll be back for Saturday soon.