Pesach Seder

I've embedded three documents in this post. Here is a brief explanation of them.

The Order of the Pesach Seder attempts to show how the seder falls naturally into four sections. Each section ends with drinking one of the cups. Based on this it is easy to understand a halacha about the four cups. The drinking of the four cups is not fulfilled simply by drinking four cups one after the other. Rather each cup must be drunk in its proper place at the end of its section of the seder.

The second document is the Outline of the Maggid Section of the seder. It is so easy to get lost in Maggid. One mistake people often make is spending lots of time at the beginning of Maggid and then rushing through the last few steps. The real "meat" of the Maggid section is steps 8-14. See Rambam Mishne Torah Hilchot Chametz and Matza chapter 7 halacha 4. It is worthwhile to pace ourselves at the beginning and be sure to devote time to these sections.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that step 17 be slighted. It is certainly important that all participants at your seder be present for the recital of step 17!

The final document is called The Four Parts of the Seder. This chart is based on the book Torah Patterns by R. Moshe Shlomo Emanuel. We are all familiar with the concepts of past, present and future. That which precedes any intentional creation is purpose. Purpose also gives the past, present and future meaning. In the case of the Jewish people, God first determined to create a Holy Nation and that overriding purpose has influenced our past and present and will continue into our future.

The Kadeish section of the seder is the expression of purpose. Kiddush stresses the concept of kedusha which comes from the mitzvot. The purpose of the Exodus is that the Jewish nation should attain kedusha.

In the Maggid section we relate what happened in the past. Maggid ends with reciting two sections from Hallel. These parts of Hallel, more than the rest of Hallel, mention the Exodus. Also, the final blessing of the section is "Who redeemed Yisrael" in the past tense.

The focus of the Seudah is the present and our present freedom. The eating of the matzah and marror do relate to the slavery and bitterness of Egypt. However, by eating them we personally experience that servitude and bitterness and thus pull the past into our present.

The final section of the seder, Hallel, relates to the future. We start out by opening our doors which shows that we are looking forward to a time when no one would dare to intrude and take advantage of any perceived weakness. We ask Hashem to pour out His wrath on those nations who have oppressed us. Also, we pour Elijah's Cup, to show our faith that soon Eliyahu will come and announce the arrival of Mashiach. We recite those parts of Hallel that we didn't say before. This half of the Hallel focuses on the future redemption of the Jewish people.

The other lines of the chart have similar explanations, but I don't have time to write more about them now.

If you have access to the book Torah Patterns, I highly recommend spending time with it.

Chag kasher v'sameach

Read this doc on Scribd: Outline of the Pesach Seder

Parshat Metzora - Two Birds

The week's parsha begins with the procedure for permitting the Metzora to return to his home. Here are some of the verses from Vayikra 14 (Judaica Press translation):

Leviticus Chapter 14
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the person afflicted with tzara'ath, on the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the kohen.
3 The kohen shall go outside the camp, and the kohen shall look, and behold, the lesion of tzara'ath has healed in the afflicted person.
4 Then the kohen shall order, and the person to be cleansed shall take two live, clean birds, a cedar stick, a strip of crimson [wool], and hyssop.
5 The kohen shall order, and one shall slaughter the one bird into an earthenware vessel, over spring water.
6 the live bird, he shall take it, and then the cedar stick, the strip of crimson, and the hyssop, and, along with the live bird, he shall dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird, over the spring water.
7 He shall then sprinkle seven times upon the person being cleansed from tzara'ath, and he shall cleanse him. He shall then send away the live bird into the field.

Verse 4 mentions that "two live, clean birds" are to be used. One bird will be slaughtered (verse 5) and the other bird will be set free (verse 7). We should first note that these birds do not have the status of offerings. In a later stage of his cleansing the metzora will bring offerings. If he has sufficient means then he will bring lambs. If he is poor then he will bring either two turtledoves or two young pigeons (see verse 22). Because those birds will be brought as offerings the Torah specifies only those bird species which may be brought on the altar. However, in the beginning step of his purification the Torah only requires two clean (kosher) birds.

Rashi in his comment to Verse 4 tells us why the metzora brings birds:

Rashi Leviticus Chapter 14
4 clean Excluding an unclean bird. Because lesions of tzara'ath come as a result of derogatory speech, which is done by chattering. Therefore, for his cleansing, this person is required to bring birds, which twitter constantly with chirping sounds.

Rashi's explanation doesn't help us understand why two birds are required. The Baal HaTurim on Verse 7 offers this insight (my translation):

He shall send away the bird: This is a hint that the tzara'ath has flown away from him. And one bird was slaughtered, as if to say, thus the tzara'ath should not come to him again. And one bird was sent away, as if to say, that if he (the metzora) will continue to do evil, the tzara'ath will return to him like the bird that was sent away.

The person who was struck with tzara'ath had engaged in speaking lashon hara. The only way for the tzara'ath to be healed was for him to do teshuva. He has now reached that level. The Baal HaTurim tells us that the two birds teach the metzora that what happens next is up to him. His actions in the future will determine whether or not the tzara'ath returns.

I saw another explanation, but failed to record the source. A person could have thought that after being healed from the tzara'ath that he should never talk again. The Torah tells him that that is not a correct idea. One bird is left alive, that is, still chattering. The healed metzora too is permitted to speak, it is just up to him to learn to speak only in appropriate ways.

I am the Long Tail

Not too long ago Lisa brought home the book The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. His basic premise is very simple. The cost of storing inventory digitally is extremely low, even approaching zero. Businesses with digital inventory can have virtually unlimited inventory always in stock. Not only that, but people will buy the less popular items. Each item may sell only a few times a year, but that can mean thousands of sales each month.

Here is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about this:

The phrase The Long Tail (as a proper noun with capitalized letters) was first coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article to describe the niche strategy of certain business such as Amazon.com or Netflix. The distribution and inventory costs of those business allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The group of persons that buy the hard-to-find or "non-hit" items is the customer demographic called the Long Tail.

I don't sell anything, so how am I the long tail? I've posted several videos on YouTube. Just yesterday I discovered a feature of YouTube. My videos have been viewed over 300 times since I posted the first one last August. YouTube gives me information about where the viewers are located.

For example, my most viewed video is called Lemur Walk. It has been viewed over 200 times.

Here is what's really amazing. It has been seen by people all over the world! Here's a partial list of the countries:

United States
Canada
England
Germany
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
Poland
Croatia
Greece
Brazil
Chile
Turkey

I never would have guessed that viewers were coming from all over the world!

Now I did this just for fun and to share with family and friends. I only hope that those viewing my content enjoy it and come to view Jews and Jerusalem more positively.

Tigers and Elephants

Sunday was our first chance in a few months to visit the Jerusalem Zoo. The weather was perfect for a spring outing. Partly cloudy, even a few sprinkles, and not too many people at the zoo.

We've always enjoyed the zoo on cool days. These are the days that the animals are more likely to be active. We were not disappointed.

Our first stop was the Sumatran tiger exhibit. The Jerusalem Zoo now hosts two tigers - Avigdor and Chana. For months they were in the same enclosure but separated by a fence. That fence is no longer needed so Avigdor and Chana can have all the close contact they want.

When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, Avigdor was lounging on the ridge from which he can see the entire area. Chana was exploring compound right near one of the viewing windows. That is where I captured this video:



A little later we went over to the Asia elephant compound. The Jerusalem Zoo hosts one male, four females, and one male calf. The adult male is separated from the other elephants.

We were treated to a sight that I've never before seen. The mother and son elephants were swimming and playing in the pool.

This was no short dip, stick your foot in and then head back to dry land. They were chasing each other, playing tag, holding each other under the water. It was amazing how long the baby could stay under water. We watched them for at least 20 minutes. Here is the video that I took of them playing:



Here's one very cute thing we saw: Eventually mom decided it was time to get out of the water. The baby then proceeded to stand in front of her and block her from leaving. Mom prevailed and they left the pool. After about thirty seconds on dry land the baby plunged back into the water. He frolicked for another minute or so and then rejoined his mom on land.

First Aid Trained

Back in the old country, when we lived in Baltimore, Lisa took a first aid course. After we made aliyah she was disappointed that she wasn't able to maintain her first aid certification.

That changed a few years ago when Hebrew University decided that interested staff should be trained in first aid. The courses and tests have all been in Hebrew.

This past Sunday they received training in the use of a new defibrillator. After the course was over there was a short ceremony and all those who had successfully completed the course received official Hebrew University First Aid Personnel reflective vests!

Congratulations Lisa.




See, I told you they were reflective vests! Note the Hebrew U. logo on the right side of Lisa's back.