Rabbi's Blog

This Dvar Torah should be for a refuah sheleima for       Yakov Eliezer Ben Yocheved

We are now entering the home stretch of Pesach preparation. In addition to cleaning the house, buying new clothing for the children, and getting ready to travel  for those coming and going, is the buying of food and ultimately preparing the right menu for all of Pesach. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Pesach is the most difficult, stressful, and expensive Yom Tov of the year. We are also well aware of Ben Hey Hey’s teaching in Pirkei Avos 5:26 :“L’Fum Tzaara Agra” -  ”According to the pain is the gain”. In loose terms ‘no pain no gain’ means making something worthwhile requires effort and hard work. Unfortunately, sometimes the gains are lost before we have a chance to deposit them into our account; we have complained so much during the preparation we tend to forget the lofty goals and purpose of our efforts.

Leil Seder, ‘the night of Order’, Rabban Gamliel instructs us to recite three components of the Seder: Pesach, Matza and Marror, and if wefail to recite these three words  we will  not have fulfilled the mitzva of the Seder. Without the Beis HaMikdash we are relegated to only two of the three foods that we are commanded to eat: matza and marror. Because the Korban Pesach is not offered today,  we eat the Afikoman as a reminder of that meat. A second sacrifice which was offered on Pesach, the Korban Chagigah, is represented by a hard-boiled egg on the Seder plate. Some have the custom of eating a hardboiled egg before the meal as a zecher/reminder of that sacrifice as well. These three symbolic foods are the key to a well-balanced meal: protein, carbohydrates and vegetables (which comprise carbohydrates, protein and fat).

Reb Chaim Meir of Viznitz, one of the great Chassidic masters, after settling in Eretz Yisrael told his Chassidim, “There is one great thing I like about this country. The people remark when asked in Hebrew ‘Mah Nishma’, loosely translated as ’how is everything’, they reply,“HaKol B’Seder”  - everything is in order.  The Chasidic master then quipped,  “They don’t know how right they are. HaKol - everything - is dependent upon what happens at the Pesach Seder!”

A well-balanced meal is exactly that. Certain foods  give us the nutrients we need on a daily basis. I am not a fan of the different diets that are out there, cutting out one section of our diet. A true diet includes eating  the correct, healthy foods from the entire spectrum. I would imagine that in the same manner an array of foods provide us with the nutrients we need to be well rounded, so too physical foods eaten for religious and spiritual reasons also need to be well-balanced. Matzah, Maror and Pesach (sacrificial meat) aren’t only physical foods that give us our daily-recommended nutrition. They also provide us with the spiritual nutrition we require because of their link to a mitzva. Whatever the spiritual nutritional values there are in Matza, Marror and Pesach, we must realize we aren’t just eating some cracker, leafy vegetable and an egg. The spiritual value we take in from these foods is beyond the scope of this article, but nonetheless critical for our spiritual well-being. The balancing of our spiritual diet on the Seder night determines our spiritual health for the rest of the year. Everything, our entire spiritual health and well-being, is determined at the Seder.

Throughout the ages different people were assigned the task of spiritually correcting the heath of the Jew. One person who fit this bill was the Navi (prophet). The Neviim were in charge of keeping the Jews on the correct path, particularly regarding the spiritual aspect of that path.  One of the books of the Navi is called ‘Trei Asar’, the Twelve Prophets. These were the twelve prophets whose prophecies were shorter than some of the other Major Prophets. The Gemara Bava Basra 15a ascribes the recording of the prophecies of the Twelve Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. Accordingly, this book was not committed to writing until the return following the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the First Beis HaMikdash. This week’s Haftorah for Shabbos HaGadol is taken from the Navi Malachi 3. The Navi Malachi, in urging the Jews to repent, focuses on the reward and the punishment for separating tithes. In 3:10 the Navi states: “HaVeeoo Es Kal HaMaaser El Beis HaOtzer Vihee Teref B’Beisi U’Vchanuni Nah BaZosAmar Hshem Tzivaos…” “Bring the whole of the tithes into the treasury so that there may be nourishment in My House, and test Me now therewith says the Lord of Hosts”. The commentary Daas Mikra explains the Navi’s instruction to bring ‘all the tithes’. Evidently, the B’Nei Yisrael brought only Trumas Maaser (a ten percent portion that the Levites had to give to a Kohen from their portion), the priestly portion, but kept the Levite’s portion to themselves. This passuk urged them to bring all tithes to the Temple. This urging was a call to repentance because the land was cursed and did not produce what it should have, specifically because they did not give the proper tithing.

Perhaps I may suggest that the diet of the Jewish nation as a whole must include the spiritual menu for all branches - the Kohanim, Leviim and Yisraelim. Clearly the Kohanim were receiving their portion, but the Levites were not getting their entitlement called Maaser Rishon, the first Tithe which is ten percent taken after Terumah was separated for the Kohain. The well-balanced diet of the Jewish people is at the discretion of Terumos and Maasros. We are spiritually healthy visa~ vis our diet if we apportion the proper amounts to the intended individuals.    

When we sit down to our Sedarim next week, let us not only eat the physical foods during the meal.  We should  concentrate and focus on the physical mitzva foods of Matza, Marror and the egg. Try to envision the physical food transform within each of us to become a spiritual diet with which HaShem will nourish us both physically and spiritually. This well-balanced meal will not only be the menu for the night but will also provide the nutrition needed for the entire year. Remember,  it all comes from the SEDER!

Ah Gut Shabbos & Ah Kasher Pesach

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky