Monthly Archives: April 2019

Jewish tradition provides appropriate greetings for every Jewish festival or commemoration. We use different greetings for Shabbat, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, just to mention some examples. Regarding the festivals, there is one greeting that works well for all of them. It is the simple and very general Chag Sameach, which means “Happy Holiday” or “Happy Festival”.

It is interesting to note that during Pesach we add one word to this general greeting. That word is “kosher.”  On Passover we say Chag Pesach Kasher Vesameach, which means “A Kosher and Happy Holiday of Passover”. Why do we do this?

The most credible explanation is that on Pesach the laws of Kashrut are much stricter than during the rest of the year. All of us who prepare for Pesach know that it requires a lot of effort to properly clean the house, prepare the appliances and cook the meals for the eight days of the festival. If eating Kosher is one of the main aspects of the Jewish experience, eating Kosher during Passover is of paramount importance!

The stringent laws of Pesach are very important and part of the atmosphere of this cherished festival. However, it is certainly no less important to experience the spirit of these laws. Some people are so worried and stressed about fulfilling the Kashrut of Pesach that it is hard for them to relax and enjoy the festival and its significance. That is not what we want to happen. We definitely want to have a kosher holiday, but also a happy one.

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This week’s parashah, Parashat Metzorah, deals mainly with the rules concerning Tzaraat, leprosy, and describes the ritual of purifying and reintegrating the person who was ill with that disease back into the society.

In addition, the text also mentions the appearance of a “plague” in the stones of a person’s house. It is written:

“When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, “Something like a plague has appeared upon my house.” (Vayikra 14:34-35).

According to these verses, when someone found in his or her house a plague, that person had to tell this to the priest.

It is interesting to note that the person was not asked to solve the problem or abandon the house.  A person was only required to go to the Cohen, the priest, and tell him what is happening in the house. The person had to admit that something wrong was happening in his house, and it was out of his control.

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This will be a different and special Shabbat because we will read from three different Torah Scrolls. We will read the regular weekly Torah section, or parasha, from the first scroll. Then, because this Shabbat is Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of a new Hebrew month, we will read the corresponding paragraph from the second scroll. Finally, this Shabbat marks the beginning of the month of Nissan, and thus we call it Shabbat Hachodesh. During this Shabbat we have a special Torah reading (which this year we will read from a third Torah scroll), that describes the first night of Passover.

Shabbat Hachodesh occurs either on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nisan or on Rosh Chodesh itself as it does this year. The maftir reading is Exodus 12:1-20, which contains the orders to eat the Passover sacrifice, bitter herbs (maror) and unleavened bread (matza). It also includes God’s order to put blood on the doorposts and many more Passover laws.

This same reading includes the first public commandment given in the Torah, which is that we must sanctify the new moon. As it is written, “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” This is a remarkable commandment because it gives the Jewish people the power to control their own calendar. You may say that God gave the Jewish people control over  their time.

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