Worship
April 2018 Worship Schedule
April 6 & 7
Friday: Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 pm, Refreshments at 5:30 Saturday: Tisch & Yizkor
9:30 am
April 13 & 14
Friday: Service at 7:30 pm
Saturday: Morning Service 9:30 am
April 20 & 21
Friday: Falafel Friday-Israel Independence Day
6:00 pm
Saturday: Morning Service 9:30 am
April 27 & 28
Friday: Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 pm, Refreshments at 5:30
Saturday: Morning Service 9:30 am
How a Rare Jewish Ritual Added Meaning to Our Family
Pidyon haben (Redemption of the Firstborn) is an unusual Jewish ritual that commemorates the birth of a family’s firstborn child, when that baby is a son. Originally, firstborn sons were inducted into God’s service because they had been spared from the Egyptian plague of the firstborn.
However, when the Jews – firstborns included – built the Golden Calf, the firstborns forfeited their status as servants of God. The priesthood was transferred to the only tribe that did not participate in the construction of the Golden Calf: the Levites, and particularly to the descendants of Aaron.
Ever since, it has been traditional for firstborn males – in a ceremony known as pidyon haben, which typically occurs 31 days after birth – to be “redeemed” from God’s service by a Kohen, considered to be descendants of Aaron.
Pidyon haben is perhaps the rarest of all Jewish life cycle rituals because it can occur only under a perfect storm of circumstances: The child must be male, must be the family’s firstborn child, and must not have been delivered via Caesarean section.
My husband and I welcomed our son, Alexander Dov, on December 4. Although Alex met all the requirements for a pidyon haben, we were torn about whether to have the ceremony for him. At first, the idea of redeeming a newborn son to a Kohen seemed sexist and outdated, but then we thought about how infrequently the ritual takes place and struggled to find a modern context for it. We decided to explore ways to put a present-day spin on the tradition and use the ceremony as an educational opportunity for my congregation.
Our sages offer much commentary for carrying out the pidyon haben ritual. For example, the redemption of the child is traditionally completed by the exchange of five silver coins. In Numbers 18:15-16 we are told that the child is to be redeemed for five shekels, “by the sanctuary weight, which is twenty gerahs.” Since we do not know for sure what amount the shekel of the sanctuary amounts to in modern currency, the Rabbis suggest using the equivalent of 100 grams of pure silver. In the U.S., the custom is to use five silver dollars.
The pidyon haben ceremony affirms that a newborn belongs to God and the Jewish faith. As progressive Jews working toward repairing our world (tikkun olam), our first child also signifies our desire to build a family with an eye toward social justice. In addition to the symbolic ritual of exchanging the five coins, we celebrated Alex’s birth by giving tzedakah (using money to do the work of world-repair or, literally, justice) to five Jewish organizations that are significant to us – one for each coin. We hope that doing so will highlight our devotion to family, education, Israel, and the arts as one facet of welcoming welcome Alex into the Jewish community.
Although pidyon haben is specifically a male ritual, some progressive Jews have created a pidyon habat, adapting the ceremony for a firstborn daughter. As a Jewish woman who is deeply devoted to egalitarianism and the belief that men and women share equal responsibilities in the Jewish community, I researched why the redemption of the firstborn has historically been a male-centered ritual. Although redeeming sons and not daughters may seem sexist, the biblical reasoning applies only to males because in Egypt, only the firstborn males were in danger, which was why only they were redeemed in later generations. Furthermore, a pidyon haben was necessary after the building and worship of the golden calf. Women did not take part in this event directly (nor in any worship during that period), so they did not have to be redeemed into the service of God.
When viewed this way, a pidyon haben does not necessarily represent male superiority. Just as women today wear tallit (prayer shawls), tefillin (phylacteries), and kippot (yarmulkes) during worship, there is no reason a family couldn’t choose to have a pidyon habat as a symbolic gesture for a baby daughter. It is for precisely these reasons that we chose to have a pidyon haben for Alex: to commemorate tradition, to take advantage of a rare opportunity for a mitzvah (commandment), and to lay a foundation for him to live a meaningful life within the Jewish community and beyond.
April Events at a Glance!
NO Hebrew School: Wednesday, April 4
Kabbalat Shabbat: Friday, April 6 at 6:00 (Refreshments at 5:30)
Tisch & Yizkor Service: Saturday, April 7 at 9:30 am with Rabbi’s Matza Brei
NO Sunday School: Sunday, April 8
Breakfast Schmooze: Wednesday, April 11 7-9 am at Select
Hebrew School: Wednesday, April 11 at 3, 4, and 5:00 pm
Holocaust Remembrance/Film: Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00
Oneg Service: Friday, April 13 at 7:30 pm
Saturday Service: April 14 at 9:30 am
Sunday School: April 15 beginning at 9:20 with Hebrew
Temple Board Meeting: Sunday, April 15 at 10:00 am
Israel Independence Day: Friday, April 20
Falafel Friday: April 20 at 6:00
Saturday Service: April 21 at 9:30 am
Sunday Speaker Series: Sunday April 22
with David Alvis
“Michelangelo’s David and Politics of the Chosen People”
Upcoming Events at a Glance!
Rabbi’s Brown Bag Lunch: Wednesday, March 21 at noon
Hebrew School: Wednesday, March 21 at 3, 4, and 5:00
Soup & Salad: Friday, March 23 at 6:00
Sunday School: Sunday, March 25 with model seder
Sisterhood General Meeting: Sunday, March 25 at 12:00 pm
Hebrew School: Wednesday, March 28 at 3, 4, and 5:00 pm
Erev Passover: Friday, March 30-NO Service
Passover Day 1: Saturday, March 31, 9:30 am service
NO Sunday School: Sunday, April 1
NO Hebrew School: Wednesday, April 4
Kabbalat Shabbat: Friday, April 6 beginning at 5:30 with refreshments.
Saturday Service: April 7 with Yizkor and tisch
NO Sunday School: Sunday, April 8
Hebrew School: Wednesday, April 11 at 3, 4, and 5:00 pm
Holocaust Remembrance: Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 pm film with Remembrance
Passover: History
The name Pesach is derived from the Hebrew word pasach, which means “passed over,” which is also the source of the common English name for the holiday. It recalls the miraculous tenth plague when all the Egyptian firstborn were killed, but the Israelites were spared.
The story of Passover originates in the Bible as the telling of the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah recounts how the Children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt by a Pharoah who feared them. After many generations of oppression, God speaks to an Israelite man named Moses and instructs him to go to Pharoah and let God’s people go free. Pharoah refuses, and Moses, acting as God’s messenger brings down a series of 10 plagues on Egypt.
The last plague was the Slaying of the Firstborn; God went through Egypt and killed each firstborn, but passed over the houses of the Israelites leaving their children unharmed. This plague was so terrible that Pharoah relented and let the Israelites leave.
Pharoah then regretted his decision and chased the Children of Israel until they were trapped at the Sea of Reeds. But God instructed Moses to stretch his staff over the Sea of Reeds and the waters parted, allowing the Children of Israel to walk through on dry land. The waters then closed, drowning Pharoah and his soldiers as they pursued the Israelites.
The Torah commands an observance of seven days of Passover. Many Jews in North America and all Jews in Israel follow this injunction. Some Jews outside of Israel celebrate Passover for eight days. The addition of a day dates back to 700-600 B.C.E. At that time, people were notified of a holiday’s beginning by means of an elaborate network of mountaintop bonfires. To guard against the possibility of error, an extra day was added to many of the holidays. Today, a dependable calendar exists, allowing Jews to know when holidays start and end. However, the process remains ingrained in Jewish law and practice for some Jews living outside of Israel today.