With Pesach now behind us and the countdown to Shavuot well under way this is a good week for reflection and some quick observations.
I have often been struck by a portion of the Haggadah that appears just after the Maggid (telling of the story), beginning with L'Feekhach. The Paragraph is an introduction to the Hallel (Psalm of praise) that we sing just before and after the meal. L’Feechach means “therefore” and this section tells us about the obligation to praise God for what God has done for us and our ancestors. It then lists all of the things God had done for us. What intrigues me is the series of dualities presented in the text: slavery/freedom, sorrow/joy, mourning/festivity, darkness/light, servitude/redemption.
It is as if you cannot have one without the other. Each coupling’s polarity inherently draws them toward each other, like magnets. What dawns on me is that the Pesach story presents everything in black and white terms. In real life we don’t have this luxury; things are mostly shades of grey. One question to pose is “where is God in all of this?” If , as our tradition tells us, God is everywhere, then God exists in the extremes and in everything in between.
This is important, because in a traditional sense, we should be praising God for the good things that happen, and seeking God’s guidance when bad things befall us. But we also need to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives for all of the things in between. This is not easy. It is one of the reasons for counting the Omer as we do now until Shavuot. We daily acknowledge our connection to God. Good, bad, or somewhere in the middle, the connection is made.
The second thing that piqued my interest is that this week’s Parsha, Shemini, contains the laws of keeping Kosher. Of all of the commandments, Kashrut is one of the hardest to explain. Those who don’t keep kosher always ask me why I observe the dietary laws.
They want to know the purpose of the laws. While many rationales have been proposed for why God requires us to keep kosher, perhaps the most frequent assertion is that these laws were created for health purposes, because, in part, the prohibited foods were thought to be carriers of disease. In reality, the answer for why we are commanded to eat kosher is actually given right in the text of the Parsha. At Leviticus 11:44, it says: “For I the Lord am your God: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy….For I the Lord am He who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God: You shall be holy for I am holy.”
I am not sure that this answer is satisfactory, but there is certainly something inherently holy in regulating our diet. The natural human propensity would be to eat whatever we can, whenever it is available. Kashrut forces up to be mindful, at all times, about what we ingest. When we carefully consider what we eat, we are better attuned to our real needs. Perhaps, by restricting food choices, we are training ourselves to take what we need, and not necessarily what we want. It may be a small difference, but there is something holy about intentional limitation.
Finally, with regard to keeping kosher, perhaps if we are careful with what we ingest, and thoughtful about what we put into our mouths, we will put ourselves in a position to better control what comes out of our mouths.
Just a little food for thought as we prepare for Shabbat.
As we count the omer toward the receipt of Torah, may we seek God in the extremes and in between. May we consider the importance of the things that we need rather the things we want. May we find connection in the middle.
Shabbat Shalom – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
