Passover Torah Readings

First Day Passover: Exodus 12:21 - 12:51 & Numbers 28:16 - 28:25

Second Day Passover: Leviticus 22:26 - 23:44 & Numbers 28:16 - 28:25

On the FIRST DAY OF PASSOVER we read from the book of Exodus (12:21-51) of the bringing of the Passover Offering in Egypt, the Plague of the Firstborn at the stroke of midnight, and how "On this very day, G-d took the Children of Israel out of Egypt."


The reading for the SECOND DAY OF PASSOVER, Leviticus 22:26-23:44, includes: a list of the moadim -- the "appointed times" on the Jewish calendar for festive celebration of our bond with G-d; the mitzvah to Count the Omer (the 49-day "countdown" to the festival of Shavuot which begins on the 2nd night of Passover); and the obligation to journey to the Holy Temple to "to see and be seen before the face of G-d" on the three annual pilgrimage festivals -- Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.

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Shabbat HaGadol/The Great Sabbath; Tzav

Leviticus 6:1-8:36

by Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Nothing in Judaism has proved more complex or internally controversial than the biblical approach to sacrifices.

On the one hand they occupy a key position in the Mosaic books. Their laws are set out in great detail. No less significant is where these laws are to be found. As I have suggested elsewhere in these studies, one of the most characteristic features of the Torah’s literary style is the chiasmus: a pattern of words, phrases or verses that have the form ABCBA. This focuses attention on the middle element of the literary unit. The climax is not at the beginning or end, as in other literary forms, but in the centre. This becomes the turning point, at which the direction changes from departure (A-B) to the beginning of return (B-A).

The entire Pentateuch (the five Mosaic books) forms a chiasmus. From the perspective of the Israelites in the wilderness, Bereishith looks back to the pre-history of Israel, while Devarim turns to the future, as Moses’ prophetic vision scans the far horizons of hope and expectation. Shemot and Bamidbar are a matched pair, telling the story of the present – Israel’s journey from Egypt into the desert and to the brink of the promised land.

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Shabbat HaHodesh; Vayikra

Leviticus 1:1−5:26; Maftir: Exodus 12:1-20

The Sins of a Leader

Britain's Former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Leaders make mistakes. That is inevitable. So, strikingly, our parsha implies. The real issue is how he or she responds to those mistakes.

The point is made by the Torah in a very subtle way. Our parsha deals with sin offerings to be brought when people have made mistakes. The technical term for this is shegagah, meaning inadvertent wrongdoing.[1] You did something, not knowing it was forbidden, either because you forgot or did not know the law, or because you were unaware of certain facts. You may, for instance, have carried something in a public place on Shabbat, either because you did not know it was forbidden to carry, or because you forgot it was Shabbat.

The Torah prescribes different sin offerings, depending on who made the mistake. It enumerates four categories. First is the High Priest, second is “the whole community” (understood to mean the great Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court), a third is “the leader” (nasi), and the fourth is an ordinary individual.

In three of the four cases, the law is introduced by the word im, “if” – if such a person commits a sin. In the case of the leader, however, the law is prefaced by the word asher, “when.” It is possible that a High Priest, the Supreme Court or an individual may err. But in the case of a leader, it is probable or even certain. Leaders make mistakes. It is the occupational hazard of their role. Talking about the sin of a nasi, the Torah uses the word “when,” not “if.”

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Shabbat Parah; Vayak'heil/P'kudei

Exodus 35:1–40:38

Britain's Former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on the Orthodox Union

Team-Building

How do you remotivate a demoralized people? How do you put the pieces of a broken nation back together again? That was the challenge faced by Moses in this week’s parsha.

The key word here is vayakhel, “Moses gathered.” Kehillah means community. A kehillah or kahal is a group of people assembled for a given purpose. That purpose can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive. The same word that appears at the beginning of this week’s parsha as the beginning of the solution, appeared in last week’s parsha as the start of the problem: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered [vayikahel] around Aaron and said, ‘Make us a god to lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’”

The difference between the two kinds of kehillah is that one results in order, the other in chaos. Coming down the mountain to see the golden calf, we read that “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.” The verb פרע, like the similar פרא, means “loose, unbridled, unrestrained.”

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Ki Tisa

Exodus 30:11-34:35

Veiling And Unveiling

Moses was sensitive to the needs of the people, changing his appearance in order to enhance their ability to communicate with him.

By Rabbi Aaron D. Mehlman, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com

When Moses returns from Mount Sinai after forty days and nights, he descends with more than just the second set of luchos (tablets).

 Moses brings the very Shechinah (divine presence) with him as well.

The Torah teaches that after receiving the Law, Moses’ face shone. The Daas Zekeinim Mibaalei Tosafos (collection of comments by the Tosafists of the 12th and 13th centuries in France and Germany) explains that the luminosity of Moses face was, in fact, the light of the Shechinah. Hashem transferred the splendor of His presence to Moses in order to assure a post-golden-calf Klal Yisrael (people of Israel) that no other leader was as worthy as Moses. Subsequently, they unanimously received him as their leader.

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