Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 21, 2019 Page: 20 of 24
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TEXAS JEWISH POST $ SINCE 1947
20 I March 21,2019
3 questions for Purim
IN MY
Thanks,
simple suggestion
see FRIED, p.23
I
Simple song to guide
your family's choices
Laura Seymour is director ofcamping services at the Aaron Fam-
ily Jewish Community Center.
By Harriet
P. Gross
Dear Judah,
Three great questions!
You may have heard of the famous summary
By Laura
Seymour
SHALOM
FROM THE
SHABBAT LADY
It ’ K
The drinking a bit more than one is
accustomed to (to say the least!) is to fulfill
putting a new spin on
something she’s named “2 for Seder.”
Tree of Life Synagogue has not only
endorsed Mamie’s creation, but adopt-
ASK THE
RABBI
By Rabbi
Yerachmiel
D. Fried
the entirety of the Jewish people? Does that make physical
this OK?
3. Why
duce two strangers to special foods and
their meanings, and through this ritual
Anti-Semitism meal, will be feeding your guests some
participatory knowledge of Judaism!
If you make the decision to do
me at harrietgross@
sbcglobal.net so I can publicly an-
nounce that you’ve earned some gold
the most celebrated Jewish holiday of stars for your heavenly crown by letting
the year in America. Opening the Seder Tree of Life know that 2 for Seder has
to newcomers can dispel myths that also become the newest part of Pesach
breed misunderstanding, and directly
fight biased attitudes. By opening up
Dear Families,
When we talk with our children about faith
in God, they ask us so many questions that we
often cannot answer. Purim, Passover — all the
holidays with so many lessons for life. We are
always looking for the answer. Judaism is a great
religion with so many guidelines and things
that we are supposed to do.
There are 613 Commandments — that’s
a lot of things to do. Throughout our history,
prophets, Judges and rabbis have tried to sum
up what we should do to lead a good life and do
good for others. The prophet Micah summed
everything up in three simple things to do,
but these things include everything. Here is
a wonderful and simple song that will help us
remember.
Only This (Micah 6:8)
By Josh Zweiback and Steve Brodsky
What does God demand of you? Only this,
only this. (2)
Do Justly, love mercy, walk humbly with
your God (2)
U-mahA-do-nai do-resh mim-cha
Ki im a-sot mish-pat v'a-ha-vat che-sed
V'hatz-nei-ah le-chet im E-lo-he-cha
Whenever we want to understand words
from the Bible, we begin by asking questions.
Micah asked the first question, “What does God
demand of you?” What is Micah trying to learn?
What does he ask about demands — does that
mean that God expects us to do these things
whether we want to or not? Do we have a choice
is the now-deceased Joyce Fienberg’s
daughter-in-law.
Marnie will never forget how “Joyce
always invited friends, neighbors, co-
workers and international students to
our family’s holiday meals,” she says. So
despite making this first Pesach with- Sign up at www.2torseder.org and re-
out her, she’s picking up on the holiday ceive a special kit to help you be com-
hosting herself. And instead of letting fortable about welcoming strangers
her mother-in-law’s tradition lapse, into your home. This will be in the best
she’s not only going to carry it on, she’s traditions of Abraham, who welcomed
it by creating all strangers into his tent. And that’s
especially fitting for the day when we
open our doors and invite all those who
are hungry to come in. By hosting 2 for
ed it as its own, and recently announced Seder in your own home, you can intro-
it publicly as “A Grassroots Event to
Fight Anti-Semitism,” with this sub-
title: “Pushing Back on
with Love and Matzah.”
According to the now-sponsoring
shul, “The 2 for Seder event encourages this, please email
Jewish families to welcome two non-
Jews into Seder, to experience firsthand
to behave the right way?
After we question
Micah’s question, more
questions come to mind.
Think and talk about these
questions with your family:
• Why does Micah
respond to the question,
“Only this”? Is it simple?
• What does it mean
to “do Justly”? How do we
act in a Just manner? What
does it mean to be fair to
others?
• What is mercy? How do we act with mer-
cy? Why does Micah say to “love mercy”? Is that
different than treating people with mercy?
• Being humble, showing humility, is a very
important Jewish value. What does it mean?
What does it look like? Why does Micah say to
“walk humbly”? How do we walk with God?
• Why Just these three things? How do they
relate to everything else we should be doing? Is
this really enough?
How can we use this song in our lives?
Sometimes when we wonder how we should be
acting, this song may come to mind. There are
so many things we need to remember — this
makes it easy to sum up the really important
things to do.
Columnists, opinion from the TJP ______
our
Seder, we are following her example.”
And this is not Just for Pittsburgh —
it’s already heading across the U.S. and
We are now between Purim and
Passover, and a new massacre of the re-
ligious at worship has captured our sor-
rowful attention, putting New Zealand
on the same horrific map as Pittsburgh.
The Tree of Life shootings are al-
ready five months in the past, and our
Jewish communities will help the re-
cent Muslim victims to meet their sad
needs, as so many Muslims helped our
own. We will remember them, too. But
as we continue remembering our own,
is there something, anything, more that
we can do now?
Yes! Here’s a
Canada, thanks to
a partnership with
virtually every Jew-
ish institution in the
sponsoring city, all
under the manage-
ment of Pittsburgh
Idea Evolutions
(PIE), a brand-new
MIND’S I nonprofit focusing
on creative ways to
help North Ameri-
can Jews take part
in the fight against
anti-Semitism. This year’s goal? A
that’s come from Pittsburgh, out of the thousand participating families, to give
deaths of its 11 lost worshippers. It’s the 2,000 new people the Pesach experience,
brainchild of Marnie Fienberg, a fam- “Together we can fight hate,” say
ily member of one of the murdered in both Marnie and Tree of Life. “Partici-
that mini-Holocaust by bullets. Marnie pating allows everyone to stay in touch
with Pittsburgh while taking positive
action to push back against the misun-
derstandings and unfamiliarity with
Jewish customs that can become the
seeds of anti-Semitism.”
Would your family like to take part?
Sign up at www.2forseder.org and
ceive a special kit to help you be
of all Jewish holidays: They
tried to kill us, we won, let’s
eat!
1. You are correct that on
Purim we have a mitzvah to
eat a Joyous meal which is
our way of celebrating the
miraculous rescue from the
first attempt at the “final
solution,” first suggested
by Haman, a member of
Amalek (the progenitors of
the Germans/Nazis).
We celebrate our
rescue in a physical way, as opposed
to Hanukkah when we celebrate in a spiritual
was a special decree needed for the way (lighting candles), as that was a spiritual,
Jews to fight back against their enemies? They ideological battle.
were still under attack. Couldn't they defend
themselves without a decree allowing them to
do so? J would have considered it a much greater the Talmudic injunction to “eat and drink
accomplishment for Mordechai and Esther if until one doesn’t know the difference between
they could have gotten the decree of annihilation the curses of Haman and the blessings of
rescinded rather than keeping it in place and just Mordechai.”
having a counter-decree to fight back! On one level, this is to come to the realization
that even when things seem to be going badly,
Judah ultimately it is for the good. Even when God
seems to have forsaken us completely, He
Hi Rabbi,
I have three questions regarding Purim:
1. I know that we have a mitzvah to make a
feast on Purim because we survived the attempt
of physical bodily destruction. What I don't
understand is why our celebration needs to be
a drinking party? Is it perhaps a resemblance
to King Ahasuerus' party, for which, for their
participation, the Jews were decreed complete
annihilation?
2. Why did Mordechai encourage Esther to
commit adultery with Ahasuerus, a violation
of one of the Ten Commandments? Perhaps this
was because Mordechai felt her role was to save
for some Dallas-area Jews.
An important personal P.S. from me:
our homes at Seder, Jewish families You all know by now how much I love
start a dialogue with non-Jewish friends Pittsburgh, my hometown. And now
and create a ripple-effect.” you should definitely know why: it’s
Marnie herself continues, “Joyce’s truly a united City of Steel in overcom-
generosity and openness meant new ing adversity, with a Jewish commu-
people were regularly a dynamic part of nity continuing to show itself “Stronger
family’s holiday meals. With 2 for Than Hate” by bringing new hope from
its own tragedy.
Maybe next year: 2 for Seder also in
New Zealand?
B; i
JI I li
Positive ripple
after shootings
with ‘2 for Seder’
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
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Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 21, 2019, newspaper, March 21, 2019; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305682/m1/20/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .