Erev Tisha B'Av

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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

New Ad Campaign on Egged Buses

A new ad campaign is running on Egged buses in Jerusalem -- the Temple is photshopped onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, replacing the familiar Golden Dome Mosque.

The ad headline reads, "And May the Temple be Rebuilt, Speedily in Our Days." (source)

Sound good to me!

Chag Sameach -- a Happy, Healthy and Kosher Passover to all our readers, friends and family.

Update: And for those of you who appreciate Talmud, the following is an alternative "Echad Mi Yodea"...



hat-tip: Tzvi

Regards,

Jameel.




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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

The Korban Pesach, today.

Learn more about it here.

I like it a lot.

Who doesn't?

The Temple movements' intention to hold a public slaughter of the Passover sacrifice was slammed by the animal rights movement, Let Animals Live.

The activists demanded that the event's coordinators cancel their plans, and sent letters to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and to the Director of the Temple Institute, Yehuda Glick, threatening to sue if their demands were not met within 24 hours.

According to Let Animals Live director, Reuben Ladianski, the law states that it is prohibited to abuse or torture animals, including slaughtering them in a cruel manner.

"Any use of animals for educational purposes must be approved by the committee for animal experimentation," Ladianski said. "And the law states that permission will not be granted if the goal of the experiment can be reached in other, more humane ways." (YNETNEWS)

While educational, I don't think there's any intention of NOT eating the slaughtered animals.

And if we're already discussing the Beit HaMikdash, I found this video walk through interesting (the colors are ugly, but this sort of video concept has great educational potential)



And this video from last year about the Korban Pesach preparations...

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Pesach's Downside

Despite the RWAC Pesach lovefest in the air, I feel it important to bring up a downside of Pesach. No, I'm not referring the cleaning aspect of the holiday, "Dust isn't Chametz" but something a lot more disturbing.

Pesach is a holiday for the Jewish People, a national celebration of liberation from slavery, culminating is receiving the Torah and our acceptance of the laws and responsibilities of Judaism. That galvanizing experience molded us into a nation.

The authentic Pesach experience of the Jewish people in their homeland, involved the "Chabura" and eating of the Korban Pesach, the Passover sacraficial lamb. The "Chabura" aspect, was that families and friends would eat the Korban Pesach together. An entire lamb was too much for a single family, and groups and groups would join together, and experience their seder toegther.

That was classical Pesach.

Unfortunately, the downside of Pesach today is an insularity among many parts of the frum community due to Pesach kashrut observances. Chumrot and Minhagim isolate families from their friends to the point that I commonly hear, "We don't eat over by anyone on Pesach."

Don't get me wrong; I'm not attacking the Ashkenazic ban on "kitnoyot" at all.

Yet if we look at the spectrum of chumrot and minhagim about Pesach including, but not limited to:

Kitniyot
Mei Kitnityot
Kitniyot which changed their form
Lecitin (yes or no?)
Only Hand Shmurah Matza
Only "Chai Regaim" Shmura Matza
Only Machine Shmura Maztza (if using machine baked matza)
Gebrochts

...we see that the possibility of returning to the "Chabura" communal aspect of Pesach is impossible in this day and age.

The Pesach Seder "Chabura" pictured here in the Temple Haggada.
(link in English or Hebrew...hmmm, can't find the hagadda link
in Hebrew, but it exists, and is excellent...I own one)

When people refuse to eat by friends (or even family) because of too many chumrot and minhagim, then in my humble opinion, we are losing out on a crucial aspect of Pesach.

And that's a huge downside.

Therefore, I'm happy to report that we WILL be having a joint seder at our friends and neighbors home this year...unless of course, we merit to have our Chaburah Seder with the Korban Pesach in Yerushalayim with a rebuilt Beit HaMikdash.

A Chag Kasher vSameach to all our readers!

Jameel & Co.
The Muqata

Lexicon (no time to get hyperlinks for them, so here's a quick, off the cuff listing)

Halacha: Jewish Law
Chumorot: Personal stringencies going above the basic required Jewish law.
Minhagim: Personal Customs, not Jewish Law, but a personally accepted (or inherited) custom.
Kitniyot: Legumes, not outright Chametz.
Mei Kitniyot: Oil from Kitniyot
Gebrochts: Any combination of baked matza and liquid, whether baked or eaten together.
Chametz: Google it yourself :)







Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael