Passover has many names. It is primarily known חג המצות the Holiday of Matzot and  as חג החרות, זמן חירותנו the Holiday or Season of Our Freedom, but what does that really mean?

Is that the "freedom" they sing about in America?  Is it a freedom from rules and work?

No it's not.  As a language teacher, I'm going to tell you that the use of the word "freedom" for Passover just confuses people.  There are people who claim that they shouldn't have to clean so much and change the kitchen, because it's supposed to be the Freedom Holiday.  And there are those who say they should be able to eat bread on Pesach, because they want their freedom.

Passover isn't that kind of "freedom."

I think that "freedom" is the wrong definition for חרותת "Cherut."  Maybe "Cherut" is more like independence or self-reliance.  Independence and self-reliance aren't easy.  They demand responsibility.  It's the opposite of slavery.  A slave doesn't make his own decisions.  A slave is owned by someone else, and we were owned by Pharaoh in Egypt.  Being a slave is easy; you can always blame someone else.  It's never your fault.

On Passover we must eat matzah, "lechem oni," poorman's bread.  Some people may see the irony in it.  Wouldn't the poor man's bread be for slaves?  Isn't a slave poor, so the opposite of slave should be rich?  Shouldn't the "non slave" then eat cake?

There are Jews who make their own matzot.

That's the act of a free man, making one's own food, instead of producing for the owner.

I pray that our nation be truly free and not slaves to the modern Pharaoh.

According to Chazal, only Yom Kippur may* supplant Shabbat.  For years I've been saying that the reason the Shabbat before Passover is called Shabbat HaGadol (The Great Sabbath) is to remind us of this.  Shabbat is greater than Passover, certainly greater than Passover cleaning.  Even if you love to clean for Pesach, and I admit that I don't, you shouldn't let Passover preparations turn Shabbat into something cheap and trashy.

Creative pre-Pesach cooking can be extra delicious.  My daughter reminded me that we can have kitniyot Friday night.  Kosher l'Pesach rice can served for Shabbat, postponing "What, potatoes again?" complaints.

Decorate with gorgeous flowers.  Make sure the house looks and feels Shabbosdik.

When the Moshiach comes, it will be Shabbat all the time, and we won't have to line our closets!

Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach, May You Have a Peaceful and Blessed Sabbath

* is permitted to (yes, I'm an English Teacher)

Around a year ago the Torah-Jewish blog world was buzzing with outraged horror over some ads for Pesach Seder in non-Kosher venues.

Well, I'm not naive, and I'm no FFB either.  The vast, vast majority of Jews don't eat Kosher food.  And most of those who don't eat Kosher food aren't sinning out of a rebelious contrariness.  Most of them are rather ignorant or unaware of what Kosher food really means.  That was my situation until during my teens I got involved with NCSY.

For many Jews, the "traditional" seder they know from their childhoods was not kosher.  The fish may have been "geffilte," and not shrimp, but the plates were most probably the same ones set out for any festive meal during the year.  So if they go to the "Jewish Seder" in some traif restaurant, it's no less kosher than what they would serve at home.  Maybe they'll read through the Haggadah a bit to get familiar with the story.  And maybe it will set a Jew on the way to a truly Jewish life, G-d willing.

I certainly am not promoting eating traif, but better a traif seder than non at all.

Again we went to Tel Shiloh to celebrate Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month. For the past few months, my friends and I have been going to Tel Shiloh, where we can still sense the Biblical Chana's spirit and the fragrance of the finely blended Ketoret, which was used during worship in the Tabernacle. Last month, Rosh Chodesh Adar Sheini, we were impressed by the abundance of pink almond blossoms. Today, on the first of the Jewish month of Nissan, the dominant color is green. After the winter rains we can see the promise of fruit, delicate butterflies and more.

We weren't alone at the Tel.

We looked at the remains of the ancient Shiloh and wonder if we're standing where Chana stood when she prayed to G-d for a son. Alone in our prayers, we can feel G-d listening and offering comfort.

And then we go back to the "everyday" life.

Tel Shiloh is open to visitors, not only our Rosh Chodesh group. For information, call 02-994-4019.

And if you want to go with us next Rosh Chodesh, we'll welcome you gladly. The first day of Rosh Chodesh Iyyar, Monday, May 5, 9:45am. We'll meet at the Tabernacle Gallery-Beit Cafe`, near Tel Shiloh.

Chodesh Nissan Tov and A Chag Pesach, Kasher v'Sameach!

Have a good Month of Nissan and a Happy and Kosher Passover

A few minutes ago, I had a phone call asking me to participate in a poll. I agreed and began listening to the questions and choosing answers from those offered. With each question, I became more and more concerned. It seemed like one of those polls for the Left, for those fronts for groups which want to prove that we're a bunch of prostitutes--for money we'd leave our homes.

Well, I told the girl on the phone, that I've probably been living in Shiloh since long before she was born, and I find her questions offensive. Yes, I told her that I know that she's just doing her job, what she gets paid to do. I know that she didn't write the questions and the choice of answers. But I could hear the direction the questions were going.

They started out rather innocuously.

"How would you describe your life in your community?"

excellent, good, passable, bad

"Why did you move to there?"

financial incentives, ideology, and more choices like that

"How do you see your community five years from now?"

destroyed, moved to Israel, moved to another part of "the territories" under "Palestinian" rule, no change

The questions began getting even worse, and I told her:

"I refuse to continue. I know exactly what this survey is for and where it's leading. I find it highly offensive. If I was living in Shiloh, Ohio or Shiloh, Tennessee, nobody would dare ask me such questions or ask me to leave my home."

I told her that I've lived here a long time, and this is the original Shiloh, and I have no plans nor desire to leave. Yes, this is the Shiloh of the Bible.

• This is the Shiloh where Joshua established the capital of the Hebrew tribes after the Exodus from Egypt and the 40 Years of Wandering.
• This is the Shiloh where the Tabernacle stood for 369 years.
• This is the Shiloh where Chana prayed for a son who would dedicate his life to the Jewish People.
• And this is the Shiloh where Chana stood up to Eli who accused her of drunkenness, when she prayed silently and sincerely to G-d.

We have returned to pray to G-d at Shiloh. Each of us mouths our words to G-d, like Chana did thousands of years ago. G-d is waiting to hear our prayers. Chazal, our sages, say that Chana was originally infertile, because G-d wanted her prayers to be exceptionally strong. Today our People and and Land are suffering greatly. We need a true leader with strength of character and a goal and vision of a strong Jewish Nation in our Holy Land.

Please join us in Shiloh on Sunday, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the Month of Miracles, at 10am.