This Shabbat, G-d willing, we will celebrate a Bar Mitzvah in the Holy City. That event follows, by 13 years, the most creative birth announcement we've ever received. When the baby was born - in Dallas, Texas - his parents sent out a Bar Mitzvah invitation that read: "Please join us in 13 years, on Shabbat Emor, at the Kotel for Ilan's Bar Mitzvah!" And here they are, Baruch Hashem!
Parshat Emor discusses the concept of Moed. Usually translated as "festival", moed actually means both "time" and "place." That is, Jewish holidays are the time and place we "get together" with G-d, to relive history, to celebrate, to lament, to recharge our spiritual identities.
The opening pasuk in this section says as follows: ?Hashem's moadim? - that you designate and proclaim as holy assemblies - ?these are My moadim.?
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch is puzzled: Why does the verse repeat the fact that these are the Jewish holidays? Why not simply say: ?These are the Festivals of the year? and then list them? Why use the word moed at both the front and the back?
Rabbi Hirsch answers that Jewish holidays are never unilaterally imposed upon us. True, Hashem ordains these days and imbues them with holiness. But they only become real, they only take on form and substance, when we become G-d's partner and declare them holy, when we celebrate their particular mitzvot and minhagim. Until we meet Hashem halfway, until we make kiddush on Friday night or Chag, those days are just days like any other. Suddenly, when we ?join the team?, they are transformed into great events.
Neither G-d nor the Jewish people alone can create a Chag!
So the pasuk quotes G-d as if He were saying: ?These are holy days, as far as I am concerned. And if you - Israel - will also proclaim them as such, then they will really become Festivals, Chagim and Moadim.?
Jewish holidays are not astronomical events. That is, each year Spring arrives with or without our consent. But when we choose to observe Pesach, we turn the Spring into a celebration of liberation. So, too, a boy turns 13 whether or not we take notice of it. But a Bar Mitzvah transforms "just another birthday" into a testament to Jewish commitment and dedication.
In this time of counting the Omer, let us energize our days and transform them from the mundane to the marvelous, so that each one counts for something special.
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra?anana.
Parshat Emor discusses the concept of Moed. Usually translated as "festival", moed actually means both "time" and "place." That is, Jewish holidays are the time and place we "get together" with G-d, to relive history, to celebrate, to lament, to recharge our spiritual identities.
The opening pasuk in this section says as follows: ?Hashem's moadim? - that you designate and proclaim as holy assemblies - ?these are My moadim.?
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch is puzzled: Why does the verse repeat the fact that these are the Jewish holidays? Why not simply say: ?These are the Festivals of the year? and then list them? Why use the word moed at both the front and the back?
Rabbi Hirsch answers that Jewish holidays are never unilaterally imposed upon us. True, Hashem ordains these days and imbues them with holiness. But they only become real, they only take on form and substance, when we become G-d's partner and declare them holy, when we celebrate their particular mitzvot and minhagim. Until we meet Hashem halfway, until we make kiddush on Friday night or Chag, those days are just days like any other. Suddenly, when we ?join the team?, they are transformed into great events.
Neither G-d nor the Jewish people alone can create a Chag!
So the pasuk quotes G-d as if He were saying: ?These are holy days, as far as I am concerned. And if you - Israel - will also proclaim them as such, then they will really become Festivals, Chagim and Moadim.?
Jewish holidays are not astronomical events. That is, each year Spring arrives with or without our consent. But when we choose to observe Pesach, we turn the Spring into a celebration of liberation. So, too, a boy turns 13 whether or not we take notice of it. But a Bar Mitzvah transforms "just another birthday" into a testament to Jewish commitment and dedication.
In this time of counting the Omer, let us energize our days and transform them from the mundane to the marvelous, so that each one counts for something special.
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra?anana.