Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

May 2, 2004 – Number 5764-26

Kashrut V: Setting up a Kosher Kitchen

Rule 1. Do not try and do everything all at once. The biggest mistake that people make when making their home kosher is to try and do everything all at once. Everyone learns about Kashrut slowly and develops their Kosher Kitchen over time. There will be all kinds of challenges and setbacks, learn from them and prepare to grow in your observance. Those who try too hard are often defeated by frustration.
Rule 2. Every mistake has a way of being fixed without having to start over again. Mistakes are part of being human. Kashrut is set up for human kitchens. You will not be the first Jew to mess up a Kosher kitchen, and you will not be the last. We have Rabbis to answer our questions when we err.
The first stage in setting up a Kosher kitchen is to start small. Try buying only kosher meat at first. Get used to shopping at a Kosher meat market. Next, take a look at your pantry. The probability is good that much of what you already own is Kosher. Look for Kosher symbols on the labels of all your food. Decide which stuff you will need to replace and as you use up the old stuff, try and replace it with Kosher alternatives. Find brands and foods you like. Once you are going on the food coming into the house, it is time to tackle meat and milk. Without changing dishes, begin preparing meals with milk and meat separated. Take a look at recipes and try making substitutions. Experiment with your favorite recipes to find the mixture that tastes the best. Decide how long your family will wait between meat and milk meals (the usual time is three hours – but see last week’s lesson) and begin to enforce it on yourself before subjecting your family to the wait. This process could take from a couple of months to almost a whole year. There is no rush. We know what our goal is, and we want to make sure that everyone in the family is on board and ready to assist in keeping the kitchen Kosher.
Since the rules for switching a kitchen to Kashrut are very similar to kashering a kitchen for Pesach, It may be worth your while to plan to do both at the same time. Kasher for Pesach, and then after the holiday, you can just add the Hametz. If you are buying new dishes, you can use the new ones first for Pesach and then just use them for the rest of the year. Pesach dishes can be switched to year ‘round use without any additional work. To switch them back is more difficult, and may be impossible so the NEXT time Pesach rolls around you may have to purchase new Passover Dishes and save them after the holiday for the next year.
When everyone in the family is ready to make the change, it is time to switch the kitchen. First, before you buy any new dishes, consult your Rabbi. He or she may actually come to your home and take a look at what you are using and determine if it needs to be given away or if it can be rekashered. Many items can be kashered and doing so may save lots of money on the transition. After the Rabbi has given his opinion. You might want to go and visit some families that already have a Kosher kitchen and see what they use in their kitchen. It is a good idea to have a friend who has a Kosher Kitchen already so you will have a friend to offer advice, support and to give you tips and tricks to keeping kosher. Now you are ready to go out and buy the dishes you will need.
Pick a day, invite the Rabbi to come and help, and figure that it will take most of the day to get the kitchen kashered. You will need a big pot of boiling water, some tongs to dip stuff in the water, soapy water and a sponge or damp cloth and a lot of patience. Empty the cabinets. Start dunking and drying the dishes that can be kashered. Empty to refrigerator of food (it should all be kosher food in their by now) make sure the dishes the food is in are kashered or switched to new dishes. Wash out the refrigerator and return the food to the shelves. Wash out all the cabinets and drawers, reline them and put the new dishes and the Kashered ones inside. Make sure that the meat dishes are fully separate from the dairy ones so there will be less confusion. Mark the drawers and cabinets for those who may not know you have a Kosher Kitchen. Donate dishes that can not be kashered to a family in need (a homeless shelter or an immigrant aide society)
The last stage is to determine what to do about eating out. Non-Kosher food can no longer be brought home from a restaurant. It is always a good idea to support Kosher restaurants in the area. Finally always remember the last rule of Kashrut
Rule 3 – No matter how Kosher your kitchen may be, there will always be someone who is “more Kosher” than you are and will not eat in your kitchen. Ignore such people. Find a level of Kashrut that you are comfortable with and if that is not enough for someone else, then they should not eat in your kitchen. You can not please everyone. Stick to a standard that meets your needs best ( so your good friends will eat with you for example) and don’t worry about everyone else.

Next week: Kashrut VI: Controversies in Kashrut – When The Rules Are Not Clear

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

April 26, 2004 – Number 5764-25

Kashrut IV: The Strange Story of Separating Milk from Meat

There is no direct law in the Torah about the separation between milk and meat. There is no direct commandment that relates to this aspect of Kashrut. The full separation between milk products and meat that we observe today began at a time that is lost to the mists of history. Professor David Kraemer of the Jewish Theological Seminary once taught that the separation appears to have begun around the first Century, where Philo is the first to mention it. In his opinion, it was a “higher” form or Kashrut, and it was considered “barbaric” to eat milk and meat together. Wherever it comes from, it is now a vital part of the laws of Kashrut.
Most authorities base the prohibition on the commandment that is in the Torah that forbids boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. The reason behind this law is unknown. Miamonidies claims that it was a pagan practice that was cruel and thus forbidden to Jews. There is no evidence, however, that there was any such pagan ritual. The cruelty of the act is apparent. That which should give life, should not be the instrument of death. From here, there evolved the total separation that we know today.
Milk and meat, and products that contain milk or meat, can not be combined in any way. Foods that contain one may not be served with foods that contain the other. There must be a waiting period between meals where one or the other is served. After a milk meal, one should wait 15 minutes. After a meat meal some wait as little as an hour, others wait up to six hours. In the United States, a three hour wait after a meat meal is most common.
Some factors of the separation depend upon what the utensil in question is made of. In general, materiels that absorb food, like wood or clay (including stoneware and china) can only be used for either milk or meat, while materials that do not absorb, like metal or glass, can be used for both (but only for one at a time, either milk or meat) It is preferable that there be two sets of dishes, pots, cooking utensils and silverware, one for meat and one for milk, to prevent mistakes. Vegetarians obviously need only one set of dishes. Pots and glass bake ware (including pyrex) in which food is cooked or baked, even though they are not absorbent, should not be used for both milk and meat, but should be used only for one or the other.
Items that can be throughly cleaned, can be re-Kashered when mistakes are made. There is NO truth in the myth that one needs to bury things in the yard to make them Kosher again. Usually you re-Kasher something by going beyond the hottest setting that is commonly used. For example, silverware and other metal objects can be kashered by placing them in boiling water. Large pots can be kashered by filling them with water and allowing them to boil over. Glassware can be put in boiling water (if it can take the heat) or by being placed in cold water for a three day period, with the water changed every 24 hours. Cooking pots can be re-kashered by heating to red hot by blow-torch. Metal or glass bakeware, which has food literally cooked into the surface can not be re-kashered. Usually the item in question is not used for 24 hours before being re-kashered.
One must examine foods carefully to determine if they are milk or meat. Not every ingredient is listed on a package so one has to be careful. In addition to milk, there are other dairy products that are listed by their chemical name. Lactose and Sodium Casinate are both dairy (even though some so called “non-dairy” products contain them) When in doubt, a Rabbi should be consulted. Most national kosher supervision agencies will list if a product should be considered meat or dairy.
Meat and dairy items can be stored together in the same refrigerator if they are properly closed or sealed. One should not cook them together in the same oven at the same time, even if fully wrapped. Two people can eat two different meals at the same table as long as there is a sufficient space or barrier to prevent the two meals from being mixed.
Out of a fear of confusion, the Talmud classifies chicken as “meat” and extends this designation to all poultry. Even though you can not boil a chicken in its mother’s milk, it is still considered meat. Fishis always considered neither milk or meat and can be eaten with both (but not at the same time.) There is an old custom that meat and fish should not be eaten from the same plate. According to the sources, this was a safety measure lest one confuse the two and choke on a fish bone. The Conservative Movement has ruled that this is no longer a safety issue today and has ruled that one can, if one desires, to eat fish and meat off the same plate.

Mailbox:
Sidney Konigsburg [who once worked for a Kosher butcher] writes: “Reb Rabinovitz had a knife that was so sharp, and so long that it could really split hairs !!…there was a name for it but I’ve forgotten.”
I reply: The knife is called a “Halif” it must be razor sharp and perfectly smooth, with no nicks or dents (since this might tear the flesh and cause unnecessary pain to the animal) The knife must be examined before and after the slaughter to insure that it is without blemish.

Sidney Konigsburg again: “you didn’t mention that after 3 days the meat , if not sold ,had to be washed. And as I remember it could only be washed twice…..and someplace along the line I heard that many of the laws of Kashrus were predicated on the fact that there was no refrigeration..Thus they became laws of health because meat eaters were really dealing with dead, decomposing flesh…..Cause & Remedies??
I reply: The washing of the meat insured that whatever blood that was still inside the meat not coagulate and thus we would not be able to remove the last of the blood through soaking and salting. Once the meat was “kashered” that is soaked and salted, it no longer needed to be washed every few days. 50 years ago each Jewish homemaker soaked and salted the meat for themselves, now most butchers do it before the meat is ever sold. The laws of Kashrut are NOT health laws, they are designed to make sure that we do not consume blood (which is forbidden by the Torah) and to prevent pain to the animal and to offer us a way to serve our Creator. Kashrut will not preserve or protect meat from spoiling or other parasites, which is why the meat is inspected after it is killed. Remember, before refrigeration, the only way to keep meat fresh was to keep it alive until it was needed.

Next week: Kashrut V: Setting up a Kosher Kitchen

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

March 29, 2004- Number 5764-24

Kashrut III: From Slaughter to Table

The Torah notes at the very beginning of the book of Geneses, that human beings were supposed to be vegetarians. G-d tells the first human’s created that they should only eat plants. It is only after the story of Noah and the flood that there is clearly a concession made for humans in order to eat meat. Rabbi Mark Gellman, who writes stories about stories in the Bible, in one of his stories, notes that humans could talk to the animals in the Garden of Eden, but since Noah ate the first hamburger, the animals were so angry that they are still not talking to humans.
Humans, not just Jews get the first rules for eating meat. It is a rule about animal cruelty that forbids all human beings from taking and eating a limb from a living animal. Judaism would take this law of cruelty and take it much further.
The rules for the slaughter of meat come from the laws of sacrifice. Each time we eat meat, even if we are not giving the meat to the alter, we are still taking a life and we must remain cognizant of that fact. Just as animals killed for the alter had to be killed and prepared in a special way, so too does all meat, even for ordinary purposes, have to be prepared properly. Only animals that the Torah says we can eat can be killed for food. For fish and birds, the method of slaughter is pretty easy. One simply decapitates a bird or removes the fish from water. For larger mammals, the process is more complicated. The jugular vein must be cut quickly, with a knife that is perfectly smooth with a proper “double cut” that requires the cut to run both ways. This drains the blood quickly, causing almost instant death and a minimal amount of pain to the animal. This method also removes most of the blood from the animal quickly. Since blood is forbidden to Jews, This kind of a slaughter makes sure that the most amount of blood is no longer in the animal.
This is such an important procedure that it is not left for amateurs. Only a trained Shochet, a person who is certified in ritual slaughter can perform “Shchitah”. Such a person should be trained in Talmudic law and should be pious in his other dealings. Nevertheless, such a person in the Jewish community of Easter Europe in the 19th century, was always looked upon with suspicion since no Jew wanted to make a living by the slaughter of animals. Remember, before refrigeration, the best way to keep meat fresh was to keep it alive until you were ready to eat it. In many other communities, the male or female head of household had to be the one to kill the family animals to eat. Still Jewish households never killed their own animals. Only the Shochet was permitted to slaughter animals.
Once the animal was killed, the carcass had to be inspected. Certain organs and the lungs were examined to check for diseased animals. Certain defects were permitted as “natural” others would make the mean unacceptable even though the slaughter was done properly. An animal that dies on its own or would soon die on its own was considered treyf, and unusable in the Jewish community. While certain imperfections of the lung are permitted, if the lung was smooth, it became “Glatt” (Yiddish for smooth) a higher standard of Kashrut that normally allowed an imperfect lung.
Another Geneses story tells us that after Jacob wrestled with an angel, he walked with a limp, and from that time on, Jews do not eat the sciatic nerve in any animal. It is a special skill to remove this nerve and it is not always possible to do it. Thus it is rare to find any kosher meat that comes from the hindquarter of an animal. As the animal is cut up into pieces, the parts are washed of any remaining blood and must eventually be soaked and salted to remove the last of the blood from the capillaries of the animal, this is what makes Kosher meat so salty. The meat may be soaked again to remove as much salt as possible. Liver and heart can not be salted to remove the blood, since there is some much more blood in these organs. Liver and heart must be broiled to remove all blood from the meat. Any meat that is not soaked and salted can be broiled instead, but broiling is a requirement for liver and heart. Now the meat is ready to be prepared for cooking and serving.
In recent years, in Europe, there has been much talk about stunning the animal before slaughter. This is said to be “more kind” to the animal. A few countries in Europe have passed laws requiring stunning the animal before killing it. This has stopped Kosher slaughter in those countries and threatens the entire system. Stunning the animal is not permitted by Kosher standards

Next week: Kashrut IV: The Strange Story of Separating Milk and Meat.

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

March 22, 2004 – Number 5764-22

Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws

In the middle of the 20th Century, Kashrut was said to no longer be necessary because of government inspection of foods that insured that what we ate was safe. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Kashrut is no longer necessary because we no longer consider food to be a part of our spiritual lives. In fact, in just about every century, there were reasons given that Kashrut, the laws that regulate what we eat and when we eat it, would no longer be necessary. Those reasons are now gone, and Kashrut is still here. What is it about the Torah’s laws relating to food, that causes so much fuss and yet remain so enduring.
Let there be one thing clear from the start. The Torah does not give ANY reason for the Laws of Kashrut. They are straight commandments. Something G-d has told us to do and in our love for G-d we commit our stomachs to these regulations. In every generation, there have been sages who have tried to understand what these laws are all about. While this is a fascinating legal discussion, it does not change the fact that G-d does not give a reason, we are just given laws to obey as a sign of G-d’s love for humanity and our love for G-d.
Why should there be dietary laws at all? Food, and the drive that lies behind it, Hunger, are one of the most important things that drive human beings. Our ancestors in prehistoric times, wandered from one end of this planet to another following the places and animals that were their source of food. Wars have been fought in times of famine. And feeding the hungry is one of the most important acts of loving-kindness that we can perform. All religions must deal with our hunger. To the pagans, hunger was to be celebrated with food orgies. In early Christianity, gluttony was identified as one of the seven deadly sins. One rejoiced over eating and the other found G-d in fasting. Judaism took a different path. In our faith, hunger is not good or bad, it is just a drive, an instinct that governs our actions and thinking. Judaism was concerned that it would drive our actions, therefore, what became important was to control the drive so that we would drive it and it would not drive us. Thus we are permitted to eat, but some foods we can eat and some we cannot. This is how we control hunger.
Over the years there have been many things that have been noted about families that observe the laws of Kashrut. A hundred years ago, some philosophers noted with amazement that a Jewish woman, unlike her non-Jewish counterpart, had never killed a chicken herself. There is something about removing the slaughter of animals from our everyday actions, and establishing a single person in the community, a person not only of ability, but of piety, to do all the killing on our behalf. Thus by training this person, (a shochet) was an expert in kosher slaughter as well as an expert in the examination of the animal for disqualifying flaws in the organs. He was also able to keep the blood and death in a religious perspective. Understanding the ritual requirements for meat and for living a Jewish life.
Besides keeping bloodshed from the hands of ordinary Jews, Kashrut also de facto, kept Jews out of food events that involved other communities. While there are few laws that regulate our contact with non-Jews, the dietary laws severely limited the kinds of contact that were possible. Buy not being able to share meals with others, it established the boundaries of our community and kept our people from excessive contact with competing faiths. Little wonder that when Jews were angry enough to abandon their Judaism, the first thing they left behind were the laws of Kashrut.
Finally, Judaism required a blessing over most foods that we eat. In order to bless our food, it also has to be worthy of a blessing. Certain foods do not seem to fit the context of holiness implied by the blessings. Thus food that comes from animals that prey on others animals as well as animals that frequent places not associated with holiness (ruins, cemeteries, privy) would not qualify as worthy of a blessing. Thus we become aware that what we eat can have an influence on our character and our actions. By removing these foods from our plates, we not only make our meals worthy of a blessing, but we make our lives worthy of blessing as well.

Next week: Kashrut II: Kosher and Non-Kosher Animals

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

March 14, 2004 – Number 5764-21

Prayer IX: The concluding Psalms of P’suke D’zimra

The Ashrei that we discussed last week, is the beginning of a series of Psalms that represent the final 5 Psalms in the entire collection. Here in our siddur, they represent the final Psalms in our “Verses of Song, the P’suke D’zimra” Each one begins and ends with the exclamation “Hallelujah”. If the purpose of these verses is to get us in the mood to pray, than this collection is important in that it teaches us one of the reasons we thank G-d every morning. The theme of this collection is the glory of G-d in creation. We see the hand of G-d in nature, in the dawn, the rain and snow, and in the mountains and grasses that fill our world. Each Psalm extolls the wonders that make up the world in which we live until we get to the last Psalm, Psalm 150, the last Psalm in the collection and the last one in the entire book of Psalms.
Psalm 150 is not so much about nature, but about how we praise G-d through the use of musical instruments. Trumpets, harps, lyres, drums, flute, strings, two kinds of cymbals and with dance, we are told that each instrument and movement is a way to praise G-d. But there is something much bigger going on in this Psalm, and like in Ashrei, we need to look to modern music to fully understand what the Psalm is trying to teach.
If Ashrei is the title song of the book of Psalms, the “Tehilah” of “Tehillim”, Psalm 150 has a different meaning. When we go to a concert, we hear all the music that the musicians have made famous, the lyrics and the sound that we have come to hear. At a live concert, however, there is one final thing that must be done before the final curtain falls. The lead singer will, during one of the last musical numbers, turn and introduce the members of the band. “Come on give it up for Casey on the drums, for Ginger on bass, Eddie on keyboard and Cheryl, Cindi and Angel on vocals”. Finally, turning to the audience, as the music reaches its end, the singer finishes with “Thank you all, you have been a wonderful audience”.
If we look at Psalm 150 we find much the same speech. “Lets hear it for the Trumpets! Let’s hear it for the harps and lyres! How about a hallelujah for the drums and the dancers!” All the instruments are named until the final verse, “Let everyone who has breath be praised” where the audience is finally thanked for being so supportive. In short, Psalm 150 is where the leader is thanking the band. Why not? It is the end of the book and thus the end of the “concert”.
One final note about this final Psalm. Notice that all the lines are pretty equal in length (in the Hebrew) until we get to the next to last line. The “thank you” to the cymbal players is far and away the longest line in the entire Psalm. If you can read the Hebrew text of this line you will notice that it is not only a mouthful of words, it takes a whole breath to say it aloud. This long verse sets up an “audio” cue. Since the last line says, “let all who breath, praise the Lord”, the Psalm forces us to take a breath before we recite that line. Including us in the audience that is being thanked!
The book of Psalms is divided into five “books” just as the Torah is divided into five books. At the end of each “book” in Psalms, the final verse is doubled. Since this is the last Psalm in the entire collection, the last verse here is doubled as well.

Discussion:
Last week I noted that Eleazar Slomovic, a teacher at the University of Judaism, had shown that the titles to the Psalms were really a midrashic addition to the poetry. They were not part of the original poem, this prompted a reply from Hazzan Michael Krausman who writes:
Just as a point of information, ethnomusichologists have speculated that one purpose for the titles of the psalms is to suggest the melody to be employed when chanting the psalm. This usage is similar to song sheets, such as that we used for Purim, which list lyrics and instructions such as :”to be sung to the tune of Polywaly Doodle”. Since the destruction of the temple also brought abut the loss of its great musical tradition, a hint to the nature of ancient Temple music can be gleaned from the Psalms. Of course, the best example of this is the description of the Temple orchestra as depicted in psalm 150
I respond:
Thank you for this additional insight.

Next week: Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

March 8, 2004 – Number 5764-20

Prayer VII: Ashrei, An Original CD by the Composer of the Book of Psalms

Whenever we look at a prayer, whenever we want to understand how it works, the first thing we need to do is to examine the text. Even before we read the words, we need to understand the layout and physical characteristics of this part of the Liturgy. Ashrei is the name we give to Psalm 145. The name is taken from the first word of the Psalm. But if we were to go to a Siddur and look at Ashrei, we first notice that the first word of Psalm 145 is not Ashrei, but “Arumimcha”. The two lines at the beginning of the Psalm are not really a part of Psalm 145 at all, they are taken from Psalm 84:5 and Psalm 144:15 which is from the Psalm just before 145.
The same thing happens at the end of Psalm 145. The last words in the Psalm is L’olam Va’ed. The last word in our Siddur is Halleluyah. The last verse is from Psalm 115:18. This leaves us with a rather unusual situation. The Psalm does not start at its beginning and does not end at the end. It is encased in verses from other Psalms. No other Psalm in the Siddur does this.
The most obvious thing we may notice about Psalm 145 is that the verses are arraigned in order of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. This order runs through the Psalm except that one verse is missing. There is no verse for the letter “nun”. Some Sages and commentators have speculated as to why the “nun” verse is missing and what that missing verse might be. As far as I know, there have been no manuscripts of the Psalm that contain this missing verse. As far as we can tell, it never had a verse for “nun”.
Finally there is one more unique feature of this unusual Psalm. Like many Psalms, Psalm 145 has a title. My teacher, Rabbi Eleazar Slomovic, has shown that these titles were never really part of the Psalm but were a kind of Midrash on the Psalm. The titles show how later Sages identified the major components of the Psalms they titled. In the Book of Psalms there are many kinds of titles. Some refer to historical events. Others relate to the agricultural cycle that uses these poems in their celebrations. Other refer to the “composer” of the Psalm, that is, they were added to tell us who the Sages connected to the theme of the Psalm. While King David is considered to be the author of most of the Psalms, the titles that connect him to these poems usually say “Mizmor L’David”: a song of David, Mizmor Shir L’David; A song, a Psalm of David, or just “L’David”; From David. In the entire book of Psalms, covering all 150 poems, there is only one Psalm that is called “Tehilah L’David” THE Psalm of David. It is all the more striking if we remember that the entire Book of Psalms is called, in Hebrew, “Tehillim”.
Anyone in the recording business can tell you that if you have a collection of music, and only one song is named the same, or nearly the same as the name of the collection, that song becomes known as the “title track” of the recording. To this day, many CD’s by famous artists contain one song that shares its name with the title of the CD. It is still called, the title track. If Psalm 145 is called Tehillah, and the book is called, Tehillim, than Ashrei must be the title track for the entire collection of Psalms.
If we look at the entire collection, we see that the very beginning of the book, the first word of Psalm 1 is “Ashrei Ha-ish” and the last word in the collection, the final word of Psalm 150 is “Halleluyah” Now we can better understand what is going on. We have a title track for Psalms, that begins with the first word of the book and ends with the last word and in between has a verse with every letter of the Aleph Bet. (OK so “nun” is missing, but it has all the other letters). What we have here is a miniature summery of the book of Psalms. Each time we recite it (three times a day) we are symbolically reciting all 150 Psalms from Ashrei to Halleluya and every letter in between. This is indeed a very important and central Psalm to Judaism and to the liturgy as well.

Next week: Prayer IX: The Concluding Psalms of the P’suke D’zimra.

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

February 29, 2004- Number 5764-19

Prayer VII: Musaf – The Additional Service

The structure of all Liturgy in Judaism is based on the ancient order of sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem before the destruction in 70 C.E. Every morning there was a sacrifice of a lamb, and every afternoon, there was a grain offering. When the Temple was destroyed, the sacrifices were discontinued, but the Amida, the standing prayer that makes up one of the two cores of the service, was designated to fill in for this crucial part of the Liturgy. We could not offer up the lambs of our flocks, but we could perform “service of the heart” and the key to that service was the Amida. Sacrifices were a very personal form of prayer. In Hebrew, they were known as “Korbanot” the root of the word implies that we “draw near” to G-d with this service. Korbanot became the way that each individual could use to feel a closeness to G-d. When that form of worship ended with the burning of the Temple on Tisha b’Av, The Amida became our way of drawing close to G-d, and for this reason we still take three steps forward at the beginning of the Amida, to indicate our approaching the throne of the Almighty.
On Shabbat and on Holidays, in addition to the two daily sacrifices, there was also an additional sacrifice in honor of the holy day. There was no petitioning that was part of this sacrifice, it was a communal expression of thanks for the rest that was a vital part of Shabbat and the sacred nature of the holy days. On every holiday where there was an additional sacrifice in honor of the festival, there is an additional Amida that is added to the service. This Amida is called “Musaf” the “Additional” service in honor of the special nature of the day.
The Amida of Musaf begins as any other Amida, with the same three blessings going in and the same three that conclude the series. Instead of a list of petitions in the middle, there is only one blessing, a blessing that declares the day holy. In most Siddurim, the prayers of Musaf are readings about the sacrifices that once were offered by our ancestors. In a Traditional prayer book, the service points to our hope that someday our sacrificial service will once again be performed in Jerusalem, in a rebuild Holy Temple. Back in the 1940’s the Conservative movement decided that this was just no longer something that we were hoping for. The Conservative siddur made a small change in the text of the Musaf to lovingly recall the ancient sacrifices, without the hope for them to be restored. This followed the teaching of Rambam in the 11th century, who declared that sacrifices were important to our ancestors, but we had grown spiritually since then and no longer needed such ritual to feel near to G-d.
One can see this growth in the Kedusha of the Shabbat Musaf. The first time we say the Kedusha, before the Shema in the Shacharit service, we are in awe of the chorus in heaven as the angels sing praises to G-d by reciting the threefold “Kadosh” from the book of Isaiah. In the Kedusha of the Shacharit Amida, we have grown in our appreciation of the angelic choir and the text has us join in with the heavenly chorus. Now, as we recite the Kedusha of Musaf, we have grown beyond the chorus of angels. We are ready to offer our own praise to G-d, only in the Kedusha of Musaf do we recite the Shema, affirming what the angels can never affirm, that we choose to praise G-d, that we are able to exercise our free will, a free will that the angels don’t have, that makes our praise that much more precious to G-d. Is it any wonder that all of the great cantorial composers in modern times, have written such rich music for the Musaf. It is here we celebrate our human uniqueness that makes our praise of G-d as original as our Creator.
May think that Musaf is just the final part of the service before the closing prayers, but it is more than just another Amida, it is a celebration of what makes the holiday special and what makes humanity special.

Next week: Prayer VIII: Ashrei, An Original CD by the Composer of the Book of Psalms.

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

February 16, 2004 – Number 5764-18

Prayer VI: Pesuke D’Zimra – Verses of Praise

If the Birchot HaShachar are the basic prayers that help us start our day, the Pesuke D’zimra, the “Verses of Song” guide us to be able to begin our prayers.
Pesuke D’zimra begins with a blessing, “Baruch SheAmar”. This opening blessing begins with one of the most important statements about prayer. It begins “Blessed is the One who spoke and created the world. This first verse sets the stage for all of the liturgy that will follow. It teaches us that words have power, creative power. In ancient days (and to some extent in our day as well) speaking prayers was never enough. Prayer had to be accompanied by some action, usually a sacrifice, in order to be an effective prayer. Words were cheap, one had to be prepared to give up something of value before G-d would pay attention to the desires of the worshiper. This opening verse in Baruch SheAmar teaches us that words do indeed have a power of their own, and the universe can change with just the utterance of prayer. What prayer do we pray? The rest of this blessing is an extended praise of G-d and of G-d’s creation.
What follows is a collection of biblical passages from Chronicles, Psalms, Nehemiah and Exodus. They speak of G-d’s mercy, of how G-d protects Israel from all harm and the kingship of G-d. The Psalms include Psalm 100, the Psalm of Thanksgiving; Ashrei, The ultimate Psalm of praise, and the final four Psalms in the Book of Psalms that focus on praising G-d. We are not sure when people first started reciting biblical passages before the core of the service (The Shema and the Amida) but it apparently was common to recite Psalms before the service and the Psalms recited eventually became part of the service. The Talmud records that Rabbi Jose aspired to recite “Hallel” every day. Since what we call “Hallel” today (Psalms 113-118) is forbidden to be recited except on holy days, the “Hallel” Rabbi Jose is referring to must be Psalms 145-150 which all begin and end with “Hallelujah”. Perhaps, at one time the Sages recited all 150 Psalms before they prayed, and eventually it was scaled down to just the last six. Ashrei, (Psalm 145) is sometimes considered an abridgement of the entire book of Psalms.
One of my teachers, Rabbi R. Kimmelman, has noted that the end of the book of Psalms has, as its focus, the praise of G-d in nature. This should not be a surprise since it is often easiest to find G-d in the wonders of the world that surround us. If we are looking for a reason to praise G-d, we need look no further than the sunrise, the beautiful trees and flowers around us, the expanse of the sky and the wonders of the earth all call to us to acclaim the Creator of the Universe.
But G-d in nature is not enough for us to be ready for prayer. Following Psalm 150 a shift begins that takes us out of the realm of “G-d in nature” and into the realm of “G-d in History”. Beginning with Abraham the final passages lead us to the ultimate moment of G-d’s interaction with humanity, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds. This was a moment of not just triumph over the army of Pharaoh, but a triumph of G-d in History and it is represented by the “Song of the Sea” from Exodus 15. When we recognize the Awesomeness of G-d in nature and the Awe of G-d acting in History, we have readied ourselves for formal prayer, we are not ready to enter to very core of the service.
Pesuke D’zimra closes with a final blessing. Yishtabach (the sister blessing of the prayer that follows regular Hallel on holidays) listing the many ways we have to praise G-d as our sovereign, because of G-d’s actions in nature and in history, we affirm our allegiance to G-d and with a Hatzi Kaddish, we are now ready to begin our formal prayers beginning with the Borchu.

Next week: Prayer VII: Musaf – The Additional Service.

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

February 2, 2004 – Number 5764-17

Prayer V: Birchot HaShachar

The first prayer that is recited traditionally, in the morning, is “Modeh Ani” a simple prayer, giving thanks for the rejuvenating power of sleep. Since it does not mention the name of G-d, it can even be recited before one puts on the kipah in the morning.
The first prayer that is recited when entering the synagogue is “Ma Tovu” which is recited while standing in the doorway, with the secular world behind you and the Aron HaKodesh (the Ark) and the Ner Tamid in front of us and the mezuzah at our right hand. The prayer reflects our awe at being in the house of G-d and our discomfort that perhaps we are visiting at the “wrong” time. Ma Tovu assures us that it is always the right time to worship G-d and we can be sure that our faithful G-d will answer.
Adon Olam is a song most people sing at the end of the service. In reality, this is its original home. It has many catchy melodies that were used to keep children interested to the end of the service, but the words belong here, at the beginning. The author of Adon Olam is unknown (some attribute it to Yehuda HaLevy) and it answers the questions “what is G-d and why should we worship this G-d”. It speaks to the eternity and reliability of G-d. Note that the name itself, Adon Olam has an ambiguous meaning. It could mean “Lord of the World” or “Lord of all Time” referring to G-d as both ruler of the world and beyond the reach of time.
“Asher Yatzar” is the prayer that thanks G-d for the gift of our body. It describes the body as a tube within a tube and holes within holes. If what is closed should be opened or if what is open should be closed, life would be impossible. Some say this prayer upon leaving the bathroom (we never pray in a bathroom) Others see this a prayer over the miracle of childbirth where what is open must close (the umbilical cord) and what is closed must open (the lungs). This is the essence of the miracle of life. The miracle is that our body works without us having to think about it. For all this we are grateful.
“Elohai Neshama” is the prayer for our soul. This is also an ambiguous prayer since “neshama” could refer to either the soul or to our breath. You can actually read the prayer with either meaning. There are those in Judaism who are not “duality” who do not think that we have two parts, body and soul. The body is simply alive and the breath is what animates it. One who holds either position can still say this prayer. The mark of a good prayer is that it makes it easy for people to believe enough to do the rituals.
In some Siddurim, between the Asher Yatzar and the Elohai Neshama, there are passages from the Torah, the Mishna and the Gemara. This is to make sure that we get in a minimum daily quota of Torah study each morning.
The “Birchot HaShachar” are a list of 14 blessings were most congregations begin their service. Some Rabbis feel that this list originally was meant to be recited as we woke up each morning. The theory was that if we could think about G-d first thing in the morning, we would have G-d on our mind all day. The first blessing is for our alarm clock (the rooster) the next three are the reason we get up in the morning, that we are humans, in G-d’s image, we are Jews and we are free. These are followed by a prayer for opening our eyes, for our blanket, for streatching, sitting up in bed, putting our feet on the floor, for keeping our bodies working while we were sleeping, for walking, for getting dressed, and for putting on our kipah. The final prayer is thanking G-d for restoring our strength wile we slept.
Yehi Ratzon is asking G-d to help us get through the day, and Ribbon Ko Olamim reminds us of our place in the world, not angels to be sure, but wondrous creations none the less. This is followed by a number of passages we can study and the section closes with the Kaddish D. Rabban. Psalm 30 closes this section and is followed by the mourners Kaddish.

Next week: Prayer VI: Psuke D’Zimra- Verses of Praise.

Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg

Jan. 26, 2004

Number 5764-16 Laws Relating to the Torah II

There are many superstitions about how one is supposed to care for and handle a Torah. I hope to dispel some of these myths.
First of all, there are many people still today who feel that one must be very careful in handling a Torah Scroll. That if a scroll should drop on the floor than you have to fast for a month (!) A very intense diet to be sure. Actually there is no such thing as a month long fast in Judaism. Even if you allow that the fast would be only by day (and you could eat at night) it still would not make any sense. The actual rule is that when a Torah scroll is accidently dropped or falls onto the floor, it is the obligation of everyone who is present in the room at that time to make a contribution to Tzedaka. Thus whatever “evil decree” caused the Torah to fall can be corrected by Tzedaka and acts of kindness.
For many years there were people who claimed that a woman could not have an aliyah nor touch a Torah for fear that they might be menstruating and the impurity that is attached to this condition would transfer to the Torah. Since it is not proper to ask a woman about this condition, than all women are forbidden to touch a Torah. This is also a myth. The truth is that a Torah scroll is by definition impure (Tamei) as are all “holy” books. According to the Sages, this was to prevent one from making the leap from studying a sacred text to making the scroll the object of worship. Note that when we take the Torah from the ark, we turn and bow to the now empty ark. A reminder that it is the holy presence of G-d that we praise, not the actual scrolls of Torah. The Torah has the capacity to transfer its impurity to human beings. This is why many people do not touch a Torah scroll directly, but use a Tallit or Siddur to touch the Torah. Some say this is unnecessary since the Torah Mantle provides enough of a barrier to prevent us from touching the scroll. This is also one of the reasons that we use a “yad” to point in the text. (The other reason is to prevent the oils in our hands from ruining the letters on the parchment.)
The Sages of the Talmud agreed that there is actually no reason at all why women should not be called to the Torah for an Aliyah but the custom was not to call them lest they embarrass a man who did not know the blessings (illiteracy was a big problem in ancient days). Conservative Jews no longer hold by this stringency and we do call women to the Torah for an Aliyah.
Many people believe that if a Torah has one letter missing or wrong, than the whole Torah is “pasul” or not useable. This is somewhat true. The Rabbis teach that there are 600,000 letters in the Torah to correspond to the 600,000 people who made up the Jewish people when they left Egypt. Since no Jew was left behind, we can not use a Torah that is missing a letter. We can carry the example even further, The script used in a Torah has little decorative “crowns” on some of the letters. Even if a “crown” is missing the Torah can not be used. (Rabbi Akiva was said to have learned “heaps and heaps” of laws from these crowns but if he did they are not recorded anywhere.) A Torah with this kind of a defect can not be used at a service. The universal indicator of a “pasul” Torah is where the tie that holds the scroll together is not under the mantle but outside the mantle.
But a Torah scroll can be fixed. If there is a hole in the parchment, a letter has rubbed off, or been smeared, or is no longer readable, these are all repairable. A Sofer (Scribe) can scratch off a letter and rewrite it to fix the Torah. Holes can be patched. A ripped parchment can be removed and only that “page” replaced. Similarly a scroll from a mezuzah or from Tephillin, can also be repaired. It is important to have a Torah repaired as soon as possible. It is not proper to have a “pasul” Torah in a place where it may be used. This led to an issue with the Holocaust Torah Scrolls that came into congregations through the offices of the Westminster Synagogue in England. These scrolls come from the synagogues destroyed by Nazi Germany. The Nazis wanted the scrolls for a museum about the “vanished race” of Jews. When they came to our community, there was a discussion if a synagogue could harbor permanently a “pasul” Torah. However, we could not fix the scroll since the ownership of all the scrolls remains with the Westminster synagogue. We only have the scroll on permanent loan from England.
Finally, a Torah scroll is always treated with respect. It is the source of all Jewish Law. We therefore stand when we see the Torah, and kiss it reverentially when it passes by. We are commanded to bring honor to the Torah and it is a big mitzvah to study its words, and not just to read them.