A Very Eventful Month

This is really an exciting time of the year! I can’t even decide what to emphasize in my sermons this month. Consider what is going on: We’ve recently concluded Passover, and on the second day of that festival, we started counting the Omer. The Torah enjoins us to count “7 weeks of 7 days” and then the next festival, Shavuot, is on the 50th day. Why do we have to count to that next holiday? It’s because it doesn’t fall on a set day on the Hebrew calendar! Jewish months have 29 or 30 days, varying so that certain holidays don’t fall on Shabbat. We also have periodic leap years, in which the entire month of Adar (the last month of the Hebrew calendar) is repeated. So our calendar is not rigorously a lunar calendar; it aligns with the sun by means of these tweaks so that holidays don’t move into different seasons as years pass (Passover must always be in the spring, for example). Take a look at the holidays around the year. Except for historical ones like Chanukah, they tend to fall on the new moon or the full moon. But Shavuot is 50 days after Passover and not even on the same date from year to year because of the variation in lengths of months. So we really do need to count out 50 days to get this holiday to fall on the day prescribed for it by the Torah. Passover and Shavuot were originally harvest festivals, but Passover became the holiday commemorating the exodus from Egypt, while Shavuot became the holiday remembering the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

And then we have Israel’s Memorial Day this week (tomorrow), followed by its Independence Day (Thursday). This was designed deliberately; there is recognition and honoring of the fallen soldiers who have been responsible for all these years for the very existence of a free, independent State of Israel. Many people are still alive today who remember World War II and then, in the aftermath, the foundation of the State of Israel in May 1948.

Later on this month, on May 23rd, we have the minor holiday of Lag BaOmer. Hebrew letters are also used as numbers, so this holiday is the 33rd day of the Omer, being written with a lamed (for 30) and a gimel (for 3): לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר

This holiday commemorates Rabbi Akiva and the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132 CE (the last attempt to overthrow Roman rule in Judea, which was unsuccessful). One of Rabbi Akiva’s students who survived this rebellion, Rabbi Simeon, is said to have died years later on Lag BaOmer. He was a major hero in the mystic tradition, and tens of thousands of people camp out on the mountain in Jerusalem where he is buried, and they light bonfires. Otherwise, this holiday passes almost unnoticed nowadays, only coming to my own attention because my daughter was born on that day.

Of all of the things that I intend to mention this month, the most significant to me is the parasha for this week, Kedoshim, which starts at Leviticus 19 and is in the precise center of the Torah. It is called the “Holiness Code” and starts out with the Children of Israel being told, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” What does this mean? An ascetic existence? Ritual purity? The rest of the chapter gives ample evidence for what is intended here. We are supposed to treat everybody equally, regardless of any mental or physical incapacities, status in the community, level of family wealth, or whether a person was born in your community or came only recently as a stranger. Support the poor, the widowed, the orphaned – those who have been dealt a losing hand by chance and so need a boost to enjoy the same level of comfort as we ourselves do. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What was pointed out by the Women’s Torah Commentary and really caught my attention is the fact that this chapter is directed at the entire community. It is not just the priests and Levites who are supposed to be holy. They do need to be in a state of ritual purity in order to conduct sacrifices and in general serve God’s will, but it is the entire people – men, women, children – who are commanded to be holy. Nobody is of such low status that he or she is left out of this. All of us are called to live a holy life in the fellowship of others, with respect for other people and for our animal helpers (even they are supposed to rest on Shabbat) and for our planet. The priests and the Levites weren’t singled out or exalted above others, but all had the same expectations placed on them.

What a lot is going on this month for us to think about! I wish you a beautiful and a peaceful May filled with love and joy.