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Rosh Hodesh Nisan | ראש חודש ניסן
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Welcoming Nisan
This year we welcome the new Hebrew month of Nisan with artist Bette Ann Libby's piece "Miriam Crossing the Sea" in honor of Passover. Libby is a member of the Hebrew College Arts Initiative and the College's new Artist Beit Midrash — a partnership with The Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts) and CJP to bring together Boston artists to study Jewish texts, share their creative processes, and build community and connection. Her work will also be on display at Hebrew College's special Centennial Art Exhibit "Remember, Renew, Reimagine," opening on April 3 in the College's Ted Cutler Gallery and running through June 14.Learn more and sign up for free gallery tour here.
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Telling Stories in the First-Person Plural
By Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
President, Hebrew College
Reprinted from PJ Library Magazine
(Winter/Spring 2022)
When my son was about 3 years old, we visited my great aunt. She was 102 at the time, the oldest person my son had ever met. He sat quietly at my side for a while, watching her cautiously from across the room, and then, with more than a trace of wonder in his voice, he whispered in my ear, “Was she actually in Mitzrayim?”
Mitzrayim—the ancient land of Egypt where our ancestors were slaves to Pharaoh. Where, as we recite at the Passover seder each year, we were slaves to Pharaoh: avadim hayinu. And the Holy One brought us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.
This, in some way, is our story of stories. We tell it in the first-person plural so that we and our children learn to take it personally. At the seder, we don’t just tell the story; we eat it, quite literally internalizing it to make it our own.
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The Blessing of Asking for Help
By Heather Renetzky, Hebrew College Rabbinical Student
Parashat Tazria, with its long and dry list of details about leprosy, has never felt so relevant. It’s as if some of this parasha’s questions were taken straight out of a CDC press conference. When is it important to isolate yourself from others for health reasons? In what situations can we be more lenient? Is illness transmittable through surfaces?
The Etz Chayim commentary on the parasha notes, “Perhaps no concept in the Torah is less accessible to the modern reader than the notion of tumah (ritual impurity).” I had to laugh when I read this. As a modern reader living in a world of Covid tests, Covid exposures, and just Covid in general, the anxiety around impurity, disease, and contamination feels all too familiar.
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A Taste of the World
to Come
By Rafi Ellenson
Student, Hebrew College Rabbinical
Mentor, Miller Center Dignity Project
“In classical Jewish literature, Saturday—Shabbat, the sabbath—is considered to be, ‘a taste of the world to come.’ It is a whole day dedicated to imagining and acting out the peace that will come at the end of days. Some Jews eat luxurious meals or go on long walks unencumbered by worldly responsibilities, and some spend quality time with loved ones. And though it is a taste of the world to come, Shabbat is not meant to be so overwhelming a flavor that we forget ourselves and our obligations to our communities, the world, and the image of God that lives in each and every person. But it is a reminder that a better world is always possible.”
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Enrich Your Seder
The Hebrew College Passover Companion offers a pathway into one of our central ritual moments—the Passover seder. Our Companion is structured around the simanim, or signposts, of the seder, bringing you from the ritual’s beginning, through the meal, and to its closing. We hope it will generate new questions and conversations around your own seder table—and that you will be touched and surprised by the many ways we can tell our story of liberation.
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