From weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs to business functions and lectures, our facility is a great setting and location for your special occasion. BAS Rabbi's Message for May 2010
The Counting of the Omer
posted May 2, 2010
“You shall rejoice in your festival…and you shall have nothing but joy.”
(Deuteronomy 16:14-15).
With Shavout following on the heels of Passover (Wednesday – Thursday, May 19-20), perhaps it is well worth mentioning that most of us are participants as well as observers of the holiday festivities of the Jewish heritage, and there are several well-written popular works which may be utilized to enhance knowledge, engender participation, and gain insight into the yearly festival calendar.
The festival celebrations through ritual and symbol, ancient traditions and new ones are reflective of people’s daily existences, and deal with the most important cultural values and ideas a society possesses, as a number of scholars such as Victor Turner and Edmund Leach have pointed out.
I recall an excellent religious school teacher who taught her students about the Passover Haggadah for an entire semester and discovered through studying it with the children that Passover is related to everything else in Judaism, and that one specific holiday encapsulates almost the entire Jewish tradition. The festivals are systemically related. In a sense, if you know one, you know them all. For a number of months, the class engaged in the study of the Haggadah and, even then, they were afforded only enough time to barely scratch the surface.
The multifaceted breadth and depth of these multivocal, polyvalent holidays is truly amazing in their dazzling array of polychromatic hues. A virtual splendor to behold.
The following are some enjoyable and informative classics on Jewish holiday celebrations that are more than worthy of exploration.
1. Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays: A guide and Commentary (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), in paperback. A group of scholars comment on Strassfeld’s text on the margin of the page. Each chapter is devoted to a different holiday and covers history, themes, practices, contemporary approaches, and interpretations of the particular festival. An all-around most informational holiday book.
2. Arthur Waskow, Seasons of Our Joy (NY: Bantam Books, 1982), in paperback. A smaller paperback than Strassfeld’s, Waskow’s volume is comprehensive as well, dealing with the origins, preparations, services, new approaches, and suggestions for further readings for the respective holidays. A number of the “new approaches” are quite novel and are the products of the religious community that Waskow is part of. It’s almost worth the cost of the book to read about the new forms of observances which are espoused.
3. Rabbi Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way, Living the Holidays (NJ: Summit Books, 1988), a hardback novel-size book by a modern orthodox rabbi who works for understanding and together-ness among the various Jewish denominations. Greenberg’s view on pluralism and openness, understanding and cooperation among Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist infuses his commentary, providing a new interesting twist to the outlook on festivals, while continuously showing parallels between ancient history and modern life.
4. Hayyim Schauss, Guide to Jewish Holy Days NJ: Schocken, 1962 (1938), in paperback. A widely read classic that has been around for quite some time delves into life in Eastern Europe. Unparalleled notes on primary sources for holiday references.
5. Theodore H. Gaster, Festivals of the Jewish Year (NJ: William Sloane Associates, 1966 [1952]), in paperback. A noted scholar draws comparisons between Jewish festivals and those of other peoples and religions.
6. Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice (NY: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1979), in hardback. The volume serves as a Shulkhan Arukh for the Conservative Movement in Judaism. It’s a standard reference work for professionals, being useful in many different contexts. Written by a conservative rabbi, the Guide serves as a textbook for Reform rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College.
7. Eliyahu Kitov, The Book of Our Heritage (NY: Feldheim Publishers, 1978), three volumes in paperback. This book will be of interest after having read some of the others. Unusual in its wide range of citations from primary sources, but exact references are omitted. Check out the pages following the Table of Contents: A Guide to Observance”, and “Insights, Reasons, Meanings and Allusions”.
Three others worthy of mention:
8. The Jewish Publication Society’s Holiday Anthologies by Philip Goodman in hardback: All-encompassing compendiums.
9. Guides to various holidays published by Jewish Chronicle Publications, London. Very small hardback volumes that cover the holidays briefly, but well.
10. “Popular History of Jewish Civilization” Holiday volumes (Jerusalem: Keter, 1964), in paperback. Slender books full of rich detail, by the editors of The Enclcyclopaedia Judaica. Hag Sameah! Rabbi Mark L. Shrager
Shalom!
Rabbi Mark L. Shrager
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