RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TWAS A CHANCE FOR TWO SHEHECHEYANU / LAST BITE OF PASSOVER

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TWAS A CHANCE FOR TWO SHEHECHEYANU  /  LAST BITE OF PASSOVER

 

 

''Tonight 2/20/08 is the full lunar eclipse at 9:00 PM. The next
one won't be for two years so don't miss the chance to say a shehecheyanu!''

 

Shalom:

 

Last night's eclipse was marvelous especially when the moon turned blood red. But while our eclipse will come again in two years, we Jews had another shehecheyanu to say yesterday.

 

Yesterday was the celebration of Purim Katan, as it was Adar One 14.

 

There's a strong connection between Purim and Purim Katan. The Talmud teaches teaches: "There is no difference between the first Adar (Purim)  and the second Adar (Purim) , but the reading of the Megillah and the distribution of gifts to the poor." (Bavli Tractate Megillah 6b).

 

We had a Purim Seudah - Festive Meal, wore masks to remind us of  'haster panai', (G!d's hidden face), (Tractate Taanit 9a), said the beracoth, and then, when nightfall came, the holiday ended, and it was 9 PM Eastern time, we went out into the streets, masked, and did our second shehecheyanu on seeing the eclipse. This of course scared our neighbors thinking that Mardi Gras of two weeks prior was still being celebrated in our household.

 

Because it was Purim Katan, my guests only got a little drunk, and still could discern between the names Mordechai and Haman.

 

"A year with 13 months is referred to in Hebrew as Shanah Me'uberet .literally: a pregnant year. In English, we commonly call it a leap year. The additional month is known as Adar I, Adar Rishon or Adar Alef. It is inserted before the regular month of Adar (known in such years as Adar II, Adar Sheini or Adar Beit). Note that Adar II is the "real" Adar, the one in which the Full Purim,  is celebrated, the one in which yahrzeits  for Adar are observed, the one in which a 13-year-old born in Adar becomes a Bar Mitzvah. Adar I is the "extra" Adar.

In the fourth century, Hillel II established a fixed calendar based on mathematical and astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19 year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years. Adar I is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle."

 We are in the eleventh year of this cycle. So while we get another lunar eclipse in 2 years, we have to wait for  four years for another shechecheyanu to be said for Purim Katan. Our Kariate brothers, who deny the Talmud, do not have their calendar with leap months, and for them, yesterday was the Full Purim.

 As I mentioned in my post, the later sages were certainly, perplexed exactly what Afikoman meant. Was it indeed just us eating the middle piece of matzah, or was our last course, full of real goodies?

 This is why I posited that from the derivation of the word from the Greek, and with the Greeks controlling Babylon after Persia, that the dessert was not just a piece of unleavened bread, but something special.

 For us moderns, we actually have two meals at Passover, the Seder, with its symbolic foods, and then the 'real' meal, based on whatever country we Jews are living in at the time.

The Jews in the Ghetto of Venice didn't debate, they ate.

 And the Tiramisu` (pick me up) that they made from matzah meal sponge cake, coffee, rum, and Zabaglione  custard that is made by whipping egg yolks, sugar, and sweet kosher for Pesach wine without using mascarpone cheese, as the Seder meal was  a meat-dish, was divine.  And it included, perhaps, that lonely piece of found middle matzah that we refer to today as Afikoman.

Many Blessings and Happy Sushan Purim Katan, to those of you in Jerusalem and Sushan:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

 

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Delicious ideas to please the pickiest eaters. Watch the video on AOL Living.