RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:OBAMA'S SEDER:
Shalom and Happy Chol Ha Moed # 2 and Omer Day # 3.
Well it is POTUS SEDER PLUS THREE today. Yes, it three days after President Obama's historic White House Second night Seder. It was chock full of every thing a seder could want. Including Maxwell House Hagaddah's and local Washington Jews kvetching about not being invited. What is a family seder without kvetching?
Now the pundits and many rabbis have all made kudos to the President for having a seder. So I do not need to add mine. When he builds a Sukkah of Shalom in the Rose garden and every person in the world can sit and eat in peace, then I will be very impressed, may it be God's will that this day should come, and quickly.
In President Obama's letter to all American Jews celebrating Passover, as opposed to the ones who were not, he made a gaff. His error is one that is not unusual as I have heard with my own ears, Rabbis say the same thing. In President Obama's April 7th letter in paragraph three he refers to the Jewish ancestors ''430 years of slavery in Egypt.''
Indeed, God foretold four hundred years of exile. During the Covenant Between the Parts God told Abraham: Gen. 15:13 "You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years." Nevertheless, a calculation of the years spent in Egypt reveals that they spent far less time there.
Rashi, our great French medieval winemaking Rabbi, who did not publish a Hagaddah but did publish books on about everything else Judaic, says: "It is impossible to say that they spent 400 years in Egypt alone, because Kehat , the grandfather of Moses, was of those who came with Jacob to Egypt. Go and figure all his years [133 years], all the years of his son Amram [137 years], and Moses' 80 years [at which age he led the Israelites out of Egypt]; you will not find them to be that many, and perforce, Kehat lived many of his years before he descended to Egypt, and many of Amram's years are included in the years of Kehat, and many of Moses' years are included in Amram's years. Hence, you will not find 400 years counting from their arrival in Egypt"
Our sages in the Talmud explain that the countdown of 400 years began with Isaac's birth. God's promise does not refer to Egypt by name, rather to a "land that is not theirs." As soon as Abraham had a child, his seed were subjected to living in lands that were not theirs—including Canaan which wasn't "theirs" at the time.
Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born, Gen. 25:26, and Jacob was 130 years old when he went down to Egypt. Gen. 47:9. This means that 190 of the 400 years elapsed before the Israelites arrived in Egypt. So the Israelites were in Egypt for a total of 210 years.
Now when we add some Kabbalistic Gemetria to it all, which always gives Rabbinic sages answers when they have no where else to get them from, when Jacob first instructed his sons to descend to Egypt, he said, Gen. 42:2. "Go down ("רדו") there and buy [food]." The numerical value of the Hebrew letters of the word "רדו" ("redu," "go down") is exactly 210!
So where did President Obama and some other Rabbis get the number 430 years from? Simple. It is in Exodus 12:40. So what is up? Here lies the rub. Studying the written Torah without the Talmud {oral Torah} leaves one in error, and taking things literally like an 'eye for an eye', which is why Israel has executed one person in 61 years and Texas executes regularly.
In Exodus 12:40, the Torah tells us of the 430 years the Israelites spent in Egypt. Again, this cannot be taken literally (as per the calculations of Rashi). Rather this number includes the years that the Israelites' ancestors sojourned in other foreign lands, and also includes the thirty years between the Covenant Between the Parts and Isaac's birth. (This is Rashi's interpretation; other Biblical commentators offer different explanations but end up with the same 210 year conclusion.)
Now that would have been a Talmudic pilpul discussion at a Seder of which I would like to have been a part.
Who's who: From the President's left is Samantha Tubman (she came to the original seder in Harrisburg and now works for Social Secretary Desiree Rogers)…. Next to Tubman is Melissa Winter (deputy chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama) then First daughters Sasha, and Malia, then the First Lady.
Next to the First Lady is deputy White House counsel Susan Sher, and next to Susan Sher (out of view) are her sons Evan Moore and Michael Cohen, top White House advisor Valerie Jarrett and Obama pal and University of Chicago Medical Center honcho Eric Whitaker (who you can't see).
On the other side of the table, to the President's immediate right, is Susan Sher's husband Neil Cohen. Next to him is Laura Moser (Arun Chaudhary wife), then White House videographer Arun Chaudhary, Vice President Biden aide Herbie Ziskend (Chaudhary and Ziskend were at Harrisburg) Eric Lesser (the Seder's leader), Lesser's father, Martin Lesser, Deputy Director of Advance Lisa Kohnke, Mrs. Obama's personal aide, Dana Lewis, and Obama personal assistant Reggie Love.
The photo at the White House appears to have been taken before any of the meal had been served, and it is awfully light…I wonder if they waited until the right time to have the meal, it's a little hard to tell. From the Hebrew on Obama's page, they're just a short while from the meal. The Hebrew letters read, "Pesach, Matzah and Maror" - these are the three things you must have to have a seder.
Happy Passover. Next Year at Senator Lieberman's Home.
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal
- Rabbi Arthur Segal
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- I am available for Shabbatons, and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history, (from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', and do not ask for honorariums for my services. I am post-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.
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- I am available to perform Jewish weddings, and other life cycle events, ONLY IF, it is a destination wedding and the local full time pulpit rabbi is unavailable, or if there is no local full time pulpit rabbi, or it is in my local area and all of the full time pulpit rabbis are unavailable.
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- My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.
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- Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge.
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- Todah Rabah and Shalom v' Beracoth. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com .
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| THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:
A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice into a step-by-step process to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality in a concise easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner.
If you find yourself wishing for the strength to sustain you through the ups and downs of life; if you want to learn how to live life to its fullest without angst, worry, low self-esteem or fear; or if you wish that your relationships with family, friends and co-workers were based on love and service and free of ego, arguments, resentments and feelings of being unloved...this book is for you.
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254 Pages
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| A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM
TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew.
All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home.
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In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.
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A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal
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