Congregation Agudath Jacob April Nisan/Iyar 5778 www.agudath-waco.org Rabbi: Ben-Zion Lanxner President: Brent deMoville Phone: 254-772-1451 Office Admin: Karen Eason Fax: 254-772-2471 Rabbi@agudath-waco.org cajassistant@grandecom.net

This bulletin is published twelve times per year by Congregation Agudath Jacob – a non-profit organization.

Founded in 1888 * Celebrating 129 years * Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Rabbi Ben-Zion Lanxner

Are you Orthodox, Conservative or Reform?

One Seder or Two? One Pessach or Two?

As a Rabbi of a Conservative Synagogue, I was asked this question by three separate people throughout the year. I figure that there must be many more people out there who are uncertain about it, so I thought it would be a good idea to answer the question and also offer some reflections on its meaning for contemporary Conservative Jews. Is there one Seder, or two? Is Passover seven days long, or is it eight? In Exodus, chapter 12, the Torah says, as plain as day, that the ritual meal commemorating the exodus from Egypt—the origin of the Seder—shall begin at twilight on the 14th of Nisan. It does not say anything about a meal on the evening of the 15th day, or any other.

The text goes on to say: You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. (Exodus 12:16-18, JPS Translation) How did we end up with the idea that Passover is celebrated for eight days, when the Torah says seven? Where do

we get Sedarim on the first two nights, when the Torah only mentions a special meal on the first night? The answer is that the Rabbis instituted an additional day to all of the Torah-commanded festivals (except Yom Kippur) because of a problem in reckoning dates. In the early centuries of the common era, the new month was declared by the actual observation of the moon in Jerusalem. A month could not begin until the first sliver of the new moon was actually sighted and reported to the Sanhedrin (the chief rabbinic council). This, of course, created a problem for any community that was more than a day's travel from Jerusalem. A lunar month is approximately 29.5 days long. If you know what day the last month started, there are only two possibilities for the first day of the next month. It's either the thirtieth day after the last new moon or it's the thirty-first. But, how could people far from Jerusalem know which one to start on without a message from the Sanhedrin? For Jewish communities in faraway Babylon and Alexandria, information about the correct date could take weeks. The Rabbis tried different methods to spread the news more quickly. A system of bonfires on mountain tops was instituted to announce the new month, but this system was easily foiled by opponents of the rabbis and Israel's enemies who set false fire signals. Eventually, the Rabbis adopted a system in which communities outside the land of Israel were required to observe Torah-

ordained festivals on two days—one day that would be correct if the previous month had been 29 days long, and one that would be correct if it had been 30 days long. All of the rituals associated with Rosh Hashanah, the first day of Sukkot, Sh'mini Atzeret, the first and last days of Passover, and Shavuot were repeated for a second day. This second day of the holiday for the diaspora, yom tov sheini shel galuyot, is the reason for two Sedarim and for a total of eight days of Passover. In the fourth century, the rabbis switched to a calendar based on mathematical calculation of the lunar cycle instead of direct observation. This is the Hebrew calendar we still use. However, by that time, the practice of adding a second day to the holidays had been established as a permanent practice. In fact, the celebration of Rosh Hashanah as a two-day holiday had become so ingrained that it was observed even in Jerusalem, the city that knew the date of the new moon better than any other. That is the way the holidays stayed for most of the 3 major segments of the Jewish communities until the Reform Movement arose in the 19th century. The early Reformers declared that the reason for the extra day of the holidays had disappeared more than a thousand years earlier, so they restored the biblical pattern of the holidays with only one day for Rosh Hashanah and seven days of Passover. However, the extra day of the festivals continues to be practiced today outside of the land of Israel by Orthodox and Conservative Jews. Inside the land of Israel, everyone observes the same

holiday calendar. Just to make matters even more confusing, many Reform congregations in the diaspora, for a variety of reasons, now have re-adopted the practice of observing two days of Rosh Hashanah. Also, many Reform congregations offer a congregational Seder on the second day of Passover. Is the diversity of calendars and holiday practices good for Judaism or is it bad? I find that to be a difficult question to answer. I certainly have seen Jews—some Reform and some Orthodox—who become indignant about those "other" Jews who don't observe the holidays the "right way." That kind of partisan and chauvinistic attitude separates one Jew from another is certainly not "good for the Jews”, as the late Chabad leader, Reb Menachem Mendel Schneersohn zt”l use to say to his followers, A Jew is a Jew is a Jew! On the other hand, diversity within the family of the Jewish people can also be seen as a good thing. It keeps us thinking

about why we do what we do and it opens up our minds to new possibilities just because we are faced by new challenges, as the Conservative movement implemented major changes regarding the role of women in all facets of day to day life in the synagogue. Even Reform Judaism has become better in recent decades because it has faced the challenge represented by Orthodox and Conservative movements and has responded by re-imagining rituals that were once totally discarded -like immersing in the Mikvah, and even sometimes forbidden - wearing a Tallit or a Kippah—and has injected new life and meaning into them. Whether you observed Passover this year with one Seder or two, it is likely that your Seder was different than the one your grandparents observed fifty years ago. That difference, in all likelihood, can be traced back to an influence inspired by the diversity of Judaism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Wishing you all a Happy and Kosher Passover.

Rabbi Ben-Zion Lanxner

April Service Schedule

Sunday, April 1 – Passover Day 2 Service 9:30 p.m.

Friday, April 6 – Passover Day 7

Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 p.m. Candle Lighting 6:33 p.m.

Saturday, April 7 – Passover Day 8

Shacharit 9:30 a.m. Yizkor Service 11:00 a.m. Shabbat & Yom Tov Ends 7:29 p.m.

Friday, April 13

Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 p.m. Candle Lighting 6:38 p.m.

Saturday, April 14

Shacharit 9:30 a.m. Shabbat Ends 7:34 p.m.

Friday, April 20 Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 p.m. Candle Lighting 6:43 p.m.

Saturday, April 21

Shacharit 9:30 a.m. Shabbat Ends 7:39 p.m.

Friday, April 27

Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00 p.m. Candle Lighting 6:48 p.m.

Saturday, April 28

Shacharit 9:30 a.m. Shabbat Ends 7:45 p.m.

April 2 David Wolpo

April 5 Jo Spark

Scott Vaughan April 8

Elizabeth Silver-Schack Sarah Via

April 10

Lydia Hoffman Rebbetzin Susan Lanxner

April 12 JoAnn Miriam Brooks

April 14 Matthew Spark

April 18 Joel Leland Farley

April 21 Melanie Bauer

April 28 Jeff Glick

The office will be closed during the Passover

holiday on Friday April 6th.

April 8 Mr. & Mrs. Paul Farmer

Rabbi Discretionary Fund Jerry & Gloria Gurkoff

Jeff & Lea Levin Joseph Settle

Jim & Morasha Stuckey Florence Hersh Carron Thomson

Shabbat Donations March 3

Inez Bonneville

George & Kathleen Keller

Gloria Yoder

March 10

Brent & Dianne deMoville

George & Kathleen Keller

Joseph Settle

March 17

Judy Hersh

David Levy

Joseph Settle

Gloria Yoder

March 24

Joseph Settle

George & Kathleen Keller

Joseph Settle

Abbye & Susan Silver

Howard Miller

Laynie Miller

Leonard Englander

Morton Benjamin

Robert & Gayle Monta

Stanley Hersh

George & Kathleen

Keller

Alan Sandgarten

Stuart & Elizabeth Smith

Cromwell Management

Lillian Kaufman

Brent & Dianne

deMoville

Hanna Vaughan

Leonard Englander

The Snider Family

Phyllis Ruttenberg

Akmal

Carolyn Key

Wanda Johnson

Herb Jackowitz

Florence Hersh

Don C. Stuckey

Jim & Morasha Stuckey

Bessie Zoblotsky

Morris & Beverly

Zoblotsky

Harmon McNabb

Larry & Joie McNabb

Greg McNabb

Larry & Joie McNabb

Birdie Citrin

Jeff & Lea Levin

Anna Goldman Hersh

Florence Hersh

Mike Lev

Phyllis Ruttenberg

Akmal

Norman Goldberg

Margie Goldberg

Larry Harelik

Charles Levy

Brent & Dianne

deMoville

Carolyn & Glynda

Neuwirth

Hanna Vaughan

Raylene Silver

Leonard Englander

David & Annette Scott

Casey & Donnie Sadler

Rosanne & Jimmy Miller

Phyllis Ruttenberg

Akmal

Jaynes, Reitmeier, Boyd

& Therrel P.C.

Barbara Wolpo

Harry & Beverly Harelik

Ellie & Eddie Morrison

Marsha Lev

David & Kay Cherry

Suzanne & Kent Starr

Melvin Lipsitz

The 2018 Feast of Caring Soup Cook-Off will be held Tuesday, April 3 at 6:00 p.m.

in the Brazos Room of the Waco Convention Center. Information is availabale at

www.caritas-waco.org or by calling 254-753-4593.

HOW TO OBSERVE THE YAHRZEIT It is traditional to kindle a Yahrzeit Candle in the home on the evening Yahrzeit begins. It should remain lighted

until sunset the next day. Possible prayer before lighting a Yahrzeit candle: Eternal God, I/we light this candle

in memory of (name) _________, my/our beloved (relationship) ___________. The light of the flame rekindles

all the warm memories of the moment we shared together and reassures me /us that a piece of his/her soul

dwells in my/our heart(s) forever. May his/her soul be bound up with the bonds of eternal life. Amen. Candles

are available at the Gift Shop. Every effort should be made to say Kaddish at congregational services. It is

meritorious to perform some Mitzvah or to contribute to the synagogue in commemoration of the deceased.

Kaddish will be read on April 6

Nisan 21 Ida Fred

Mildred Fetter

Nisan 22 Irving Stupak

Nisan 23 Louis Wise

Abe Jacobs

Dora Sacks

Nisan 24 Joseph Muskat

Nisan 25 Rebecca Genecov

Nisan 26 Bessie Levin

Murray Hersh

Marvin Fuller

Nisan 27 George Adelman

Mrs. Mitchell Stein

Julia Moes

Kaddish will be read on April 13

Nisan 28 Leah Beerman

Alex Stein

Morris Miller

Nisan 29 Ida Berkman

Don Tocker

Iyar 1 Harry Goltz

M.S. (Max) Roberts

Iyar 2 Sam Rubel

Iyar 3 Tessie Ruskin

Iyar 4 Adam Kiss

Lester Englander

Lawrence Lynn

Kaddish will be read on April 20

Iyar 5 Agnes Rubel

Mrs. Ben Golob

Abraham J. Sprecher

Iyar 6 Ruth Bell

Iyar 7 Bertha Rosen

Rebecca Brickman

Jake Berkman

Iyar 8 Eva Wizig

Abe Hashfield

M. Berlowitz

Iyar 9 Z. Hoppenstein

Muriel Jesenof

Iyar 10 Mary Novich

Dr. Sam Chernoff

Iyar 11 Annie Esserman

Sarah Israel

Jack Weissman

Dave Freed

Max Chodorow

Lillian Rubenstein

Kaddish will be read on April 27

Iyar 12 Benjamin Bauer

Joe Leo Siegel

Louis Woolf

Iyar 13 Millie Gardner

Abe Adams

Iyar 14 Adrian Moes

Fannie Genecov

Rhua Settle

Iyar 15 Sarah Hoffman

Morris Cohen

Annie Rae Wizig

Iyar 16 Gilford Fred

Iyar 17 Julius Berkman

Jacob Greenspan

Samuel Kestner

Abe Udashen

Iyar 18 N. Suravitz

Jennie Rosenberg

April 201816 Nisan 5778 - 15 Iyar 5778

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

6:06AM/6:53PM§7:38PM

6:05AM/6:54PM 6:03AM/6:55PM 6:02AM/6:56PM 6:00AM/6:57PM¡¡6:39PM

5:58AM/6:58PM§7:43PM/¡¡6:40PM

5:57AM/6:59PM§7:44PM

5:55AM/7:00PM 5:54AM/7:01PM 5:52AM/7:02PM 5:50AM/7:03PM 5:49AM/7:03PM§7:48PM

5:47AM/7:04PM¡¡6:46PM

5:46AM/7:05PM§7:50PM

5:44AM/7:06PM 5:43AM/7:07PM 5:41AM/7:09PM 5:40AM/7:10PM§7:55PM

5:38AM/7:11PM§7:56PM

5:37AM/7:12PM¡¡6:54PM

5:35AM/7:13PM§7:58PM

5:34AM/7:14PM 5:32AM/7:15PM 5:31AM/7:16PM 5:30AM/7:17PM 5:28AM/7:18PM 5:27AM/7:19PM¡¡7:01PM

5:25AM/7:20PM§8:05PM

5:24AM/7:21PM§8:06PM

5:23AM/7:22PM

16 Nisan/1 L'Omer 17 Nisan/2 L'Omer 18 Nisan/3 L'Omer 19 Nisan/4 L'Omer 20 Nisan/5 L'Omer 21 Nisan/6 L'Omer 22 Nisan/7 L'Omer

23 Nisan/8 L'Omer 24 Nisan/9 L'Omer 25 Nisan/10 L'Omer 26 Nisan/11 L'Omer 27 Nisan/12 L'Omer 28 Nisan/13 L'Omer 29 Nisan/14 L'Omer

30 Nisan/15 L'Omer 1 Iyar/16 L'Omer 2 Iyar/17 L'Omer 3 Iyar/18 L'Omer 4 Iyar/19 L'Omer 5 Iyar/20 L'Omer 6 Iyar/21 L'Omer

7 Iyar/22 L'Omer 8 Iyar/23 L'Omer 9 Iyar/24 L'Omer 10 Iyar/25 L'Omer 11 Iyar/26 L'Omer 12 Iyar/27 L'Omer 13 Iyar/28 L'Omer

14 Iyar/29 L'Omer 15 Iyar/30 L'Omer

Avodah Zarah 76 Horayos 2 Horayos 3 Horayos 4 Horayos 5 Horayos 6 Horayos 7

Horayos 8 Horayos 9 Horayos 10 Horayos 11 Horayos 12 Horayos 13 Horayos 14

Zevachim 2 Zevachim 3 Zevachim 4 Zevachim 5 Zevachim 6 Zevachim 7 Zevachim 8

Zevachim 9 Zevachim 10 Zevachim 11 Zevachim 12 Zevachim 13 Zevachim 14 Zevachim 15

Zevachim 16 Zevachim 17

Passover II

Passover service 9:30a.m.

Hol Hamoed Passover I Hol Hamoed Passover II Hol Hamoed PassoverIII

NO SCHOOL

Hol Hamoed PassoverIV

Passover VII

Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00p.m.

OFFICE CLOSED FORPASSOVER

Passover VIII (Yizkor)

Shacarit 9:30 a.m.Yizkor 11:00 a.m.

Passover ends withHavdalah at 7:29 p.m.

Minyan & Classes 9:30a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Religious School 4:00p.m.

Yom Hashoah Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00p.m.

Shacarit 9:30 a.m.

Rosh Hodesh I

Minyan & Classes 9:30a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Rosh Hodesh II Yom Hazikaron

Religious School 4:00p.m.

Yom Ha'Atzmaut Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00p.m.

Shacarit 9:30 a.m.

Minyan & Classes 9:30a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Religious School 4:00p.m.

Kabbalat Shabbat 6:00p.m.

Shacarit 9:30 a.m.

Pesach Sheini

Minyan & Classes 9:30a.m.-1:00 p.m.

[¡¡Candle Lighting, §Observance End, Printed March 29, 2018/13 Nisan 5778 for Canton, Ohio]