kosher bookworm: alan jay gerber

The Pesach 5776 book list finale

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Well, it is almost here, Pesach that is. This week’s essay lists several additional excellent readings themed to the holiday.

We begin with one of my favorites, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin’s “Unlocking The Torah Text.” If you can obtain the second volume, Shemot, count yourself as very lucky. And, when you get it, please read Rabbi Goldin’s teachings from Parashat Bo, the narrative of the Exodus itself. What I was most taken by was his relating the story of the Jewish optician in Berlin in the 1930s. Hopefully, by next year, a new Haggadah by Rabbi Goldin will be forthcoming, and I urge the good rabbi to include this episode.

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of Boca Raton, in his recent essay on Dayeinu, referenced a Haggadah commentary by Rabbi Nachman Cohen entitled, “The Historical Haggadah,” in which he teaches us the following: “Understanding what Dayeinu is really all about and why it is the centerpiece of our Seder requires us to zoom out the lens and instead of investigating specific lines, to look at the poem as a whole. What do the 15 stanzas have in common? Why were these events or experiences chosen?” 

Citing Rabbi Cohen’s take, Rabbi Goldberg continues: “If you look at the Chumash and in Tehillim, chapter 106 in particular, you will notice that every stanza of Dayeinu corresponds with an incredibly gracious act that G-d did for us and our absolute ungrateful response.”

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