Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

This week, we begin the third book of the Torah, called, Vayikra-Leviticus. The first several chapters contain no narrative, poem, or fable, as we found in Bereishit and Shmot. Rather, Vayikra begins with legislations regarding a wide variety of sacrifices. Shmot concluded with the establishment of the Tabernacle. Vayikra begins with the sacrifices that would be brought and offered in the Tabernacle.

In the rabbinic period some two thousand years ago, our Sages taught that little children would be introduced to the study of Torah with Vayikra and not with the familiar stories of Bereishit and Shmot. Why so? "The sacrifices are pure, and little ones are pure. Let those who are pure become occupied with matters of purity." In antiquity, after the destruction of the Second Temple, young children continued to learn the importance of what it means to make sacrifices in one's life.

In less than two weeks, we shall usher in Pesach. Many of the rituals and traditions center around children: The recitation of the Four Questions, the four kinds of children, the finding of the Afikomen, the songs at the end of the Seder, and more. The name of the Haggadah itself is based on one of the answers to the four children, as found in the Torah, "V'Higadta L'Vincha - You shall tell your child."

Both, the newest book of the Torah and the Festival of Pesach, instruct us to be vigilant in teaching Jewish values to our children at an early age. These practices which go back almost two thousand years are as relevant today as they were long ago.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison