CANTOR’S CORNER

Cantor Eyal Bitton shares a few thoughts on prayer and the parasha of the week.

2024-04-06 Parashat Shemini

In a few weeks from now, Jews around the world will be sitting around a dinner table learning about how they were freed from Egypt. We will ask the four questions. We will eat symbolic foods on and around the seder plate. We will read about the four children. 

בָּרוּךְ הַמָּקוֹם, בָּרוּךְ הוּא, בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּוֹרָה לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא
כְּנֶגֶד אַרְבָּעָה בָנִים דִּבְּרָה תוֹרָה:
אֶחָד חָכָם, וְאֶחָד רָשָׁע, וְאֶחָד תָּם, וְאֶחָד שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל

Blessed is the One who gave the Torah to God’s people Israel, blessed be God! The Torah speaks of four children: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask.

These four children ask questions about the Passover story. One of these children is called wise. One is called wicked. One is called simple. One is unable to ask a question. From their questions, we see that these children, all from the same family, have different views on their heritage and their role in it. In that respect, the Haggadah reflects a truth about the Jewish community, and society in general: we have a plethora of perspectives. 

Let’s take a look at what some Jewish celebrities think, taken from the book Stars of David.

Joan Rivers

I love going to temple – I love Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah. 

…On Passover, I look forward to doing my meal. 

If I don’t go to synagogue on Yom Kippur night, I’m devastated. I missed one once.

—

Shivah’s wonderful.

…It makes sense! Seven days of eating and talking and laughing and crying and being in the house is so great because you’re so happy to be quiet finally when everybody goes home. It’s so brilliant. Then you’re so happy to be able to go out of your house again. And meanwhile they’ve kept you going.

Joan Rivers (Stars of David, p. 136-137)

These words are from comedienne and TV personality, Joan Rivers.

Mark Spitz

When you’re around a community that embraces religion, you embrace it more, too. I’ve been participating in this in a big way. I’m a big proponent now. I used to hate going to High Holy Days services; as soon as I got there, I was counting the minutes till I could leave. Now I look forward to going. Maybe I’m older and not as fast paced as before. Also, I’m an example for my kids. I enjoy it. 

Stars of David, p. 326

These and other reflections on Jewish identity by American Olympic champion swimmer, Mark Spitz, display an embrace of the ethnic and religious components of Judaism. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

At Christmas around here, every door has a wreath. I received this mezuzah from the Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn, and it’s a way of saying, “This is my space, and please don’t put a wreath on this door.”

… I wish that I could have the feeling for it [Judaism] that I once did. I don’t think I ever will.

Stars of David, p. 23-24

US Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feels an attachment to the Jewish people through culture and heritage but not to the religion itself. 

Gene Wilder

I feel very Jewish and I feel very grateful to be Jewish. But I don’t believe in God or anything to do with the Jewish religion.

I went back to visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and heard the ignorant rabbi giving his views on the Vietnam War, and I wanted to get up and start hollering at him. But I thought, “My mother and father will be embarrassed… So I didn’t. But that’s the last time I went to temple.”

Stars of David, p. 93-94

Comic actor, Gene Wilder, is someone whose work I’ve thoroughly enjoyed for years. He’s funny. He’s likable. And I’ve always related to him as a Jew. However, he expresses a point of view that doesn’t resonate with me. He didn’t like one rabbi and, as a result, stopped going to synagogue altogether? If I don’t like the pizza at one pizzeria, I don’t stop eating pizza; I stop going to that one pizzeria. 

Steven Spielberg

One day we had Passover at the Hotel Forum and we invited the whole cast and crew to come. The Israeli actors all came in and sat around me with Haggadahs, and then all the German actors… came in. And the Israeli actors… shared their Haggadahs with them; they took them through the entire seder. I sat at the head of the table and I just cried like a baby. 

The fact that the German actors took it upon themselves to come to a seder and sit with the Israeli actors and learn about the holiday was an epiphany for me.

Stars of David, p. 32

Legendary film director, Steven Spielberg, speaks about an experience during the filming of Schindler’s List. 

Gloria Steinem

It was only through the seder that I came to realize that the ceremony in and of itself was less hierarchical than Christian ceremonies; everybody read and participated. I came to appreciate the democracy of it, the cyclical nature of it, the lack of emphasis on an afterlife. The feminist seder gave me whatever Jewish education I have.

Stars of David, p. 312

Jason Alexander

Just like most of the Jewish families I know, getting through the Haggadah meant, “Skip a bit, brother.”

I think there’s an ultimate spirituality and morality that keeps the universe balanced and in harmony. But I don’t know if any of that requires reading the Torah.

I had a life-changing experience by going to Israel. Not the religious Judaism, but the cultural connection. It became important to me. And my fantasy is that my kids will, individually, as they prepare for their bar mitzvahs, learn this history and this journey that their people have taken, and I will take them by the hand to Israel and say, “Here’s where it all happened. The history is real.” That to me is worth four years of going through some hard Sundays.

Stars of David, p. 112

Jason Alexander, TV, film, and stage star rejects Judaism as a religion but feels great attachment to Jewish identity through culture and history.

Identity in Parashat Shemini

The Torah tells us, from today’s parasha:

For I the Lord am He who brought you up 

from the land of Egypt to be your God: 

you shall be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45

The historical and monumental moment of obtaining freedom after years of slavery, is referenced in this passage. This need to identify ourselves through history, through heritage, is addressed and recognized. Being freed from centuries of bondage is a defining moment in our people’s history and identity. It unites us. This historical identity is a nation’s identity, a people’s identity. It is, therefore, an ethnic identity.

The Torah also adds the dimension of God being instrumental in this historical event. It links history and ethnicity to spirituality. In this short phrase, the Torah turns history and ethnic identity into religious identity. And then it tells us the reason we were freed from Egypt. 

For I the Lord am your God: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, 

for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:44

Freeing us wasn’t to obtain justice, exactly; it was to make ourselves holy. Now here’s what I find fascinating: the Torah says “sanctify yourselves”. You do it. Not me. Not a Kohen. Not a rabbi. Not a guru. Not God. You. Just you. No one imbues you with a sacred status, You do it yourself. We do it ourselves.

We’ve heard from several celebrities who would, seemingly, agree. Some of them believe in bettering the world in one way or another but they don’t believe in the religion. Some of them, as Jews, feel a deep sense of peoplehood with other Jews. They feel a connection to the historical or cultural bonds. And some do have a spiritual side and connect with the synagogue experience. Others acknowledge a spiritual connection but don’t necessarily feel an attachment to organized religion and/or to services.

All these individuals think that they are sanctifying themselves. All of them would probably agree with the idea that it is up to us, not anyone else, to become better people, to become moral and ethical people, to elevate ourselves to some sort of spiritual height, to become more Godly. 

What do you think? 

After hearing some of these varying views, do any of them resonate with you? What kind of Jew are you? You don’t have to wait until the seder to find out what kind of question you would ask about Jewish identity and heritage. And as you ponder these questions, I would like to leave you with another one: can there be a historical and cultural Jewish identity if the religious identity is absent? And if so, for how long?