My friends, I want this evening to teach you an important lesson from an obscure minhag of the festival of Passover.
Have any of you noticed, as I have, how many advertisements there in the months before Pesach for resort accommodations which have made themselves kosher for Passover? I am told that there may now be more than 60,000 rooms available at hotels and resorts that serve kosher for Passover food during the festival - complete with both public and private Seders and a spectacular variety of Pesach cuisine. Now you can have kosher l'pesach in the Swiss Alps or on the beaches of Cancun, on a Caribbean cruise, in the finest historic hotel of San Juan, in Venice, the Black Sea resorts of Bulgaria, the most beautiful beaches of Hawaii - even Mickey and Goofy and Pluto along with the chipmunks, will enhance your Passover will a full array of kosher l'pesach character meals at Disneyworld. It is now said that over a course of a decade, we Americans have spent over one billion dollars to be able to have an exodus from our homes at Pesach.
Well, as many of you who observe Pesach carefully know, you can't really blame this impulse. Going away for Pesach does make things easier. It is amazing what some hotels offer on their menus and it is a magnificent statement of how we have all become so comfortable with the exactitude of our observance.
But do you notice that many of the hotels and resorts and cruises which advertise in the months before Pesach contain a reference to something called gebrokts? Many of the advertisements say that the cuisine will be gebrokts or some will say that they have both gebrokts and non-gebrokts items on their menu. What in the world is this all about?
And this question and its answer will lead me to what I believe is a very important lesson.
So what is gebrokts? I know that many of you will find this simply incredible - hard to believe - but there are many Orthodox Jews who do not, during Pesach, eat any cooked product that requires matzah to come into contact with water. That's right! That is called in Yiddish "gebrokts" which really means "broken matzah," although the more appropriate Hebrew designation would be matzah sheruah - soaked matzah.
This is an amazing tradition. This means that there is a Passover tradition which cuts out any matzah that soaks in a liquid. That cuts out matzah balls, that cuts out matzah brei, that cuts out matzah latkes. That means you don't use any matzah meal, any matzah cake meal, or any matzah farfel in your cooking.
Yes, this is an arcane but not abandoned Jewish tradition.
And what is the basis for this strange prohibition? Well, as you may know - regular flour that comes in to contact with water is allowed to sit for no more than eighteen minutes before it becomes chametz - which is prohibited to us. So all of our matzah products are made from flour and water that are baked inside eighteen minutes so that they are not chametz. That is the definition of matzah. So what's with the gebrokts?
Here is the description directly from the most respected Jewish code of law of the 20th century, the Mishneh Berureh:
There are people who are meticulous on how they act; who are stringent with themselves and do not soak or cook matzah on Pesach. The reason is that they are afraid that a little flour may have remained in the matzah on the inside which was not kneaded properly, and thus it would become leavened through the soaking.
Do you understand? The concern is that some part of the matzah we have may not be fully baked, and is still primarily flour, and when this flour comes in to contact with liquid, after 18 minutes it turns into chametz.
To most of you this must undoubtedly sound bizarre. But there are, believe it or not, thousands of Jews in the United States and Israel who observe this odd tradition. Many of the survivors of the Holocaust who came to America were Hassidim, and they all followed this rule. But the vast population of orthodoxy in Israel and America and around the world ignore the prohibition on gebrokts. How can that be?
Well, the same Mishneh Berureh goes on to quote another halachic authority, the Shaarei Teshuvah, from the mid 19th century, who writes that "from the standpoint of basic halacha one need not be concerned about this fear since we do not presume forbidden circumstances without any foundation. This applies especially in our times when it is the practice to make the matzah into thin wafers. Nevertheless, one should not spurn the attitude of a person who practices this stringency."
Do you understand what the Shaarei Teshuvah is telling us? He is telling us that this is an unnecessary concern; that the concern may have been legitimate back in the 18th century, in Eastern Europe, when the matzah was baked very thick. Then there could have been pockets in the matzah where the flour may not have been fully baked. But in our day, when matzah is baked very thin, there is no need for this stringency.
Friends, you might ask as you turn to each other just now - what in the world is the Rabbi talking about? Why is he telling us about this bizarre orthodox practice involving gebrokts? Where is he going with this?
Good. I hope you do find this curious and somewhat, if you will excuse the expression, unorthodox.
Here is the nub of the lesson: and listen to this carefully.
While the Mishneh Berureh calls those who will not eat gebrokts "meticulous," at the same time it goes on to quote the Shaarei Teshuvah, who says, "d'achuzka issura lo machzekinin - don't go creating prohibitions that are not there." And Shaarei Teshuvah goes on to say: eilu v'eilu osim kavanim l'shamayim - both those who eat gebrokts and those who do not have their separate intentions for the sake of heaven; those who don't eat gebrokts are being meticulous in their concern for the matzah turning into chametz, and those who do eat gebrokts are being meticulous in their concern about the importance of enjoying the festival. Both are equal in God's eyes."
But here is the dramatic key of this little window into Judaism. The people who follow this prohibition, who will not eat any matzah product that is soaked in liquid during the festival, have a remarkable custom on the eighth day of Pesach. Remember the Orthodox add an extra day to the festival - they observe Pesach for eight days not seven which is the Biblical definition. And on the eighth day of Pesach, which is Yom Tov - on the eighth day they make it their business to eat matzah that has been soaked in liquid for each of their three Yom Tov meals. They go out of their way to eat gebrokts on the eighth day!
Why? They do so in order to tell their fellow Jews who eat gebrokts all Pesach long: our refusal to eat gebrokts is no reflection on you. It does not mean that we think you are eating chametz and violating Yom Tov. We do not think any the lesser of you for not taking on this stringency; and to prove it, on the last day of Pesach we are going to eat gebrokts just like you have.
I think that this is a remarkable - yes, even a beautiful custom. And I think all of us as Jews, all of us here at the United Jewish Center, can learn from this all year round. It is telling us that none of us as Jews should take a "holier than thou" attitude towards our fellow Jews. It is telling us that each of us should follow our own way without casting aspersions on what other Jews do.
It is giving us a lesson even larger than that.
It is telling us in order to win we need not insist that someone else lose.
This is true in our family life - where conflict is often enhanced and intensified because of our refusal to see this basic truth, that in order to win it is not necessary that we require someone else to lose. It is true in our synagogue life, where grudges and unforgiving slights from the past are permitted to cloud our judgment and our ability to cooperate in the present. You know, there were units in the Union and Confederate Armies that continued fighting for weeks - in some cases months - after the armistice between Grant and Lee in Appomattox Courthouse. It was an amazing moment when telegrams finally reached them or sentries arrived to tell them - "don't you know, the war is over. There is no reason to continue fighting. The conflict has ended."
There are some units from past wars here at the United Jewish Center which need to get their telegram and need to move ahead with, as Lincoln said, malice towards none and charity for all. Cantor Kessler and I want to see you again on Friday night and Saturday morning. We want to hear your voices in prayer and song, we want to feel strengthened by your numbers, we want to restore our unity as expressed by our presence in this synagogue on Shabbat and our holy festivals. When we celebrate Sukkot with a great dinner and then take to Deer Hill Avenue on Simchat Torah in just a few days, I want all of you there - not as a show of force, but as a statement of rejuvenation. It is time to turn the page, it is time to say eilu v'eilu osim kavanim l'shamayim - both these over here and those over there have persuaded their vision for the sake of heaven; their intentions were worthy even if their tactic (and I speak of all sides now) - yes even if their tactics were over the top - their concerns and their intentions were worthy; both are equal in God's eyes; the war is over and has been for some time; let us come back together and be greater than ever before.
And the lesson involving gebrokts also can teach us something about our national life.
Our politics over the past few decades have become coarse and vulgar. We have lost out ability to disagree amiably. We have personalized every difference of opinion and engaged in crude ad hominem attacks upon each other and upon our political leaders, sometimes gratuitously, in order to gain a moment's advantage like cheating at cards or tricking someone in a bar room brawl. Some say it started with the elevation of Newt Gingrich to the position of Speaker of the House. Some say it dates back to the nomination of Robert Bork to the United States Supreme Court by President Reagan. Whenever it started and however it has been nurtured, it is ugly, it is demeaning, and it is worse than discouraging - it is destructive. It is destructive of national character, it is destructive of the merits of any debate of any issue on any side, it is destructive of the virtue of democracy. We need to stop. We need to elevate our discourse. We need to disagree vigorously but with respect, affection, and an understanding that winning does not mean that our opponents must always lose.
And, finally, this lesson involving gebrokts is instructive to us in our relationships with our fellow Jews. You will never hear me use this pulpit to bash Orthodox or Conservative or Reconstructionist Judaism. We have enough problems of our own, enough issues of our own, enough tensions of our own, enough questions of our own, enough weaknesses of our own - that it seems altogether arrogant and inappropriate for me to point my finger at other Jews and talk about their issues and their problems and their insufficiencies as I seek to inspire and challenge you. Rather, the most important sermon, the most important message, the most important challenge that we should give is the one that we give to ourselves. And that is why we must always assume, again in the words of the Mishneh Berureh, eliu v'eilu osim kavanim l'shamayin - all of us, rabbis and cantors, Orthodox and Reform, Israeli and diaspora, supporters of the Arafat fence and opposers of the same, rich and poor, big city and small town, Ashkenazi or Sephardi, brilliant or simple, cosmopolitan or parochial, supporters of Kerry and supporters of Bush - yes, eliu v'eilu osim kavanim l'shamayin - both these and these have their intentions for the sake of heaven; both are equal in God's eyes.
If you go to a hotel or take a cruise or stay at a resort for Pesach this coming year, and the person sitting next to you does not eat gebrokts, respect him or her even though we consider it an unnecessary and even weird act of meticulousness. And don't wave any matzah brei in his face either. And if you are staying home, and the bitter Herb at your Seder turns out to be your cousin, or brother-in-law - there is always someone at the Seder whose attitudes and opinion strikes others as overly pompous and confrontational. Let us remember there is room at the Pesach Seder not only for the wise but for the simple, not only for the one that ask no questions but also for the rasha, the "wicked" one as well. As Jews our concern must be for those who don't even come to a Seder. But for those who do - for all of those who do - whatever movement they may call their own - let us welcome them with open arms. And let us, at the preverbal Seder table which is the year long odyssey of the United Jewish Center, let us resolve this year that our Seder will be complete and will be a celebration for each and every one of us.
And as Americans, let us be reminded that debate and disputation is a privilege. Let our pride of country not blind us to our legitimate faults and disputes for the sake of a greater nation and culture. But let us elevate our rhetoric and our sights, let us not strive to be better by attempting to destroy the integrity of the other.
Passover not only marks the festival of our liberation, it also marks the time when we, the Jewish people, became a nation. We are a small nation, but we have always managed to be "a light unto the nations." Let us each individually add our own light and collectively, may we, the Jewish people, experience the fulfillment on this Rosh Hashanah once again - the fulfillment of the words expressed our Hagaddah: hotzianu m'avdut l'cherut; m'yagon l'simcha; u'm'avel l'yomtov; u'm'afailah l'ohr gadol - God will lead us from slavery to freedom, from bondage to redemption, from misery to joy, from mourning to a holiday, and from deep darkness to a great light. That is not only the message of Passover but, it is a message of today. The message of Rosh Hashanah. It is God's message. Let it be ours as well.
Amen.