Passover and Social Justice

Rabbi Melanie Aron

March 28, 2003

This week is a Special Shabbat on the Jewish calendar, allowing us to bypass the normal Torah reading Shemini from the book of Leviticus in favor of the reading from Exodus designated for Shabbat HaChodesh.

Before Passover there are 4 special Shabbatot spread over a 6 week period, reminding the community of the approach of this important and labor intensive festival Shabbat HaChodesh is celebrated on the Sabbath on which the coming of the new Jewish month of Nisan is announced, Passover being celebrated on the 14th of Nisan.

The Torah reading for Shabbat Hachodesh begins with a description of Passover as celebrated at the time of the Exodus and then continues with commandments concerning Passover's commemoration in generations to come.

One interesting aspect of this reading is the hint we have of the original existence of two separate festival, a one day holiday Chag HaPesach with its emphasis on the pascal lamb, its strong relationship with nomadic herders, and with the lunar calendar, coming as it does on the full moon---and a seven day festival Chag Ha Matzot which seems more rooted in the life experience of farmers, with its emphasis on the removal of chametz, and more tied to the solar calendar and the springtime of the year.

The removal of chametz, all wheat, barley, rye, oats and emer, products which were all susceptible to fermentation, was considered so important that the punishment for those who failed to fulfill this mitzvah was karet, being cut off from the community. Actually karet is a problematic punishment. Though it is imposed 36 times in the Torah, it remains undefined. It is not clear who imposes this punishment or of what exactly it consists. Most typically it is understood as something not imposed by a human court, but left to divine justice. It may actually be a case of midah keneged midah, a punishment that follows the nature of the crime, if you cut yourself off from the community by not participating in its rituals and celebrations, then you in turn will find yourself cut off from your people and from its spiritual sustenance.

This year in preparing some materials for the Ceasar Chavez day celebration in the interfaith community, I came across an interesting story which to me illustrates the power of this holiday throughout the generations.

Rabbi Joe Glaser, who died just a few years ago, was for many years the Executive Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Though sometimes in the same camp as Begin and Netanyahu on issues of israel's security, he was an active supporter of the farm workers movement. I was wondering how that got started so I wrote to another of the early activists, Evely Shlensky. She sent me some old newspaper articles and letters. Best I can understand, back in 1966 the farm workers had some issues with a group of wine growers who provided the grapes for Manishevitz wine here in California. Rabbi Glaser was at that time serving a San Francisco congregation and he agreed to look into it. In the end he became quite involved, even helping the farm workers negotiate with the Teamworkers who began to enter the fields. His involvement continued for 30 years and as late as 1994 he was still involved on their behalf.

What caused the transformation? It seems that as he learned about the plight of the farm workers it became clear to him that Passover wine should not, in his quoting of the prophet's words, be made by those who "grind the face of the poor in the dust". "There is no more shameful act", he wrote, "than to deprive those who put food on our tables of a decent living for themselves and their families." To my mind it was the continuing power of the Passover message that caused Rabbi Glaser to step in and help gain contract for farm workers who provided the Manishevitz grapes.