“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
- John Muir
The first Seder was one of humble origins. We were told to eat our Passover sacrifice with our walking sticks in hand and sandals on our feet. We didn’t even have time for the meal to finish cooking before we had to leave.
Permit us please, a longer d’var Torah this week. It is Shabbat HaGadol and traditionally, there is a heavier emphasis on Torah learning.
One of the most ironic parts about hiking and outdoor adventure is that it should be cheap: after all we romanticise the idea that people can just head out into the woods with a backpack and a sense of adventure. But in reality we see something very different. Here is a working list of decent hiking equipment:
Hiking Boots- $120
Wool hiking socks- 4 pairs/$20
Zip-off Hiking pants- $50
Quick dry t-shirt- $15
Trekking poles- $60
Baseball cap- $20
Any of the following outer-layers (usually top three, down to 25 degrees)
Flannel Button down- $40
Quarter zip, thermal layer- $50
Down vest- $50
Soft shell jacket- $60
Daypack- $45
Hydration bladder w/ hose- $30
The total of all of this is something close to $560. This is the equipment either of us might take on an extended day hike. It gets more expensive with a backpacking trip (adding a tent, sleeping bag, stove, etc.) Hiking is not necessarily a cheap enterprise.
You need your gear to work consistently well. If you don’t have gear you can rely on, then you could seriously compromise your comfort, health, and even your life. You pay for quality and dependability.
In this week’s parasha (Metzora), we have a serious attempt by God to radically egalitarianize the whole practice of the sacrificial cult. If one is too poor to afford a sacrifice, God allows them to bring a cheaper option. This proves that the important part to God is less the material part of the sacrifice, but rather the fact that someone made a sacrifice.
This means the simple act is what matters, not the ability to add to it. Yet, time and time again, we add ad nauseum. We are told in the Talmud that all we need to do is to light one little Chanukkah candle a night, and yet we light 36 more than that (BT Shabbat 21b).
There is a concept in Halacha called Hiddur Mitzvah. The above example of lighting of 44 candles on Hanukkah exemplifies this value. It is nice to go above and beyond to show our devotion to God and God’s commandments. In the Talmud in the section on damages, we learn that one should buy a lulav and etrog that are exceptionally beautiful (in fact in the Torah an etrog, or citron, is called a Pri etz hadar, or literally “a beautiful tree fruit”) but that we should limit what we spend only one-third more than the initial cost of the item so as to prevent you from overspending (BT Baba Kama 9b).
Another example of how the rabbis changed this is when we die, we are all buried in plain white shrouds and plain pine boxes, symbolizing the fate that awaits us all. We learn that "until Rabban Gamliel came and adopted a [simple style] burial. Per his instructions, when he died he was carried out in simple garments of linen, and [then] all the people followed his example and carried [the dead] in garments of linen.” (BT Ketubot 8b). It should be noted that Rabban Gamliel was exceedingly wealthy. Likewise one of the reasons people wear a tallit when they daven is to have everyone look the same, to hide more ostentatious clothing. We wear non-leather shoes on Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av because leather shoes were considered a luxury.
In our seders we read the famous line, Armai oved Avi, which is often translated as “my father was a wandering Aramean” (Deuteronomy 6:5-11). This section describes the ritual for an individual bringing their first fruits to the Temple and includes the first example of a fixed liturgy. The Rabbis teach us that at first whoever could read the prayer at the Temple would read it, and the priests at the Temple would help those who were illiterate. Eventually those who couldn’t read complained because they were embarrassed by not knowing how to read. Therefore, it was instituted that everyone who offered their first fruits would be helped by the priests, regardless of class and ability (Mishnah Bikkurim 3:2-9).
All these are examples of how Judaism works to level the playing field for people regardless of economic class. We see this in many other places, including Passover.
This is the only time of year when Jews are commanded to eat. It’s funny, because we love to eat, but the law stands. If one is unable to provide for themselves the Passover offering, the offering is not made on an individual level, but rather it is offered “for one hundred people” so as to include everyone (Mishnah Pesachim 8). In fact Passover is such a time of luxury that every person must be able to recline and relax before they eat at their Seder (Mishnah Pesachim 10). Even today, many synagogues have a fund to provide kosher food for Passover to those who need it. We have included the donation page for Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger at the bottom of this page. They do great work around the world with feeding the hungry.
We are supposed to imagine that we ourselves had left Egypt. Perhaps this year we should be more humble and help those around us, imitating the simple nature of the first Seder. While we seek to beautify the mitzvot, we must also seek to assist those who need support. At the beginning of this D’var Torah was a list of camping gear. It’s expensive so we want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who has camping equipment they no longer need, to donate it to Yeshiva Outdoors or another worthy organization such as BaMidbar Wilderness Therapy or Ramah in the Rockies outdoor adventure summer camp, who are both helping Jews learn Torah and experience the great outdoors.
Pesach sameach,
Alex Hamilton, Torah and Camping Expert Contributor
Rabbi Chaim Eliezer Edelstein, Rosh Yeshiva Outdoors
https://www.ramahoutdoors.org/support/invest/
https://www.bamidbartherapy.org/donate/
https://mazon.org/ways-to-give
(Yeshiva Outdoors is not a 501(c)(3) non-profit, although we are pursuing such status, donations are not tax deductible at this time. However, Ramah in the Rockies, Bamidbar Wilderness Therapy, and Mazon are 501(c)(3) not-for-profits)