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Synagogue Sermon

April 29, 1972

The Paschal Lamb and the Sacred Bull (1972)

Pesach
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A Past Worth Perpetuating (1970)

At the end of Passover, when we celebrate the redemption of the past, the Exodus from Egypt, our Haftorah bids us turn to the future. It speaks of the coming of the Messiah, the redemption that we still await. This connection between past and future is even more pronounced on the 8th day of Passover when we recite the Yizkor. It is not only the remote past that we tie in with the distant future, but the immediate past that we call upon in order to summon us to greater activity and greater dedication for the days to come. And the more we investigate this relationship, the more profound and germane does it become. The Talmud (Sanh. 98b) records a strange passage. What, asks the Talmud, will be the name of the Messiah? The answers are obscure, even startling. The school of Rabbi Shila answered: the name of Messiah will be Shilo. The school of Rabbi Yannai maintained that the name of the Messiah would be Yinnon. The school of Rabbi Chaninah held that Chaninah shemo, his school would be named Chaninah. Each school gave the name of its own Rabbi to the Messiah!What the Talmud tries to tell us is that, on the one hand, the Messiah would not be a strange, unassociated, unrelated soul dropping right out of Heaven. His character would be a composite of all the finest traits of the teachers of old. And on the other hand, there is a little bit of the Messiah in every one who has ever made a creative effort in his life. Every one has something invaluable in his life, something unutterably precious, to contribute to the redemptive process.It is hard for us to discern what it is that we ourselves can give to the future, to the Messiah. But those after us, contemplating us in retrospect with a sense of perspective and proportion, will be able to tell what in our lives is worth perpetuating, what we can offer to the Messiah, to the redemption.So, each school and each student examined the role of the teacher and found something unique – for a name is a symbol of uniqueness, of indiv…
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Furthermore (1972)

In the Haftorah from the prophet Isaiah which we read this morning, and which describes the coming of the Messiah, there is one verse that especially attracted the attention of the Sages. והיה ביום ההוא יוסיף ה’ שנית ידו לקנות את שאר עמו,  “And it shall be on that day that: the Lord shall again, a second time, recover with His hand the remnants of His people.”The Rabbis were intrigued by the word יוסיף which means: he will repeat, add, do again. Thus we read: אמר ריש לקיש בשם בר קפרא: תוספתו של הקב”ה מרובה על העיקר. (ילקוט שמעוני, מלכים רמ”ג)What God adds is greater than what He gives in the first place; His addition is more than His principle.Thus, the Rabbis add, the עיקר or major blessing that God gave to Adam and Eve was Cain; Abel was a kind of divine afterthought, the תוספת. Yet, Cain was only born with one twin sister, while Abel was born with two twin sisters. Here we see that God’s תוספת is greater than His עיקר. Another example given by the Rabbis is that Joseph was the עיקר, the main son of Jacob and Rachel, whereas Benjamin was a תוספת. Yet, Joseph had two sons, whereas Benjamin had ten. Again, we find the lesson that the afterthought of God is more significant than His first thought.That is why, the Rabbis add, כיון שראו הנביאים שתוספת הקב”ה יתר על העיקר התחילו מברכים את ישראל בתוספת,  when the Prophets saw that God’s תוספת is greater than His עיקר, they began to bless Israel with the blessings of תוספת, of addition or “furthermore.” Thus, Moses blessed Israel with the words “יוסף ה’ עליכם ככם אלף פעמים”, “May the Lord add to you as you are a thousand times.” David said, as we read in the Hallel today, יוסף ה’ עליכם עליכם ועל בניכם, “May the Lord add to you, to you and to your children.” And Isaiah, in today’s Haftorah, recites the verse with which we began: “והיה ביום ההוא יוסיף ה’ שנית ידו” –“And it shall be on that day that the Lord shall again add, for a second time, with His hand…”The insight of the Rabbis is that sometimes the תוספת expresses the…
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The Old and the New (1960)

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