Passover

Schedule of Services

— Sunday, April 13, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
In Nissenbaum Hall and on Zoom.

— Saturday, April 12, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Shabbat & Passover services with Yizkor in Nissenbaum Hall and on Zoom.

There will be no kiddush or snacks following services, as the TBB kitchen will be closed for the holiday.

If you know how to chant Song of Songs and would like to chant some this year (or if you would like to learn how for a future year), let us know!

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About the Schedule Change

This schedule represents a change from our schedule of holiday services in the past. We read in the Torah that Pesach is a seven day holiday and that the first and seventh days are sanctified—similar to Shabbat, no work is to be done in those days, which we call Yom Tov (yuntif in Yiddish).

There is an ancient tradition of observing Yom Tov days in duplicate outside the land of Israel, which dates back to uncertainty about when the new moon would be seen, and therefore when the new month would be announced, in Jerusalem. As it was difficult to communicate this information to the Diaspora in a timely manner, both potential sacred festival days were observed in the Diaspora.

When the Jews switched to a calculation-based (rather than moon-observation-based) system for setting the calendar, the rabbis decided to continue the practice of observing both days in the Diaspora. TBB has historically followed this practice and has held services on the first, second, seventh, and eighth days of Passover, although there is no uncertainty about when the holiday falls. Many beloved traditions, like having two seders rather than one, originate from this historical calendar uncertainty.

The Ritual Committee recently proposed to the Board of Directors that we move to holding services on one day of Yom Tov (in the case of Passover, on days one and seven). The Board approved this at their meeting on March 13.

By adopting the holiday service schedule observed in many communities in the Diaspora and all communities in Israel, we hope to consolidate the energy of our holiday services, which has recently been divided across two days and has made it difficult for us to make a minyan at times. This change will affect our schedule of services on Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah; it does not pertain to Rosh Hashana, which we will continue to celebrate for two days.

This change brings with it an opportunity to strengthen our communal prayer on the holidays and also a sense of loss for those who are accustomed to the practice of attending holiday services on both days at TBB. The board has asked us to report back in a year about how this change has impacted our services and our community. As is done in Israel, we will include the Yizkor service on the seventh day of the holiday, rather than the eighth day as we have done in the past.

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Local Services for Days 2 & 8

If you would like to attend services on the second and eighth days of the holiday, there will be services held at the Tremont Street Shul (TBS), an unaffiliated synagogue with both Orthodox-style and traditional egalitarian services in Cambridge) and Temple Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in Medford:

• Tremont Street Shul: Traditional egalitarian services will be held on Monday, April 14th (second day) and Sunday, April 20th (eighth day) beginning at 9:15 AM at 8 Tremont Street, Cambridge.
• Temple Shalom: Services will be held on Monday April 14th and Sunday April 20th beginning at 9:30 AM at 475 Winthrop Street, Medford.

Selling Chametz

Not only are we instructed not to eat bread and other chametz on Pesach, we are not even supposed to own it.

To avoid wasting food—and because it can be difficult to eat through the whole pantry stash before Pesach—there is a loophole to make this more feasible: we can temporarily sell the chametz to someone who is not Jewish.

As in past years, Phil Weiss, Darshan Emeritus, will draw up a contract that allows members of our community to sell their chametz so that it is under their stewardship but not technically theirs during the holiday.

If you want to be included on the contract, please fill out the form below by end-of-day Tuesday, April 8. Email Phil if you have any questions.

Sale of Chametz Form

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Where to Donate Chametz

Want to donate your chametz to the community? Bring it to a Somerville Community Fridge! They are located at:

• 35 Prospect Street, in the CrossFit Gym parking lot
• 36 Sewall Street, in Winter Hill
• 21 St. Clement Road, Medford, behind St. Clements Church

Counting the Omer

The Omer is the seven-week period in between the beginning of Pesach and Shavuot. We are instructed to count the 49 days of the Omer, starting on the second night of Passover, marking our progress from leaving Egypt to receiving the Torah.

The Kabbalists had a field day with this period of the calendar, assigning different aspects of the Divine (the seven lower Kabbalistic Sefirot) to correspond to each of the weeks and also to each day of the week, so that each day can be thought of as a nested mashup of one or two traits (like loving-kindness within might). Some people like to think about these pairings as a self-reflection journey during this period.

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Free Mobile Apps
These free mobile apps include the blessing and official text for counting as well as more information about the mystical traditions described above:

• MyOmer is based on Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer.
• NeoHasid's Omer Counter also has a handy website.