Along came the cat ...

... and ate the kid.

It is a week before Pesach. We still have hardly started our Pesach cleaning. My wife is due to give birth some time in the next couple of weeks - and my 11 year old son came home today with two kittens less than a day old!!! Their mother abandoned them and so he and a friend had to save them. By the time I came home from work the neighbours had already bought kitten food (at an enormously (enor-mouse-ly?) huge expense) and phoned all the cat protection agencies in Jerusalem - none of whom wanted day old cats (the only option was to call the city vermin removal service, who would probably come along and kill them on the spot).
What to do? They need feeding every 3 hours (even during the night). It took an hour to try and get one load of food into them. They probably won't survive the night anyway. And if they do they will begin to wee in the corner and scratch the kids. BUT they still have their umblical cords attached, they have this eensie weensie mew, and they are so scrawny and helpless.... According to the 'tzar ba'alei chaim' organisation, if we can get them to survive for a week they will try and find a home for them (before putting them to sleep if they don't succeed). (And I'm a vegetarian - I can't even kill a cockroach, how could I kill two cats?)
All I could think of was the story in the Gemara about Rebbe and the rodents (well, first the calf, then the rodents).
We are about to celebrate the festival of freedom. We will begin our seders by saying 'anyone who is hungry should come and eat' (I know all the drashas and Torah on that, I know we don't really mean it, but still, the idea is there, right at the beginning before the pareve chicken soup). Did I have any choice?
And even though Avi promises me that he will get up every 3 hours during the night and feed them, I know that he couldn't even get up for Shul this morning, with me trying to wake him.
In chad gadya we say that the cat ate the goat. These cats aren't even eating cat formula, but they sure have devoured our kids (who were in tears at the thought of anything happening to them).
just about the only thing I can say positively about this whole episode is that at least I can share it with you - the rest of the world. Please give me some words of encouragement and support. And if you would like a day old kitten (or more likely a dead kitten by the time you read this) please feel free to come over and get it.
Thanks for reading
Chag kasher v'sameach
David

PS they look exactly like this only much smaller and not as stripy

Amazing Pesach facts

I was trying to work out what Pesach would have been like in Egypt in that first year. I haven't even got to any of the technical details yet, but just working out how many people there would have been in each house astounded me. Remember that the korban Pesach had to be eaten entirely before midnight (this would apply not only in Egypt, but in every other year until the destruction of the Temple as well, and hopefully very soon in the future when Mashiach comes - although I am a vegetarian and the sheep are bigger nowadays!). A sheep is quite a big animal, even a one year old. Goats are slightly smaller, but still have a lot of meat on them.
Have a look at my torahlab blog for the numbers, but you had better buy a bigger table and expandable walls for when Mashiach comes!

Here is the link (click on the entry titled 'sheep again').
http://torahlab.org/thestorysofar.php

Please send me your thoughts or comments. As a vegetarian I may have got the entire thing entirely wrong - please correct my mistakes.

Thank you. Here's praying for Mashiach.

Rabbi Sedley

parshablog: Introducing the Absolut Haggada

While browsing on jblog (http://www.israelforum.com) I found this excellent Haggadah. It deals with many of the same issues that I spoke about in the shiur (which is in the previous post) and answers some of the outstanding questions, such as when the Haggadah was put into its present form (some time in the Gaonic period, though we have fragments from the Cairo Geniza which are pretty similar to todays Haggadah).
They also have a nifty chart which shows the parallels and differences between Rav and Shmuel in the way that the Haggadah is set out (and how we do both). They have also given the verses which we will spend most of the Seder explaining, and discuss why the authors of the Haggadah chose those verses (from Devarim) instead of the story itself which is in Shemot.
There is then a commentary on the Haggadah which will serve you well on the Seder night (if you so desire).

I think it is an excellent piece of work, but don't just take my word for it. Have a look yourself.

The link to their blog is parshablog: Introducing the Absolut Haggada (which is actually also just a good blog in general) or you can type www.parsha.blogspot.com into your web browser.

PS If you are not an American, Maxwell House is a brand of coffee that makes (or perhaps once upon a time made) Haggadot which apparently everyone in America owns several copies of (although perhaps it is mostly the Jews in New York who own them - it is all a mystery to me)

Hagadah of Pesach

I gave a shiur a couple of days ago at Midreshet Rachel about the Mitzvah of 'sipur yetziat mitzraim'. This is the mitzah of speaking about the exodus from Egypt on the night(s) of seder. I discussed the differences between this mitzvah and the twice daily mitzvah of remembering the exodus. We go through the Hagada and discuss the format and structure of the seder. It is interesting that the mishna tells us that we must begin with disgrace and end with praise, there is an argument between Rav and Shmuel as to what this means, and we do both. In other words we have two sets of 4 questions - Mah Nishtana and later the 4 sons. We have 2 separate answers - We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and Our ancestors worshipped idols, and we have two sets of praise to conclude.
Many people don't realise that the second (and long, boring) part of the Hagada (before the meal) is all based on a couple of p'sukim (verses). The Mishna tells us to 'darshan' them (and I'm still not sure how to translate that word but I'm open to offers) so we go on a long excursion through drashot on p'sukim. I think knowing that format helps to make sense of what is actually going on at the seder. But for that you will have to listen to the recording.
The shiur is just under an hour. Enjoy.


For a Streamed Link Click Here
To Download Click Here

Short vort Parshat Zachor

I gave the short vort this week for Shapell's. It is about Parshat Zachor. The midrash (Pesikta d'Rabbi Yishmael end of Beshalach)says that Amalek's descendents are not accepted as converts. On the other hand the Gemara in Gittin (57b) says that Haman's grandsons taught and learnt Torah in B'nei Brak. The short vort tries to resolve this contradiction. You can access it here:
http://www.torahmedia.com/streamlink.php?fid=23232&bw=low
http://www.torahmedia.com/downloadlink.php?fid=23232&bw=low

Or through the Shapell's web page: http://www.darchenoam.org/articles/audio/au_home.htm

Shabbat Shalom and Wishing you all a very happy Purim

Rabbi Sedley