by Nisson Wolpin

-I-

Yes, we would be happy to host Danny Rosen1 for the first night of Pesach, as long as he accepts nearby sleeping accommodations for the two full days of Pesach. We didn’t want our Seder to be a drive-by, drop-in, drive-away experience.

This was nine years ago, when the Pittsburgh branch of our family plus several of our own friends had joined us for the Sedorim. Since Danny was not literate in Hebrew, and the standard English translation Haggados that we had contained lengthy commentaries, we gave him the ArtScroll Youth Haggadah, assuming he would follow, hoping he would not feel himself the object of condescension.

We had been warned that he might just get bored and walk out in the middle. So be it, we thought. But that’s not what happened. He stayed through Kiddush….He stayed through five renditions of “Ma Nishtana.” He stayed through endless questions-and-answers, a spirited “Vehi She’amda.” He listened to a dramatic recounting of the Ten Plagues, with emphasis on the “measure-for-measure” factors. He sat through “Dayeinu.” He looked suspiciously at the massive pre-measured matza and marror portions, and then valiantly crunched his way through his assigned package. He raced through Shulchan Aruch with the rest of us. He observed the afikoman-recovery negotiations. And he sat through Hallel and Chad Gadya.

After I bid Danny Rosen “Have a Good Yom Tov,” and walked him to the door, my son-in-law, Yitzchak – a Rebbe in Hillel Academy and Pittsburgh coordinator of Partners in Torah – stood on the steps for close to twenty minutes with Danny, hearing how his storybook life has followed a golden path to success…ultimately leading no where. He felt personally adrift – yes, moving rapidly upward, but never arriving. To top it off, he could not even read the Hebrew letters in the Youth Haggadah, yet my little grandchildren were conversant in all sorts of minutiae, virtual fountains of text and commentary – using adult volumes of the same text that was cryptic curves and ink blots to him. His first step, he confided in Yitzchak, would be to take Hebrew lessons so he could read the Haggadah and experience his connection with the Exodus from Egypt as a participant, next year; not just as an observer in the bleachers.

I never saw Danny Rosen again, but I do know that he signed up for Hebrew classes with the National Jewish Outreach Program. He was well on his way to a reunion with his heritage.

-II-

An observant Jew is in constant touch with our people’s birth as a nation. We consecrate every Yom Tov with Kiddush on a goblet of wine: “zeicher liyetzias Mitzrayim – a memorial for the Exodus from Egypt.” Pesach…Shavuos…Sukkos. The theme of each festival ties in with the Exodus, and mentioning it is consistent with its celebration. But Kiddush on Shabbos also includes mention of the Exodus – every week. And so does reciting “Shema,” and donning tefillin include this mention – every day.

Obviously, as Sefer Hachinuch says in regard to the mitzva of “Relating the story of the redemption from Egypt on Pesach” (Mitzva 21): “This [mitzva] includes a fundamental principle, a virtual cornerstone of our Torah and belief system, and it is for this reason that we are forever referring to zeicher liyetzias Mitzrayim in our prayers and our blessings.” Awareness of the Exodus should inform, direct, and enrich us throughout our daily lives.

In its discussion of the first of the Ten Commandments (Mitzva 25), Sefer HaChinuch stresses how belief in G-d as the Creator and Governor of the world is intrinsically tied to belief in the Exodus, underscoring how nothing occurs through happenstance, or natural cause-and-effect. As in Egypt, G-d micromanages the cosmos… today.

Danny Rosen could have stumbled into an awareness of his precious heritage by joining our family – or any observant family – for a Shabbos meal, at a Chanuka celebration, a Yom Kippur tefilla, or even a Tisha B’Av study session of “Kamtza and BarKamtza.”

But Pesach has a remarkable capacity for linking a drifting neshama to its spiritual moorings…in effect, elevating “remembering” to the point of experiencing Yetzias Mitzrayim.

-III-

What are we to make of Eitz Chaim, which The New York Times describes as the Conservative Movement’s official “New Torah and commentary”? In an article in The Times’ Arts & Ideas section (Mar, 9, ’02), Michael Massing lists a number of “startling propositions” promoted in the Eitz Chaim Bible. They add up to a sweeping dismissal of the authenticity of Torah as Divine word or record of events, to the point of casting doubt on the very existence of the Avos and the veracity of such seminal occurrences as Yetzias Mitzrayim and Ma’amad Har Sinai.2

The article goes on to identify these radical views as “the product of findings by archaeologist diggings in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years – [which] have gained wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no attempt to disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity – until now.” In addition, Eitz Chaim pushes the rational/denial envelope as far as it does by virtue of incorporating critical insights of Biblical text that have emerged from “intense scrutiny from scholars like Julius Wellhausen of Germany.”

Archaeology? The only refutation of the Pentateuch that this speculative science has unearthed is lack of evidence: no discarded Manna wrappers were ever discovered in the vast wastelands of the Sinai Dessert. So Eitz Chaim is certain that the Hebrews never camped there.

Wellhausen? He was discredited long, long ago – even in academic circles – for his anti-Semitic leanings and baseless conclusions. But his sweeping dismissal of the authenticity of the Written Law is apparently “Torah” to some.

So Eitz Chaim leaves 1.5 million Conservative Jews with a new presentation of a “Torah” that in its view possesses neither legitimacy nor Divine origin; teaching a religion that is empty, vacuous; rendering the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel as totally without historical substance (no Abraham, no Exodus); and claiming fidelity to halacha (as nebulous as this loyalty may be), which to their understanding has neither historic nor spiritual basis.

It is difficult to imagine a serious-thinking Conservative Jew living by such a “Torah,” confessing to such a religion. Nor can one imagine the most broad-minded, pluralistically-inclined Orthodox Jew feeling any sense of kinship with a religious system that emanates from Eitz Chaim. Can serious people actually relate to such a “Torah”?

-IV-

But more important: if Danny Rosen had read Eitz Chaim before perusing the Youth Haggada, and had accepted its claim that Moses never existed and the Exodus never happened, how would he have connected with the historical Jewish continuum that stretches from Sinai to this year’s Seder table? It’s all only a myth, says Eitz Chaim. And yet, this volume somehow still lays claim to serving as a “source” for Jewish ethics and values, customs and practices. With Eitz Chaim as the starting point…why should anyone be Jewish?

And what about all the other Danny Rosens out there, who have occasion to hold a Siddur in their hands – be it even a Conservative prayerbook – and hear themselves whisper the introductory paragraphs to the Amida? Their lips beseech “our G-d and the G-d of our fathers – the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob.” Their neshamos can be stirred and they just might be inspired to reach up to their Source, ascending through the generations to connect with the Divine Throne, arriving there by the path beaten by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From Eitz Chaim’s perspective, however, the Patriarchs – those crucial rungs on the ladder to transcendence – never existed! The educated, searching Conservative Jew who uses Eitz Chaim as his guide will simply never come home through tefilla. Nor will his alienated children be exposed to even a rudimentary declaration of faith.

When witnesses are called upon to testify in a beis din that a fellow Jew is guilty of blasphemy, the judges and the witnesses are required to tear kriya – they rend their garments, and the rip is never repaired; this is an expression of mourning for hearing the sacrilegious statement.3 We too must tear kriya upon publication of Eitz Chaim, not only for the kefira – the denial of basic beliefs – that it espouses, but for the precious neshamos of thousands of Jews who just might be prompted to return to their roots by encountering their rich heritage in the pages of the Chumash…but will pick up a copy of Eitz Chaim instead. Kriya – rending our garments with a rip that cannot be repaired, until we take initiatives to reach them, and inspire them to come home to Torah, in spite of Eitz Chaim.

-V-

Hashem waits with incredible patience and insatiable yearning for His children to come home. Unfortunately – tragically – many of them may be destined to continue to stray, following the path to oblivion paved by Eitz Chaim.

“Eitz Chaim – Tree of Life.” What an ironic name for a tree with neither root nor fruit! n

3 See Sanhedrin Perek 7, Mishna 5

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