Rabbi Knopf's Blog

The Talmud teaches that 30 days before Passover, we should start learning about the festival and its meaning. In that spirit, over the past several years, I have offered "30 Days of Liberation," a brief message on each of the 30 days leading up to Passover, drawn from the wisdom of the holiday and the Exodus story. I am thrilled to announce that I am in the process of completing my first book, which will be a compilation of those messages from years past. This year, for “30 Days of Liberation,” I will be sending out brief selections from the book. I look forward to sharing the book with you all in its entirety when it is completed. Meanwhile, I hope you find these messages meaningful and inspiring. Please feel free to share/forward.

Day 6: Waste Not, Want Not
On the eve of the Exodus, each Israelite household is told to slaughter, roast, and eat a whole lamb; none of it may be left over to the next day. But even a family of good eaters would be hard-pressed to eat a whole lamb in one sitting. So the Torah says, “If the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby” (Ex. 12:4). In our era of abundance, rampant consumption, and unfathomable waste, this message calls out to us, too, as it did then: take what you need. What you don’t need, share with others.