Do you know there’s a “second” Passover? In B’haalot’cha, this week’s Torah portion, we read that if someone is unclean because of contact with a dead body they are to celebrate the holiday exactly one month later. That’s how important Pesach is going back to the days of the wilderness wandering. In my opinion, that second Pesach is pretty “reform” of our tradition, and it reminded me of a similar concept that was developed just forty or so years ago.
Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut of Toronto wrote A Shabbat Manual (now Gates of Shabbat) in which he redefined the word “mitzvah” (God-given commandment). He changed it from a “must” to an “ought.” While the Reform movement never appreciated attempts to create liberal Halacha (law), rejecting suggestions that were brought up by rabbis or laypeople, there was a real difference in Plaut’s framework, and he used Shabbat as the example of how the “ought” ought to be perceived.
In a usual definition of mitzvah we would find (though this is not in the same category of “musts” as others), “You must come to worship Friday night and Saturday morning.” We are not obligated as, for example, Roman Catholics are obligated to attend Mass. How Plaut would have phrased it is, “You ought to consider coming to worship with your family,” and then goes on, “We understand that it might be difficult to do so every week, even both evening and morning, but try to look at your monthly calendar and see when a Friday evening or Saturday morning – maybe two - is convenient for all of you to come to the synagogue.” It’s not black or white; it allows liberal-thinking Jews to appreciate that there are options without being yelled at, as it were.
The same is true with regard to the Shabbat dinner. You don’t read anything like, “Sit down at 6:30. Make sure little Shmuel and Rivka have washed and put on their Shabbat best. Light the candles when the Hebrew calendar tells you it’s time to do so….” Rather it might read, “It’s nice for the family to have dinner together once a week and Shabbat would be the ideal night to do so. If it’s already dark by the time you can gather, it’s ok to light the candles and recite Kiddush even then. It’s better than not doing so at all.” That is the key! It’s better late than never; ought over must.
Now what if a family member said, “Something came up and I couldn’t…” come to the Temple with you/be with you for Shabbat dinner/spend Saturday afternoon playing family board games…whatever…there’s an attitude in Rabbi Plaut’s understanding that allows for teaching, for planting a seed, for kind alternatives. Those characteristics aren’t found in typical halachic literature because mitzvah means commandment, and since God commanded it there’s no element of choice.
Reform Judaism has always proclaimed freedom of choice to be a key element not only in its religious framework, but what should be true in any circumstance of life, and Rabbi Plaut’s “ought” fits right in.
(Speaking of nothing ((and you’ll see why that’s a fitting intro)), two brothers were arguing. “You say that you’re an atheist and you believe in nothing?” ((See, speaking of nothing)), said the first brother. The atheist brother said, “Exactly, I only believe in something I understand.” The believing brother said, “Well, that certainly explains why you believe in nothing!”)