ArcaMax

Go figure! This old question about a dog taught me everything important I needed to know about Passover and Easter.

Q: I have a dilemma. Bo is my Labrador Retriever and he is always with me. He rides in my truck, comes on my boat and sleeps in my bed. My girlfriend says he smells and she is allergic to him and tells me that he has to go. I was all set to give Bo up to my parents, but I just can’t part with him. He is my dog, but she is my girlfriend. I do not want to choose between them.– (B. from Bennington, Vermont)

When I received this question years ago, this is basically how I answered B,

A: In a choice between a demanding girlfriend and a smelly dog … always choose the dog because your dog loves you unconditionally and your girlfriend does not.

B had come to a place in his life when no matter what he decided, he had to sacrifice something in order to continue with his life in a way that would let in a higher love.

I realize now that the sacrificial decision B had to make is the same kind of decision Jews and Christians are called upon to make on Passover and Easter. We have to decide whether we are willing to sacrifice the way of life given to us by God or to sacrifice God and take up the way of life given to us by the world.

The Bible tells us that after the Israelites suffered in Egypt and experienced the wanderings in the desert after crossing the Red Sea they had several episodes of buyers’ regret and complained to Moses to lead them back into slavery.

The New Testament tells us that after seeing the peril of proclaiming Jesus as the Christ that many, including some closest to him, refused the sacrificial call to proclaim the Gospel.

The decision to affirm our faith also means rejecting values that contradict our faith. Following God’s path for us means accepting truth over terror; virtue over vice; gratitude over gossip; mercy over materialism. Faith is an act of love but love, as any parent knows, is an act of sacrifice.

The rituals of Passover and Easter are meant to symbolize this command to sacrifice for God. On the Passover seder plate is a roasted shank bone and egg that are symbols of the sacrifices offered in the ancient Temple; and the salt water is symbolic of the sacrificial tears of slavery. The Eucharist is the most dramatic and powerful sacrificial symbol in world religions. Consuming the bread and wine of a crucified Messiah who sacrificed his life to save the world from sin is a profound identification with that sacrifice.

The sacrificial elements of Passover and Easter are not merely stories of ancient sacrifices. They are commands – better invitations – to internalize the past and enter it anew. The Bible says that, “You shall tell your child on that day, ‘This is what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.’” The Easter Mass is not merely a symbolic re-enactment of the Passion, it is a taking of that sacrifice into your own body and soul.

Back to B’s dog.

Just as God loves us unconditionally, so do the animals we take into our homes. God wants us to give the best of ourselves to God and this Passover/Easter season one way I humbly suggest that we can do that is by caring for an animal. Betty and I found this sacrificial satisfaction by raising Guide Dog puppies but adopting a rescue animal also is filled with sacrificial sanctity.

On the side of one of the buses from the North Shore Animal League that Tommy and I blessed every year on their cross-country adoption journey is a cartoon painted by Patrick McDonall who draws the cartoon strip Mutts. It shows a cat cogitating: In the first panel the cat says,“I know what it’s like to be alone in a cage…waiting for a kindness from a stranger… (then in the second panel) “You wait…and wait…Hoping…praying…thinking, ‘Life shouldn’t be like this… (In the last panel) “You know You can do more…Be more…You hold onto the dream…You just wish someday You could share it with someone.”

I always thought that this was a touching and true message for an animal adoption service. Now I think it is the perfect prayer for a Passover and Easter where many hostages are still not free and where too many slaves still need to escape Egypt.

Happy Passover

Happy Easter

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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