The medical use of marijuana is legal in 36 states, and recreational use is legal in 15 states, with New York joining that list last month. Medical marijuana is legal in Israel, and recreational use is mostly decriminalized, with little enforcement. A draft law is being considered to legalize recreational use, though smoking in public places will not be allowed. Most religious authorities agree that marijuana is kosher, as it is a plant which would not even need certification unless it was processed or included in an edible product. In 2020, archaeologists and scientists studied residue found in an altar at Tel Arad in Israel from the period 760 BCE to 715 BCE and determined that it was the remnants of burning cannabis plants used in a ritual ceremony. What term related to marijuana is believed to have Jewish roots?

Marijuana Plants by Anthony Quintano is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. Linguists believe that the source of the word marijuana is the name מר חנה, Mar Chana, meaning the Sea of Chana, a small body of water in northern Israel in the area that the cannabis plant was grown in Biblical times.

B. It is believed that the word cannabis derives from the Hebrew words, קנה בשם, Kaneh Bosem, which was one of the ingredients of anointing oils mentioned in Exodus.

C. There are many theories behind the use of the number 420 in reference to marijuana. Many think that the number refers to California penal code Section 420 about marijuana, and others contend that Bob Dylan’s song Rainy Day Woman #12 and 35 is the source (“Everybody must get stoned,” not to mention that 12x35=420). But the most likely source is Hebrew gematria, where the numerical value of words is analyzed. The Hebrew word עשן, Ashan (ayin, shin, nun) means smoke, which has a value of 420 in gematria.

D. The word ganja, typically used by Rastafarians to refer to marijuana, comes from the Hebrew words גן יה, Gan Ya, meaning Garden of God. Rastafarians believe that the Tree of Life referred to in the Biblical story of Eden is in fact the marijuana plant.

E. One day Shirley Sobchak came home to find her son, Wally, smoking marijuana. She was shocked, and said to him, “Walter! What are you? A putz? Smoking?” Wally, being high, misheard her and said, “Yeah, I’m pot smoking. But don’t worry. I don’t roll on Shabbos.” And thus was born the phrase Pot Smoking for using marijuana.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Jews around the world celebrated Passover with the traditional seder meal, some in person, many more via online technology, as the pandemic took its toll on the holiday for the second year in a row. One of the primary traditions of Passover is the inclusion of a seder plate, consisting of a variety of symbolic items, including bitter herbs, representing the harshness of slavery suffered by the Jews in Egypt, and a shank bone, a symbol of the korban pesach, or paschal lamb sacrifice. A tradition started 40 years ago that has gained widespread acceptance in many non-Orthodox households is the placement of an orange on the seder plate. Though many see this as a symbol of women’s important role in Judaism, it was in fact started by Jewish feminist scholar Susannah Heschel in support of gays and lesbians. More recently, others have suggested new additions to the seder plate, though none has as yet gained widespread acceptance. Which of the following are among those new seder plate suggestions?

Passover Seder plate with wine and matzot by Mikael Häggström, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

A. A group of rabbis and others representing The Jewish Working Group to End The New Jim Crow suggested the addition of a padlock and a key to call attention to the problem of mass incarceration in America.

B. Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, Spiritual Arts Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, suggested the addition of an artichoke to symbolize the issue of intermarriage within the Jewish community. She notes that the artichoke is complex, with its petals, thistle and heart, and thus represents the diversity of the Jewish people. But she also says that the thorny bristles reflect the fact that “the Jewish people have been thorny about” the issue of interfaith marriage.

C. A number of years ago, Rabbi Wesley Gardenswartz, senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts, had seen a sign in a local CVS drug store asking people to buy bags of cashews for U.S. troops who were serving in Iraq. The Rabbi learned that the salty nuts were considered a good way to keep the service men and women hydrated in the dry dessert. The Rabbi went on to urge his congregants to include cashews on their seder plates to honor the soldiers serving in Iraq.

D. In 2015, the world was saddened to see a photograph of a young Syrian boy who had drowned off the coast of Turkey (along with his mother and brother) as their family attempted to escape the civil war in Syria. The father spoke of how he had given his sons bananas every day despite the difficulty of obtaining this fruit in war-torn Syria, in an attempt to make their lives just a bit sweeter. In response to this story, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom in Vancouver, British Columbia suggested the placing of a banana on the seder plate to remind us of the plight of refugees world-wide.

E. Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia just signed a bill designed to “make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.” One of the provisions of the bill is to make it illegal to provide water or food to someone standing in line outside a polling place, as this is one of the primary ways that Joe Biden, Reverend Raphael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff were able to fraudulently win in the recent Georgia elections. To further promote this “good government” legislation, Governor Kemp has called on all Jewish Georgians to add a glass of water to their seder plates. Said Governor Kemp, “Your tradition says, ‘let all who are hungry, come and eat.’ I support that, so long as this does not take place in a line outside a polling place. If we make it easy for white people to vote, but difficult for minorities to stand in a ridiculously long line suffering from hunger and dehydration, Dayenu!”

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Researchers at the Israel Antiquities Authority announced that additional Dead Sea Scrolls have been found and studied, including texts from the Books of Zechariah and Nahum. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient manuscripts (including every book of the Hebrew Bible except for Esther) found in the Qumran Caves of the Judaean desert. The scrolls generally date to the third century BCE through the first century of the common era, and are among the oldest copies of most of the Hebrew Biblical texts. The original discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls took place in 1946 and 1947 when young Bedouin shepherds stumbled upon the caves and large clay jars which contained many of the leather and papyrus scrolls and fragments. The Bedouins who found the original scrolls sold some to local antiques dealers, and they changed hands multiple times. Meanwhile, other caves were searched by Bedouins as well as archaeologists from the American Schools of Oriental Research, yielding additional scrolls and fragments. Almost all of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been found to date are housed in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. How did Israel obtain a number of the Dead Sea Scrolls?

dead-sea-scroll-israeli-museum-jerusalem- by Larry Koester is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. Researchers from the American Schools of Oriental Research sold the scrolls and fragments which they had discovered to the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1959. The IAA then began initial research into the authenticity of the scrolls, before passing them on to the Israel Museum which constructed the Shrine of the Book in 1965.

B. A few of the scrolls were in the The National Museum of Damascus, having been obtained from one of the antiques dealers to whom the Bedouins had sold some of their finds. In 1962, Israeli spy Elie Cohen was working undercover in Syria, and one of his accomplishments was to provide information to the Mossad about the location of the scrolls. The Mossad then arranged for some of their operatives to steal the scrolls and bring them to Israel.

C. A number of the scrolls were in the possession of Jordanian authorities who had obtained them from antiques dealers in Syria and Lebanon. After the Six Day War, Israel gained control over all of Jerusalem, including the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. After negotiations, the Jordanians agreed to turn over to Israel their Dead Sea Scrolls while maintaining possession and authority over other antiquities that were housed in the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.

D. Many of the scrolls were discovered by Professor Yigael Yadin, an archaeologist and researcher who led an excavation of some of the Qumran Caves beginning in 1951, shortly after Israel’s War of Independence gave Israel possession of the Judaean Desert territory where the caves are located.

E. Professor Yigael Yadin purchased four of the scrolls when they were offered in a Wall Street Journal classified ad under the category “Miscellaneous Items for Sale.”

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Comedian Tiffany Haddish won a Grammy award for Best Comedy Album for her album Black Mitzvah, the recording of her 2019 Netflix comedy special. In the performance, Haddish explored her Jewish heritage, something she only discovered as a young adult when she learned that her father was an Eritrean Jew. Haddish embraced her Jewish heritage and held a bat mitzvah under the guidance of Rabbi Susan Silverman, including Torah reading and a d’var Torah speech about Jacob’s ladder from the Parsha Vayetze. But Haddish was no stranger to Judaism, as she had worked since the age of 17 as a dancer and an MC at more than 500 bar and bat mitzvah parties. What did Haddish say about that experience?

Tiffany Haddish (2019) by MTV International  is licensed under CC BY 3.0

A. “I’ve been to like over 500 bar mitzvahs, and I’m so glad it’s finally my turn to get candy thrown at me.”

B. “I’ve been to like over 500 bar mitzvahs, and I can pronounce the ‘ch’s’ better than any of those old Jews.”

C. “I’ve been to like over 500 bar mitzvahs, and I am so tired of that f*** chicken dance.”

D. “I’ve been to like over 500 bar mitzvahs, and I’m tired of people telling me to go to the kitchen.”

E. She told of grabbing an 80 year old man by the tie and dancing with him. “And then I decided to turn it around on him and drop it like it’s hot and give him that booty action...and I turned around and he was on the ground on his back...and he passed away...I didn’t want to dance no more, I felt like this [behind] was deadly.”

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡