Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #206 (4/4/2026): PASSOVER TODAY
This Rabbinical Reflection first aired April 4, 2026 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast.
Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections are heard on the long-running Dave’s Gone By radio/video podcast program (davesgoneby.com) and then archived as text and audio on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com, where a transcript of this Reflection may be read.
Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage show, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon,” which played in NYC in Nov. 2011 and Aug. 2012.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More on Rabbi Sol: shalomdammit.com
TRANSCRIPT: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #206 (4/4/2026): Passover Today
(c)2026 David Lefkowitz. aired April 4, 2026 on Dave’s Gone By. Watch:
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon, with a Rabbinical Reflection for Passover 2026.
My friends and acolytes, I hope you are savoring a safe and pleasant Pesach: carbing up on matzoh, guzzling down the Manischewitz, feeling gratitude that however cruddy things are for Jews right now, at least we’re not slaves to Pharaoh in Egpyt. We’re wage slaves to one-percent billionaires, but still, an improvement.
If you were at a Seder this year, you saw all the important symbols of Passover – objects on the table, all representing aspects of our exodus. I would like to recap those, but instead of the typical symbolism explained in the Haggadah, I intend to connect the Seder plate items to our modern situation as Jews today. So pay attention, dammit!
We begin, of course, with the matzoh. This is the unleavened bread our forefathers ate when they were scrambling out of Eretz Mitzrayim because there was no time to make baquettes. Matzahs are flat, ugly, and tasteless – like Billie Eilish. We eat matzah to remind us how afflicted we are by pop stars who anoint themselves as political oracles and then bash Israel while defending murderous, backward Arab regimes. Discouraged? Just remember: in the first part of the seder, we pay much attention to matzah. But then we break it up, it crumbles, and soon it’s forgotten. Are you listening, Chappell Roan? Couple months, no one’s listening to you.
Next on the Seder Plate we have a roasted shankbone, which represents sacrifice, the animal sacrifices our ancestors made to HaShem, and also what they had to give up to wander in the desert for 40 years. Please add to that the sacrifices Israelis are making now to rid the world of Iranian nukes and knuckleheads. Also, the tzuris all Jews are enduring because Israel’s very existence is seen as a colonial catastrophe. The z’roah, therefore, symbolizes the boner that liberals get when they can let their pent-up anti-Semitism loose under the guise of anti-Zionism.
Also on the plate: a egg. Hard-boiled, like Bibi Netanyahu. The beitzah makes us think of birth, growth, renewal. We can also equate the egg with speeches of Bernie Sanders because like an egg, they come out of an asshole.
Next, we have bitter herbs – not to confused with bitter guys named Herb who lose everything in a divorce. No, bitter herbs are sour veggies or horseradish meant to evoke tears for our enslaved antecedents. If, at your Seder, you convince a gentile to eat a spoonful of white horseradish that he has mistaken for pudding, that’s a great way of getting revenge for the Inquisitions, one goy at a time.
But don’t put away the vegetables yet. There’s a spot on the Seder plate for other leafy greens. These are to remind us – well, me — that no matter how much this world makes me want to hide in a corner consuming brisket and Joyva ring jells until I reach a food coma, that would merely delay the issues I must confront eventually. Herbs and flora remind us: first the spinach, then the chocolate lollycones. It’s delayed gratification, which is, let’s face it, the whole fucking history of Judaism.
Speaking of gratification, at last we get to something edible – charoset! It’s a kind of chutney made from apples, cinnamon, nuts, and wine. If you balance the ingredients, it’s unbelievably delicious. If you use too much of one item…it’s still frickin’ delicious, it’s charoset! – which represents the sweetness of freedom. Also, it looks like a hybrid of shit and cement. When we persecute immigrants, legal or otherwise, just because they’re foreign, we’re forgetting that this country was built by these people out of shit and cement: plumbing, sewers, agriculture, and the concrete of roads and buildings. By all means, let’s keep tabs on our migrants, but acknowledge they usually make our lives pretty sweet.
Lastly we get to karpas, or parsley, which is another goddamn vegetable, which makes me pine for brisket even more.
There you have the essential items on the Passover seder plate, a mix of bitter and sweet, hard and soft, smooth and crunchy, eggy and whatever the opposite of eggy is. These foods encompass the contradictions of life and the variety of our Judaic experience. They also remind us that while the goyim celebrate Easter with glazed ham, lamb shanks, and roasted potatoes, we’re eating this crap. No wonder Herb is bitter.
Still, I wish you a peaceful Pesach, with next year in Jerusalem or any place in Israel because it’s ours.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches. Kol b’seder.
Rabbi Sol Solomon’s mini-sermons, called RABBINICAL REFLECTIONS, air on the Dave’s Gone By radio program (Saturday mornings on facebook: (facebook.com/davesgoneby). When available, the archives include text, audio, and/or video.
click above to watch episode #1023click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1023 of the long-running radio show/video podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning, March 7, 2026.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews dancer Valentina Kozlova; Greeley Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Codo); StoryTime (“Fanny’s Big Idea”); Dave’s Big Dictionary (libertine); Bunion Watch.
Guests: dancer Valentina Kozlova; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN: weather, Iran 00:29:00 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY: libertine 00:40:00 GREELEY TIMES 01:10:00 BUNION WATCH 01:15:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Valentina Kozlova 01:55:00 STORYTIME w/ Rabbi Sol Solomon: “Fanny’s Big Idea” (by Bernard Michelson) 02:19:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Codo, CO 02:26:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:33:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203: I’ve Got Mail! 02:40:30 DAVE GOES OUT
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203 (3/7/2026): I’ve Got Mail!
This Rabbinical Reflection first aired March 7, 2026 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast.
Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections are heard on the long-running Dave’s Gone By radio/video podcast program (davesgoneby.com) and then archived as text and audio on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com, where a transcript of this Reflection may be read.
Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage show, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon,” which played in NYC in Nov. 2011 and Aug. 2012.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More on Rabbi Sol: shalomdammit.com
TRANSCRIPT:
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for early March 2026.
My friends, I do so much talking and sermonizing in these Rabbinical Reflections, sometimes I forget that being a clergyman goes both ways. I don’t go both ways, I like the frum pussy, but in terms of relating to you, my flock, I should take more opportunities to acknowledge your responses — give feedback to your feedback, if you will. And you will.
So in this Reflection, I am skinnydipping into my mailbox to reply to your queries with the naked truth.
Back in June of last year, I expressed worry that Zohran Mamdani would become the Mayor of New York City, which, alas, came to pass. A YouTube viewer wrote, “Zohran’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of Israel as a Jewish state during the debate is telling.” Darn tootin’ it’s telling, and I told you so. Big surprise that last week’s joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran led Mamdani to hyperventilate about what he termed “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” No word about the thousands of Americans who died, directly or indirectly, at the hands of the last two cockamamie Khamenis. No memory of the American hostages held for more than a year during the Carter administration. No acknowledgement of the mass executions these dictators have ordered of their own people, all the way from 1988 through last week. Zohran, you may think President Trump is a bad guy. Sometimes he is a bad guy. But he took out a worse guy. And if you ignore the difference, you’re dumber than the left-wing schmucks who voted for you.
Also last summer, when media was running the false narrative of Palestinian children languishing because Israel was blocking their food supplies, an Arab Facebooker chided me. He wrote, “You laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger.” No, I don’t laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger. I laugh at Palestinians dying of hunger – but only because it’s not true, or if it were true, it’s because Hamas created the conditions for starvation: they started a war with an act so barbarous, starvation is too good for them. And might I add that a Jewish poster then joined the conversational thread and wrote, “Spot on, Rabbi! Preach on!” I will, my friend. And I do have a spot on my x-ray that my neurologist is looking at.
Responding to my February Reflection about anti-Zionist, semi-intellectual hypocrite Noam Chomsky showing up in the Epstein Files, a YouTube viewer with a Greek name so long you have to breathe twice in the middle of it, wrote, “God bless you, Rabbi Sol Solomon!” He followed it with emojis of an Israeli flag, a Greek flag, and two fingers making a peace sign. All I can say is thank you, Ileos! I am honored to know that you are right behind me, which is the Greek way.
Finally, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes, “Dear Rabbi Sol Solomon, Aren’t you worried that by toppling the Iranian government, we are further destabilizing a region that is already a powder keg?” Fair question. Of course I’m worried. I’m worried about everything. I worry about putting too much fabric softener in with my dress socks. But as for making the Middle East worse, is that even possible? Not to mention that after we struck Tehran, the Iranians responded by bombing not America, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain… Hey, maybe if we pull their coattails, they’ll bomb Lebanon and Syria, too.
After 50 years of Sharia shit, Iran has the chance to become a real country again. And when populations of nearby Caliphates and oligarchies see that change is possible, those dominos just might fall, too. Let the liberals kvetch, “How dare Donald Trump institute regime change! Only Congress can do that.” Well, since the hostage crisis, 24 Congresses had the chance to knock out the Supreme Leaders of Iran. Instead, they bobbed and weaved and allowed terrorists to land blow after blow in Israel, America, and around the world.
No question, Iran could become our next Afghanistan. But maybe it’ll be a new Romania. And unlike Dracula, that would not suck.
If you want to write to me — and why wouldn’t you? – please address your letters to shalomdammit@aol.com. That’s shalomdammit@aol.com. I admit, our mail carrier has a hard time delivering those letters, but I do get `em, and I appreciate the time you take to engage with me, particularly when you glorify and exalt me.
For now, though, it’s time to close the mailbox and wait for your missives to pour in. I can’t wait. I mean, I can wait, I will wait, but you know I embellish.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
click above to watch the interviewclick above to listen (audio only)
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with actor JASON CARMICHAEL
Topics include: Tied, Howard University, racism, teaching, theater
Segment airs Feb. 28, 2026 as part of episode #1022 of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2026 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
click above to watch episode #1019click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1019 of the long-running radio show/video podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning, Feb. 7, 2026.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews singer Deborah Zecher and sings “Hey Jews”; Greeley Times; Bunion Watch; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Clarke Farms); Dave’s Big Dictionary (imbue); StoryTime (“Funny Faces”); Dave Says Bye (Harry Haun).
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: winter 00:17:00 BUNION WATCH 00:19:30 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN: new toys, bad drawing, Super Bowl 00:58:30 GREELEY TIMES 01:28:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Rabbi Deborah Zecher 02:15:30 STORYTIME: “Funny Faces” 02:27:00 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY: imbue 02:37:30 DAVE SAYS BYE: Harry Haun 02:59:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:07:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Clarke Farms, CO 03:10:00 DAVE GOES OUT: Toelio
Feb. 7, 2026 Playlist: “Hey Jews” (02:50:30; Rabbi Sol Solomon)
click above to watch episode #1018click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1018 of the long-running radio show/video podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning, Jan. 31, 2026.
Featuring: Dave interviews Florida arts critics Jay Handelman and Carrie Seidman; StoryTime w/ Rabbi Sol Solomon (“Rudy Garcia-Tolson Biography”); Greeley Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Churchill Downs); Dave’s Big Dictionary (short shrift); Dave Says Bye (Woodie King Jr.).
Guests: Florida theater and dance critics Jay Handelman and Carrie Seidman; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: Wither Cop Log?, passings (Demond Wilson, Catherine O’Hara) 00:17:30 DAVE SAYS BYE: Woodie King Jr. 00:36:00 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN: snow days, inventions 01:09:00 GREELEY TIMES 01:27:00 GUESTS: Jay Handelman and Carrie Seidman 02:13:30 STORYTIME: Rabbi Sol Solomon reads Ann Weil’s “Rudy Garcia-Tolson” 02:28:00 Belated Birthday! 02:41:00 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY: short shrift 02:50:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:59:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Churchill Downs, CO 03:01:00 DAVE GOES OUT
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Dave Lefkowitz chats with his cousin, ADAM GLASS
Topics include: Judaism, New Year’s Eve
Segment aired Dec. 31, 2025 as part of episode #1014, our annual New Year’s Eve special edition of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
click above to watch episode #1013click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1013 of the long-running radio show/video podcast, Dave’s Gone By, which aired live on Facebook, Saturday morning, Dec. 27, 2025.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews actor-singer Darius de Haas; Dave’s Big Dictionary (apropos); Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Chester); Bunion Watch; Greeley Times.
Guests: actor Darius de Haas; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: for the birds, wonderful life, Mount Washington 01:00:00 GREELEY TIMES 01:29:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Darius de Haas 02:22:30 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN: New Year’s Eve 02:33:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #190: 2024 Farewell (repeat) 02:44:00 DAVE’S BIG DICTIONARY: apropos 02:57:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:06:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Chester, CO 03:09:30 DAVE GOES OUT
For this week’s StoryTime segment on Dave’s Gone By, Rabbi Sol Solomon reads the children’s book, “Mendel’s Hanukkah Mess Up” by Chana & Larry Stiefel.
This segment aired Dec. 13, 2025 as part of episode #1011 of the “Dave’s Gone By” video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz. Full episodes also available on youtube, Facebook (davesgoneby), and on DavesGoneBy.com.
All content (c)2025 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
More information on Rabbi Sol Solomon: shalomdammit.com.
