Four New Questions from the Four Children
Here鈥檚 a challenge for the rising generations seated around the seder table this year: make sure your Four Questions address the ways in which things truly are different in 2018 from how they have been at Passovers in the past.
鈥淲ise鈥� children, for example鈥攖hose who want to know the order of things down to the last detail鈥攎ight ask this question: After inviting all who are needy to join the meal, and opening the door wide for Elijah, how will we make sure the 鈥淒reamers鈥� who so need our help are not cast out of America, and African refugees are not expelled from Israel? What鈥檚 the plan for carrying out this clear imperative of Passover?
鈥淲icked鈥� children might ask pointedly, as is their wont, 鈥淲hat is the meaning of all this to you?鈥� In other words: 鈥淎re we just going through ritual motions, year after year, or are we prepared to act on the lessons of the holiday?鈥� We castigate Pharaoh for inflicting death on Israelite children, and express sorrow for the Egyptian soldiers who drowned in the Red Sea during the Exodus. Can we fail to protect our students and schools from shooters who purchase semi-automatic rifles at will? 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 take the lessons of Passover seriously,鈥� this questioner might declare,鈥� neither will I.鈥�
鈥淪imple鈥� children might just throw up their hands. 鈥淩eally? You want me to recite the Ten Plagues sent to punish the Egyptians long ago鈥攂lood, lice, disease, and all the rest鈥攂ut not say a word about far worse plagues afflicting the entire world right now as a result of climate change, with more devastation surely to come? I don鈥檛 get it. Plagues are plagues. Don鈥檛 hardened hearts go against the lesson of this holiday?鈥�
And for those who don鈥檛 know how to ask鈥攂ecause they are too young, too na茂ve, or too ignorant of the Passover story or the day鈥檚 news鈥攖heir elders at the seder might 鈥渙pen up to them,鈥� as the Haggadah instructs, having learned in this year of #MeToo how important it is to hear voices of those who have been silent. Explain, with honesty and humility, that we do try our best to repay the gift of freedom. We are thankful for 鈥渨hat the Lord did for me when I went forth from Egypt.鈥� We do want to leave the seder table inspired to translate ritual to action more effectively than we have in the past and put an end to oppression in all its forms. We want their help, we need their help, in making that happen.
I want all newcomers to Passover or to Judaism to know that the memory of Exodus from Egypt, formative for Jews and for so many others as well, appears in one form or another almost everywhere in Jewish life and liturgy. When Jews recite Kiddush on Sabbaths and holidays, we do so 鈥渁s a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.鈥� The very first of the Ten Commandments given to the Children of Israel at Sinai introduces the Commander as 鈥渢he Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.鈥� Whenever and wherever individuals take steps, large or small, to 鈥渇ree those who are bound鈥� and 鈥渞aise up those you are bowed down,鈥� in the words of the morning prayers鈥攂ecause they are poor, because they are women, because they belong to a racial or religious minority鈥攖he memory of Exodus is activated, as Torah commands and Jewish liturgy seeks to instill.
This Passover, I believe, the call to such memory-in-action resounds with particular force and clarity.
I treasure the fact that Abraham Joshua Heschel dared to declare in 1963 that the contest between Moses and Pharaoh begun in Egypt had still not ended, but was being carried on between those who struggled for civil rights in America and those who resisted the achievement of those rights. Oftentimes the translation from Biblical injunction to contemporary social and political issues is not simple or straightforward. But sometimes it is鈥攑articularly when fundamental matters of religion or morality are involved. When that is the case, Jews must act, in the name of our teacher Moses, to carry on the commitment to the Exodus.
That conviction, to me, stands at the heart of the Passover holiday and Judaism鈥檚 repeated reminder that obligations flow from the fact of freedom. I hope theological quandaries or outright disbelief will not stop anyone of any age from recognizing that each of us personally went forth from Egypt, as the tradition insists鈥攚hatever that 鈥淓gypt鈥� was for us, and to whatever degree we have been liberated. Every one of us enjoys many gifts in our lives鈥攖herefore we all have gifts to share. We have questions to ask of the established order and challenges to pose. It is our responsibility to ask those questions and to pose those challenges, to the very best of our ability. Passover is meant to help with this work.
To younger participants at 2018 seders, I express the fervent hope that you will ask especially good questions this year that call older participants to account for the unfinished Exodus work to which Passover summons us.
The publication and distribution of the 91快播 Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧).
