Dear Friends,
I hope that your sedarim (seders) were festive, educational, and inspiring.
But I also hope that each of us knows that there's a lot more to Passover than the seders.
After all, the first two days of Passover are "yamim tovim" (holy days) on which we refrain from work and rejoice as a community.
And then come the four "intermediate" days of the festival (known as "hol ha-moed," or "the secular days of the holiday") during which we are out and about in the world, and yet, because we refrain from eating hametz, we remain highly conscious that it is Passover.
And then come the concluding holy days of Passover, the seventh and eighth days of the holiday. For some of us, these may go by unnoticed. But that's a shame! After all, ...
Just think how different Passover would be if it were only a SIX day holiday.
Hmmmm....
As we do now, on the first day we would celebrate how the Israelites fled the Jewish quarter of Goshen following the tenth plague.
Exodus 12:37: And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside children.
Over the next few days of the holiday, we would -- though perhaps with a certain amount of foreboding -- commemorate the march of the Israelites, heads held high, toward the Sea of Reeds.
Then, on the sixth day, we would remember Pharaoh's change of heart: the way he pursued the people, and caught up with and trapped them on the shores of the Sea of Reeds.
Exodus 14:9: And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea....
And we would remember, with horror, the terror, the confusion and the despair of our ancestors:
14:10:
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were sore afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.!
If all we had were those first six days of Passover,
the story would have ended right then and there, horribly, with perhaps a massacre or the recapture of the Israelites on the western shores of the Sea of Reeds. The next day, the seventh day after the Seder, would have become a day of national mourning to commemorate the catastrophe.
Instead, of course, on the seventh day of Passover we celebrate the courage of the small group of brave Israelites who defied their oppressors (and defied the odds against them) and pressed on through the sea to freedom.
And we therefore are reminded of the obvious truth that the struggle for freedom is not won in a day. Rather, it requires step after step after step. We should learn from this, and realize that in seeking justice and freedom for all, we shouldn't be impatient, and we should certainly not give up. Rather, we should push on -- if necessary, again and again and again until we achieve our goal.
Coincidentally, this year, on the seventh day of Passover (i.e., Monday, April 17, 2017), we won't be the only ones celebrating and honoring brave rebels. Just about everybody else around us will be doing the same thing. For, serendipitously, this year the seventh day of Passover coincides with Patriot's Day.
Patriot's Day commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolution, battles that made clear that the American settler revolt would not easily be suppressed. Just like the Biblical Nachshon, credited with being the first to plunge into the Sea of Reeds, and inspiring others to follow him, so too the Minutemen, by risking their lives, inspired many others to join their struggle.
What motivated these patriots? As I mentioned last week, many of them heard sermons in their churches comparing their struggle with that of the Children of Israel. Understanding themselves as having fled tyranny and oppression, they were not about to, as it were, go back to Egypt.
Please join us in synagogue tomorrow, Shabbat morning, April 15th, for our Shabbat Hol HaMoed Pesach service. It will feature highly contrasting elements. On the one hand, we will sing the songs of Hallel, and members of our congregation will chant four chapters of the Biblical Song of Songs. On the other hand, as our haftarah we will read the famous 37th chapter of Ezekiel that presents the prophet's vision of the "Valley of the Dry Bones":
Responding to this image, our own Gil Brodsky will speak about an impactful visit that he and Margie made to the genocide memorial in Kigali, Rwanda, that commemorates the terrible massacres committed against Tutsis and others in that country. (See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide
) His talk is entitled: "Dry Bones: Ezekiel's Valley in Rwanda."
Join us as well on Monday morning, April 17th, as we commemorate the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (often, unfortunately, translated as "the Red Sea") by reading Exodus chapters 14 and 15. This portion includes the prose account of the improbable and extraordinary victory, and the famous Song of the Sea chanted by the Israelites in celebration of their freedom. (For the wonderful Prince of Egypt version -- sung partially in Hebrew -- click here:
But note that the film depicts the Israelites singing that song much earlier than the Biblical text implies. What do you think of that?)
Then, finally, because we are in the diaspora, join us as well on Tuesday morning, April 18th, for the eighth and final day of Passover. Yizkor (Memorial) prayers for our departed will be recited, and we will conclude our davening with one last festive kosher-for-Passover kiddush. (Many thanks to Nelle and her team for kashering our kitchens and preparing such delicious meals throughout the holiday.)
However each of us chooses to conclude the holiday, I hope that it will not leave us untouched.
On the contrary, I hope that our engagement with the themes of this great festival of freedom will inspire us to contemplate the fate of those struggling for freedom today, and remind us that: there, but for the grace of God, go we. May this wonderful holiday strengthen our empathy for the plight of all those seeking freedom, and inspire us to take action on their behalf.
Hag Sameach!
Sincerely,
