Passover is the single most widely observed Jewish practice in the world, and if you stop to think about it, that really makes sense. Passover is a roadmap to liberation, both personal and global, and who doesn't want, and deserve, to be free? At the end of the day that's what Pesach is all about - the fact that each of us deserves to be liberated from what whatever Egypt in which we find ourselves. And we all have at least one.
The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which translates as "tight spot". For some it may be the tight spot of political oppression while for others it may be the jams in which we find ourselves more personally. But whatever one's Egypt, Passover is the celebration of getting out, or at least beginning to.
Now there as many ways to celebrate Passover as there are people who want to do so. While I am now an Orthodox rabbi, growing up, I was anything but. Our family's observance of the holiday included bacon cheeseburgers...from which we removed the bun. Hardly a traditional way (both pork and mixing meat with dairy are classic no-no's) to observe the tradition of not eating bread and leavened products during the holiday, but it was no less meaningful and powerful than my current practice.
So why the changes? That's for another time. My point here is that after observing the same holiday many different ways, I know two things. First, each of us has to find a path to liberation that works for us. Second, there are four basic themes which seem to run through all of them as far as Passover is concerned, and all four are appropriate to each of us - Jew or Gentile, deep believer or ardent atheist.
Passover matters because it provides a kind of compass for freeing one's self and for freeing others also. Whoever seeks liberation, from whatever burdens them, those about whom they care, and our world, these four Passover principles are for you.
Principle One: Passover celebrates expanding our orbit of empathy. While we all have our limits (compassion fatigue is real), the story of the liberation of the Israelites begins with a God who hears the call of those in need.
The God of that story took hundreds of years to hear that call, and in extending concern to the Israelites inflicted much pain on the Egyptians, so clearly the expansion of empathy is a slow and imperfect process. Like God's, our empathy may not be limitless or perfect, but liberation demands that it be expanding.
Principle two: Questioning is the key to staying free. The Passover Seder, however observed, is defined by the raising of questions. In fact, according to tradition, the more questions raised the better. The answers, as is so often the case when it comes to the really big stuff, are not as central as the importance of continuing to question.
In many ways, the Passover Seder reminds us that while answers make life manageable, our questions make life meaningful. Our questions, and the ability to share them, are what mark us as truly free.
Principle three: Liberation, like any form of empowerment done ethically, demands obligation. Whatever we mean by being free, if being free doesn't evoke greater accountability and carry us beyond our own personal well being, we are not fully free.
We may experience accountability to some supernatural power, to a community, or simply to another human being. But being liberated is about not only the coercive shackles from which we are freed, but also about the willing assumption of obligation to others which our new freedom allows.
And finally, Passover matters because it reminds us that we should never go it alone, and we don't need to. From an ancient story in which the good folk and the bad, the saints and the sinners, were all liberated together, to a holiday whose central ritual, the Seder dinner, brings people together around a shared table, we figure out how to make friends with our family and make a family out of our friends.
This is the season of liberation and with these four points on your compass, I wish us all the very best on our journey to the liberation we seek and to which each of us, and our world, in entitled.
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Passover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Passover 2010 - Pesach - Jewish Holidays
Passover on the Net - Welcome to a Celebration of Passover / Pesach
The Passover story does not at all suggest that liberation comes from our effort. It is a gift from God. We are to "stand back and watch". The work that we do is preparing ourselves to receive mercy; nothing more (hence the Passover; the free gift).
There were Egyptians as well as Hebrews that left Egypt that day (it is very clear in the narrative). This is obviously not a tale discussing the politics of the holy Jews vs. the unholy Egyptians.
The Passover story is not about asking questions. It is about remembering. It is a time for the young to ask the old about how God has removed bondage from our lives. For those of us that are a little older there should be numerous examples of when we "just let go and let God".
Let us hope that liberation means liberation for everyone. Settlements, Settler only roads and schools, checkpoints, firing rubber bullets at non violent protestors are the opposite of responsibility. When you buy Holyland matzos you contribute to the Jewish National Fund. This is why the discussion about Israel is appearing here. in a seemingly religious discussion. Jews need to take responsibility to make a a change in Israeli and American policy. Jewish Voice for Peace is a good start.
in the 21st century there is one situation that is of great interest to Jews, Israel.
Would you consider applying your first principle to extending our empathy to Israels "enemies", or perhaps, victims.
The resemblance of the terms Israelite and Israeli does not reflect the reality of roles of the two. Israelites were slaves in the bronze age, but Israelis are masters today, with a mighty army and a substantial (tho' not acknowledged) nuclear stockpile.
The Seder is specifically designed for an expansion of the narrative to bring in new aspects of Jewish experience.
When we speak of "Next Year in Jerusalem" knowing that for forty years and more Jerusalem has been under Jewish control, shouldn't we look at our stewardship of the Holy City and ask ourselves if we are living up to the command to expand our empathy.
It is not surprising that the greatest Jewish thinkers of recent history Spinoza, Marx, Freud and Einstein rejected the Jewish concept of a God.
The Jewish God hardened the heart of a ruler so that HE could prove how powerful HE is by inflicting plagues on the poor population of a country, including killing of all the first born males.
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http://holocausthagaddah.blogspot.com/
Instead of indulging in the Exodus Haggadah - in ancient, dangerous, “chosen people” feel-good fantasies, Jews must focus on the recent, tragic reality - and read a Holocaust Haggadah about the danger of religious hatred and the catastrophic price of a delusion of having a special divine protection.
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Consider this:
Evangelical leader and endorser of Sen. John McCain for President, John Hagee said:
"Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews."
Hagee referred to the institution as "the Great Whore."
Hagee said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will
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http://holocausthagaddah.blogspot.com/
Many of the readers of this article will find the following video by the prince of comedy, Pat Condell, about the Catholic church and the Holocaust very enlightening.
This is one of his finest! A masterpiece!
http://www.patcondell.net/
Happy Pesah!
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HTTP://HOLOCAUSTHAGADDAH.COM/
http://holocausthagaddah.blogspot.com/
You could look it up: Leviticus 25:44
See: http://www.jewishjournal.com/hollywoodjew/item/a_seder_gets_cut_from_retirement_facility_for_hollywood_vets_20100328/
1) Liberation from what?
2) Liberation to what?
Liberation for the sake of being from can be a problem. Think about one who liberates himself from the care of a doctor or from the safety of a seat belt. These liberations might make us feel better temporarily but are not in our general interest.
The second part of the question is liberation to what. Anytime we flee one master we go to another. If we flee from the sexual morals of the church we go to the sexual morals of 21st century secularism. There is still a master...but the standard has changed.
We need to ask ourselves these tough questions before we talk about liberation as an end in itself.
As a Christian I believe that true liberation comes in worshiping the Triune God. Like a Porsche that is liberated when it sticks to the road (and avoids the cornfield), humans were built to travel the highway that God has laid out for us.
I find it liberating to give up the idea the there is such a thing as a "chosen people".
I find it liberating to acknowledge that Palestinians have the right to live and love outside of barbed-wire camps.
I find it liberating not to have to put lipstick on a pig, and call it kosher - and yes I'm talking about the kind of religious revisionism we're seeing in this Rabbi's article about Pesach and liberation.
- We don't celebrate the slaying of the firstborn of Egyptians. (Firstborn Jewish children traditionally fast the day before Pesach, but no one celebrates.) In fact, at our seder we recount the ten plagues, removing wine from our glasses when every plague is mentioned to demonstrate our sorrow at the suffering of the Egyptians, neccesary as it may have been.
- We believe we are the people chosen by God to introduce monotheism and the Noahide Covenant to the world. We're not a missionary religion, and believe one can be a righteous individual without being Jewish. Compared to Islam and Christianity that preach that non-believers are missing out on heaven (and possibly will burn in hell) I think we're actually pretty broadminded.
- I agree that Palestinians have a right to live outside of "barbed wire camps." The only examples of Palestinians living in "camps" that I can think of are the refugee camps that the UNRWA has kept Palestinians in since 1948.
- Apparently, you're comparing Judaism to a pig, and the rabbi's article to lipstick. Congratulations, you're a bigot.