Book of Exodus

To see a Republican lawmaker and a prominent Christian pastor try to outdo each other in their bigotry and murderous hate puts in unpleasant but clear relief the moral health of the organizations they represent.

For proper introspection, there is only reflection. We must reflect on where we have been to know where we ought to journey toward.

Passover is important, but Passover is incomplete. In celebrating our freedom, we celebrate our ability to enjoy life, one precious day at a time. Each day we encounter other human beings and have the task to create and foster meaningful relationships.

The idea of Passover is that the issues of slavery and freedom are for all of us. If that is so, we need to confront slavery not only in the most obviously brutalized parts of the world, but in ourselves as well.

The Jews' difficulty in adjusting to being a free people resonates today. There are many groups of people who live under autocratic, dominating rulers, who are unable to release themselves from these bonds.

On this Passover, we have an opportunity -- and responsibility -- to hold in our hearts and minds a grand vision of justice and peace, and to move from the general to the specific, from the abstract to the concrete.

While Jewish law sacralizes food throughout the year, Passover brings eating to a new level of complexity. Sometimes the details threaten to overwhelm and obscure the meaning. Returning to the story of the Exodus helps the message assert itself.

Israel atones. Next day, Moses gathers everyone together. "These are the things God commands: Work for six days. The seventh is holy for you. Rest completely then. Do work and die. Do not kindle a fire in our home on this Sabbath day."

In the Bible, we are warned that none can see the face of God. There is danger in God's exaltedness; to presume to look upon the Divine is to court destruction.

Later, after the dust settles, God speaks to Moses: "Uplift the people. Let each give one half Shekel as soul atonement. Twenty years and older. Rich and poor. All give the same."

Translated by Nathan Englander, with commentaries by Lemony Snicket and Jeffrey Goldberg, the New American Haggadah sets itself apart from the 7,000 e...

And command the Children of Israel: Bring pure, clear, ready-to-light olive oil to ignite the lamp so that it may burn continually. Aaron and his sons should arrange it so that it will burn from night to morning.

Enter Jethro, the high priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses. He's heard all about God's kindness to the Israelites: the redemption from Egypt, the split sea, the war with Amalek, the manna and the water in the desert.

A new king arises in Egypt. This king does not know Joseph. All he sees is this nation before him, this foreign nation, more numerous than his own. And he is fearful.

The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is won not on the battlefield but in the classroom and the home.

How does the Book of Deuteronomy end? In the wilderness, with the Israelites never reaching the Promised Land.