A most challenging Passover and Easter
This column was published today (Saturday, April 16) in The Sun Chronicle of
Attleboro, MA. The second of two Passover Seders will be held tonight, while Christians
worldwide will be celebrating Easter tomorrow (April 17).
And, the Muslim holiday of Ramadan is currently being observed as well, making
it a good time to wish for some hope in the midst of these dark, bleak and depressing times.
Link to the column as it appears on The Sun Chronicle's website:
*****
Easter and Passover, as often occurs, overlap this weekend. The Christian Holy
Week will culminate in Easter Sunday tomorrow, while Passover began Friday
night with the first of two ritualistic meals.
Both holidays are being observed against the backdrop of a world changed
forever, first by the global pandemic and then by the brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Those twin crises make it an especially urgent time to observe both holidays, and
with that in mind, I’d like to discuss Passover’s signature rituals: the Seders
that usher in the eight-day Jewish Festival of Freedom.
Those meals are conducted in a manner outlined in the Haggadah, the book that’s
read during the meal. That’s not by chance, as the meals’ name, “Seder,” means “order.”
As a result, when people sit down to the second Seder tonight, they’ll use their
Haggadah of choice to guide them. There’s a treasure-trove of Haggadahs to suit
anyone, but all share one thing: they retell the story of the flight of the enslaved
Israelites from Egypt.
The Seder’s traditions --- including eating symbolic foods and having the
youngest in attendance ask four questions to introduce the Passover story --- help
us reconnect with our distant past, but the last two years those traditions had
to be reimagined due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Two years ago, as lockdowns and restrictions had just been implemented, many Seders
were held via Zoom. We were barely a month into the pandemic and the future was
uncertain. Last year, with vaccines being made available, more people welcomed
their loved ones into their homes.
The outlook should have been much brighter this year, given that COVID-19 restrictions
have been either reduced or eliminated, but it will be difficult to celebrate as
we did before the pandemic because of these three daunting issues:
1. The Russian invasion of Ukraine --- with its carnage, destruction, thousands
of deaths, slaughter of civilians by Russian troops and millions of refugees
--- has made it clear that the main lesson of Passover, the importance of
standing up to brutal dictators who have taken away our freedoms, as the
Egyptian Pharaoh did to the Israelites, is one we must never forget.
The horrific images from Ukraine --- which are reminiscent of the scenes from
Europe after the Nazis launched their blitz in September 1939 and subsequently shipped
millions of Jews and other ethnic minorities off to concentration camps where
the Final Solution was carried out --- should serve as ample warning of the
consequences of not stopping a tyrant’s fanatical desire for dominance over
neighboring countries.
2. The pandemic has claimed more than 6 million lives worldwide and about 1
million in the United States. While we yearn to embrace the “new normal,” that
may be elusive since, in the face of warnings about new COVID-19 variants,
we’ll continue to wonder if our sneezes or scratchy throats are an allergic
attack, an old-fashioned cold or COVID-19.
3. An unfortunate byproduct of the pandemic has been a dramatic increase in
antisemitism along with its disturbing metamorphosis into an acceptable form of
behavior, as evidenced by those who’ve felt emboldened to compare vaccine
mandates to the Holocaust, and who have attacked Jewish doctors and government
officials --- which promotes the same dangerous stereotypes that Hitler used as
a basis for killing 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews.
That’s why, as we cope with those issues, I’m proposing a different approach to
one of the compelling aspects of the Seder: the reading of the Ten Plagues.
With our 21st century biblical plague in its third year, and with the
Ukraine invasion inflicting unimaginable pain and suffering on children and
women, it would be unseemly to dwell on the plagues, which are listed here in
Hebrew, followed by an explanation:
The 10 Plagues
1. Dam (blood in Egypt’s water), 2. Ts’fardei-a (frogs were everywhere), 3.
Kinim (lice infected the Egyptians), 4. Arov (wild beasts roamed freely), 5.
Dever (incurable diseases struck the Egyptians ), 6. Sh’chin (boils burst from
Egyptians’ skins), 7. Barad (hail rained down), 8. Arbeh (locusts swarmed), 9.
Choshech (darkness all day), 10. Makat b’chorot (the deaths of the first-born
son in every Egyptian family).
Tradition demands that the plagues be read, but they shouldn’t be emphasized.
Instead, people should stress what follows in the Seder: the singing of
“Dayeinu,” which translates as “it would have been enough.” Its inspiring verses
--- which the Israelites sang after God parted the Red Sea, as related in Exodus
--- offer hope for better days ahead:
“If God had only created the world and not brought us out of Egypt, it would
have been enough (Dayeinu).”
“If God had only brought us out of Egypt but not divided the sea, it would have
been enough (Dayeinu).
“If God had only divided the sea but not helped us cross on dry land, it would
have been enough (Dayeinu).
“If God had only helped us cross on dry land, but had not given us the Sabbath,
it would have been enough (Dayeinu).
“If God had only given us the Sabbath but had not given us the Torah, it would
have been enough (Dayeinu).
“If God had only given us the Torah, but had not sent us wise teachers, it
would have been enough (Dayeinu).”
The humbling song’s message --- that we should count our blessings --- is the
balm we need to soothe our frayed nerves and to restore our faith in humanity’s
ability to persevere in these frightening times.
Bless you, and have a happy Easter and Passover. May we as a nation learn to tolerate,
respect, love and listen to our neighbors.
Larry Kessler is a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor
and can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com
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