In less than two weeks, we will gather around the seder table, first night of Pesach as families, and second night as a community, our extended family. Passover is probably the most transformative of our Festivals.
It gives us the opportunity to rethink our lives and explore our relationship with ourselves, our closest friends and family and society at large.
Passover, and particularly the re-enacting of our liberation from slavery through the Seder experience, is at the core of our Judaism, and particularly of our Progressive/Liberal Judaism. Our Exodus, our liberation from slavery, from the house of bondage, is remembered constantly in our prayers and rituals. Search in any siddur and see how many times we cite the experience of our liberation, which biblical passages are inside our tefillin, even Shabbat is “zecher litziat mitzrayim”, a memory of our exit from Egypt. But why is the Exodus so important and paradigmatic? Liberation leads to freedom; freedom brings with it, responsibility.
Only if we are the masters of ourselves, can we be accountable for our deeds. The freedom gained through the Exodus experience is not meant as our possibility to do whatever we want, but the necessary condition to take upon ourselves the task of redeeming the world around us: we were an oppressed minority (and still are), a bunch of slaves who have been redeemed by their God, so now it is our duty to take care of other oppressed minorities. In the Bible they are the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Nowadays they are women, immigrants, enslaved workers, LGBTQIA+ people, ethnic minorities, fellow Jews persecuted by antisemitism, Palestinians fighting peacefully for their own land. Justice, justice we shall pursue – says Deuteronomy. Seeking justice and freedom for the oppressed is what our rituals demand of us, a constant reminder of the most important task we are yet to accomplish. And so the Seder is our reminder.
Has our liberation been complete? No, of course not. Have injustice and oppression disappeared? Using the words of Rabbi Irving Greenberg in his book, “The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays”, we can say:
“No, the Exodus did not destroy evil in the world. What it did was set up an alternative conception of life. … This orienting event has not been converted into a permanent reality, neither for Jews nor for the whole world, but it points to the way to the end goal towards which all life and history must go. Thus, history counts, but it is not normative; it is something to be lived in, yet challenged and overcome.”
There are still too many Egypts in our world and each of us has their own personal Egypt to leave. Probably we won’t succeed completely this year, and in the years to come. But around our seder table we will remind ourselves what matters to us as Jews, as a Progressive/Liberal Norwich community. We will sing and celebrate and discuss and laugh and get emotional. We will share food and memories and customs among us and with our welcomed guests. Together with the Sukkah, there is not another better symbol than the seder table of the perfect place to be together while being each of us different, to share and discuss, to be community. Join us, without you our seder table will be less colourful, diverse, happy and rich. We are waiting for you!
Pesach Kasher vesame’ach! Rabbi Martina