Passover 2022 begins at sundown on April 15 and ends at sundown April 22.
Passover, the celebration of the Exodus from Egypt, from slavery to freedom, is perhaps the central holiday of the Jewish people. We remember the Exodus by eating no leavened products, since the Israelites had to leave Egypt in a hurry and didn’t have time for their bread to rise. The central ceremony of this holiday, the seder, is not held in the synagogue — rather, it is a ritual meal held in the home, to which we invite friends and family. There are two seders, held on the first and second nights of the eight day holiday.
I have attended seders since I was in grad school in the 1970’s, where one year I decided I wanted to attend one, and went to Hillel to see what they were doing. The Hillel at the U of Chicago, instead of holding a communal seder had local families sign up to host one or more students. I hadn’t grown up with seders — my mother, who completely transformed our kosher kitchen for the holiday, prepared the meal, but we had no men in the family who could lead a seder the way my mother remembered her orthodox father leading them. This introduction to a modern family seder was transformative, and even when I was doing nothing else at all religious I tried to find seders to attend.
For the past two years, I have attended virtual seders on Zoom. The first year I attended one held by the JVP chapter in Seattle (I live in Tucson). Last year I wanted to be with people I know, so I attended one led by a member of my synagogue.
This year my synagogue held an outdoor in-person seder (the safety committee has only allowed eating out of doors) and I decided to attend. So many people signed up that we were divided into four groups, each with its own leaders. Sometimes it was antiphonal, with different parts of the seder being heard from around the courtyard. I was with a group of people I know from the Zoom classes I’ve been taking during the pandemic, and it was led by the same woman whose seder I Zoomed in on last year.
It felt weird. I was seeing so many people in person whom I only knew as boxes on a Zoom grid, as well as some I knew before COVID but hadn’t seen in several years. One person came up to me and said that she’s never met me, but she knows me from the things I say in class, and it’s true — very deep and intimate things come up in our classes.
Our group used the Haggadah compiled by the couple who led the seder, which we also used in last year’s virtual seder. The Haggadah is the book that contains the prayers, songs, and rituals; explains the symbols and symbollic acts we perform; and tells the story of the Exodus, which we must tell as though we personally had lived it. Over the years, people have created Haggadot to include journeys to freedom many of us are making, and there are feminist Haggadot, LGBTQ Haggadot, Haddadot telling of the movements for civil rights and labor rights; Haggadot about other groups of refugees.
After we tell the story of the Exodus we sing Dayenu, enumerating God’s miracles, and saying of each one, Dayenu, it would have been enough. The Haggadah we used included a reading by Zaryher Waskow with Dayenu that I shared in a d’var Torah last year, and share again here.
Dayeinu “It Would Have Been Enough”
אִ ּלו הֹוצִ יאָ ֵֽ נו מִ מִ צְ רַ ֵֽ יִם, דַ יֵּנו:
Had God only brought us out of Egypt, it would have been enough!אִ ּלו נָתַ ן לָ ֵֽ נו אֶ ת־הַ שַ בָ ת, דַ יֵּנו: Had God only given us the Sabbath, it would have been enough!אִ ּלו נָתַ ן לָ ֵֽ נו אֶ ת־הַ ּתֹורָ ה, דַ יֵּנו: Had God only given us the Torah, it would have been enough!
So let’s bring Dayeinu into the present, tonight. We have a vision, we take it to heart, and we work hard to make it happen. We are grateful and yet what miracles and accomplishments would be sufficient (dayeinu) in today’s world for us to be truly satisfied?
❖ For if we were to end a single genocide, but not stop the other wars that are killing people, it would not be enough.
❖ If we ended those bloody wars but did not disarm the nations of the weapons that would destroy all of humanity, it would not be enough.
❖ If we disarmed the nations but did not end the pollution of our planet, it would not be enough.
❖ If we ended the poisoning of our planet but did not prevent some people from wallowing in luxury while others starved, it would not be enough.
❖ If we made sure that no one starved but did not end police brutality, it would not be enough.
❖ If we ended police brutality but did not free the daring poets from their jails, it would not be enough.
❖ If we freed the poets from their jails but cramped the minds of the people so that they could not understand the poets, it would not be enough.
❖ If all people could understand the creative poets but could not explore their own inner ecstasies, it would not be enough.
❖ If people could explore their inner ecstasies but were not allowed to love one another and share in all humanity it would not be enough.
We must struggle, work, share, give, think, plan, feel, organize, sit-in, speak-out, dream, hope, and be on behalf of humanity. For we must end genocide, stop the blood wars, disarm the nations, end the poisoning of our planet, make sure that no one starves, stop police brutality, free the poets from their jails, educate us all to understand the poetry, liberate us all to explore our inner ecstasies, and encourage and aid us all to love one another and share in all humanity.
❖ When all people live freely without interference or persecution, it will be enough.
❖ When people cherish each other’s differences, it will be enough.
❖ When all children grow up in freedom, without hunger, and with the love and support they need to realize their full potential, it will be enough.
❖ When all people are free of the threat of violence, abuse and domination, when personal power and strength are not used as weapons, it will be enough.
❖ When all people have the means to care for their physical, social and spiritual well-being, it will be enough.
❖ When food and shelter are accepted as human rights and are available to us all, it will be enough.
❖ If tonight each person could say, “This year I worked as hard as I could toward improving this world so that one day all people can experience the joy and freedom I feel sitting with family and friends at this table,” it would be enough!
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I wish all those who celebrate the holiday a good Pesach. Chag sameach.