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Shareבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יג), וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר, בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה יהוה לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם. לְפִיכָךְ אֲנַחְנוּ חַיָּבִין לְהוֹדוֹת, לְהַלֵּל, לְשַׁבֵּחַ, לְפָאֵר, לְרוֹמֵם, לְהַדֵּר, לְבָרֵךְ, לְעַלֵּה, וּלְקַלֵּס, לְמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ אֶת כָּל הַנִּסִּים הָאֵלּוּ, הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת, מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב, וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָּדוֹל, וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה. וְנֹאמַר לְפָנָיו, הַלְלוּיָהּ:
In every generation a person must see himself [or herself] as though he [she] had gone out of Egypt, as it is stated, “And you shall tell your child on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I came forth out of Egypt’” (Exodus 13:8). Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise, laud, glorify, exalt, lavish, bless, extol, and adore the One who made all these miracles for our ancestors and for us: God brought us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to [celebration of] a festival, from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption. [Therefore,] let us say before God, Halleluyah!
(ח) וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּעֲב֣וּר זֶ֗ה עָשָׂ֤ה יהוה לִ֔י בְּצֵאתִ֖י מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
(8) And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I went free from Egypt.’
(ו) בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ יָצָא עַתָּה מִשִּׁעְבּוּד מִצְרַיִם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים ו כג) "וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם" וְגוֹ'. וְעַל דָּבָר זֶה צִוָּה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בַּתּוֹרָה וְזָכַרְתָּ כִּי עֶבֶד הָיִיתָ כְּלוֹמַר כְּאִלּוּ אַתָּה בְּעַצְמְךָ הָיִיתָ עֶבֶד וְיָצָאתָ לְחֵרוּת וְנִפְדֵּיתָ:
(ז) לְפִיכָךְ כְּשֶׁסּוֹעֵד אָדָם בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה צָרִיךְ לֶאֱכל וְלִשְׁתּוֹת וְהוּא מֵסֵב דֶּרֶךְ חֵרוּת ...
(ח) אפילו עני שבישראל לא יאכל עד שיסב...
(6) In every generation a person must show her/himself that s/he personally had come forth from Egyptian subjugation, as it is stated, "God freed us from there..." (Deut. 6:23). And regarding this, the Holy Blessed One commanded in the Torah, "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt..." (Deut. 5:15, 15:15, 24:22), that is to say, as if you yourself had been a slave, and you came forth into freedom, and you were redeemed.
(7)Therefore, when a person feasts on this night, he must eat and drink while he is reclining in the manner of those who are free ...
(8) Even one of Israel's poor should not eat until he [can] recline.
In our day, when historical pressure no longer allows any escape, how can man tolerate the catastrophes and horrors of history—from collective deportations and massacres to atomic bombings—if beyond them he can glimpse no sign, no transhistorical meaning; if they are only the blind play of economic, social, or political forces, or, even worse, only the result of the 'liberties' that a minority takes and exercises directly on the stage of universal history?
In certain highly evolved societies, the intellectual élitesprogressively detach themselves from the patterns of traditional religion. The periodical resanctification of cosmic time then proves useless and without meaning. [...] But repetition emptied of its religious content necessarily leads to a pessimistic vision of existence. When it is no longer a vehicle for reintegrating a primordial situation [...] that is, when it is desacralized, cyclic time becomes terrifying; it is seen as a circle forever turning on itself, repeating itself to infinity.
2. How does feeling as if one is going out of Egypt make the time we have sacred and meaningful?
3. Eliade argues that Jewish history changed the cyclical view of history into a linear one. If so, what is the end goal of the Pesach story and of the re-telling (re-living?) of it through the seder?
Union Prayer Book, 1892; adapted from Leopold Stein
And He brought us into this place.
Thus spake our forefathers, and thus we also say with a joyful heart before God. Praised be He who brought us into this place. He led us to a safe position, from which we are to look back upon our past, upon the sufferings and wanderings of our fathers as a time of probation, fitting us for our universal mission. And we also look up to Him with grateful hearts that He has given us and our children a lot infinitely better than ever fell to the share of our fathers in Palestine.
And He gave us this land.
With deep-felt recognition of the divine kindness do we to-day give expression to our thanks that God has given us this land; that He has made us co-workers in and partakers of the liberty and the free government of this glorious Republic. Here is the haven of our peace, the opportunity of our mission, to teach by our own example the faith in one God, and the love of virtue as the common bonds of humanity.
2. Is Jewish life outside the Land of Israel a "diaspora" - unfulfilled and incomplete, destined to repeat the move from freedom to slavery - or are is living here offer a different path towards redemption? If so, what is that path?
Lyrics by Alma Zohar
Our luck that it’s far away
That from here, we don’t see it or hear of it
I also walked once upon a time
On the paths of suffering
From Egypt to Jerusalem
In the desert, for many days
With no water
With the same question in my eyes
I also encountered evil
That slaps with no distinction
People who are innocent
People who are defenseless
Who have no home
With small children in their arms
They knock on your door
They weep a weepy cry
Don’t say: What are these people to me?
These are foreigners
Because in every generation
One must see oneself as
one who came out of Egypt
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufW-Wb8F7NQ
It’s not yet spring and Passover’s not here.
And what has changed for you? What has changed?
I have changed this year.
On all other nights I ask the four questions, but tonight I have one more:
How long will the cycle last?
How long will the cycle of violence last?
The chased and the chaser
The beaten and the beater
When will all this madness end?
I used to be a kid and a peaceful sheep
Today I am a tiger and a ravenous wolf.
I used to be a dove and I used to be a deer,
Today I don’t know who I am anymore.
Deezvan abba beetray zuzay…
And we start all over again
2. How does Jewish power liberate us? How does it challenge a possibility of redemption?
Haggadah
Adapted from Rabbi Marc Hurvitz
The Egypt of the Haggadah is more than a place, it is more than a nation state, it is a state of mind. Our Hebrew word for that place is Mitzrayim מצרים , that is: the straits, or narrows [from the Hebrew
tzar
צר
,
also connected to the Hebrew for "troubles" -
tzara
צרה]. The geographical
Mitzrayim
מצרים is a pinched green strip of land in the midst of desert along the shores of the Nile River. The metaphorical
Mitzrayim
מצרים restriction, a state that causes us to thirst. We have all come through that tight passage, split the waters of what seemed to be an ending, only to begin anew, to search for a new way. Some of us still feel caught in that tight space, continuing to struggle for as long - or longer than - forty years.As with Nachshon [the one our sages teach in a
midrash
first jumped into the water, encouraging the others in the people of Israel to follow], so also for us, we can only achieve our salvation through our own willingness to take risks.
