BEYOND “WHEN DO WE EAT?”

This year, as always, it is our questions that are the essence of the Passover seder.  The well-known joke is that of all the questions at the Passover seder, the most frequently asked is always “When do we eat?”  (The FAQ runner-up is “Are we done yet?”)  But this year (and, why should this year be different from other years?) there are important and rich questions for us all to ask, about the meaning of freedom, our responsibilities to the poor, oppressed and forgotten, about the injustices we witness on a national scale, about our essential Jewish values and how we live them.  Our questions are just the beginning

Most of us can recall those painfully dreadful seders of yore led by old Uncle Morty or whomever out of the Maxwell House Haggadah in blue-and-black print, reading through the text as rapidly as possible, in whatever language no matter how intelligible, those seders with no meaningful or spiritual elements present in the ritual whatsoever.  No longer do we need to endure this excruciating experience.  Today, thankfully, there are dozens of beautiful haggadot to choose from, with creative texts, poetry, illustrations, and comments on the sidebars that make good points.  It is well worth investing in a whole batch of one of these new haggadot, whether published by the Reform movement, the Reconstructionists, a women’s Jewish study organization, Elie Wiesel, or someone else.  And many of us will cull together haggadah texts from the Internet or elsewhere, a personalized, home-made haggadah.

But, beyond a new text, the most spirited, most meaningful seders, in my experience, occur when those sitting around the table close their haggadot in their laps and ask interesting, thought-provoking questions.  Engaging in discussion is the whole point of the Passover seder.  The haggadah even tells us itself, “Whoever elaborates upon the story of the Exodus is praiseworthy.”  Allowing the haggadah to inspire us to entertain challenging questions, or, at times, straying from it, should be what we strive for, if stimulating discussion, and a vision of a world redeemed, will result. 

The haggadah was written only to guide us and give us some ritual acts (dipping the karpas, lifting up the matzah) to provoke questions.  At first, one of its purposes was to do so for the children, through an “inquiry-based” educational method worthy of John Dewey, by evoking questions by children.  (The Four Questions were originally meant to be sample questions, but have become canonized and fixed, so much so that many families leave them unanswered.)  What is our goal in asking questions?  To plant the seeds of imagination within children about the Exodus story, to realize the ideal that “every person in every generation regard herself as if she had come out of Egypt personally.”

But we as adults need questions, too.  Questions eventually lead to vision, and Pesach is meant to inspire us to a vision of redemption.  A sample of some juicy questions we’ll consider raising at our seder this year:  “In what ways is our world still stuck in the metaphorical Egypt, those ‘narrow places,’ metzarim?”  “In what ways can our Jewish values to lead us toward redemption?”  “How has our American government served as a beacon of light and hope for some, and how has it dragged others deeper into despair?”  “What are the ideals of the State of Israel, and how well are they being realized?”  “As we celebrate our holiday of Spring rebirth, what do we need to do that will ensure a safe environment?”  “What meaning could we find in Jewish spirituality, and what is our vision of a more meaningful personal Judaism?”  “What hard challenges are we willing to face up to ourselves that would bring us closer to personal and collective redemption?” 

This year, I wish you a very happy Pesach.  May it be full of rich, juicy questions that inspire you with a new vision for a world liberated from our modern Pharaohs.  May this wonderful, ancient table ritual of ours renew your sense of hope for our world.  This year we are enslaved, but next year, may we all be free!

Rabbi Andy Vogel