Page 31 - HaMizrachi #8 Pesach

Recommended Reading

“THE SHOW GOES ON”

FROM “WITH LIBERTY & JUSTICE:

THE FIFTY DAY JOURNEY FROM EGYPT TO SINAI”

SENATOR JOE LIEBERMAN

he longest-ever running show on Festival of Liberation, to Shavuot, the Children of Israel with the values
Broadway is The Phantom of the the Festival of the Giving of the Law. they, and all the world, needed to build a
T Opera, a polished and engaging Passover is only the first act in the new kind of just society.
musical that explores a wide range of drama. Unfortunately, despite the
human emotions. It opened in 1988, and appeal and success of the Passover Passover and Shavuot are two acts in
continues to play to sellout crowds. “production,” most people do not remain the same drama whose plot explores
for the second act: Shavuot. They leave how liberty and law must be joined
But my family and I – and, I imagine, the theater, as it were, before the entire to create justice. The immoral pre-
you and yours – have been performing in story has been told, missing the point of diluvian society of Noah, and the
a dramatic production with a far longer the annual journey from slavery in Egypt years of Pharaoh’s cruel rule in Egypt,
run. It is the Passover Seder, presented to the Law at Sinai. demonstrated what happens when
annually for more than three thousand
years. Every Passover Eve, all across the The Israelites were not simply released people enjoy liberty without law.
world, members of our extended family from bondage to be free in the desert. Without law, freedom cannot guarantee
prepare for their roles as actors, singers, They were not freed to be absorbed anyone a secure or good life. That is
and storytellers. We provide “dinner into Egyptian society. Their liberation the point of the second act, Shavuot, in
and a show” as we tell the had a purpose, already which the rest of the story unfolds, as
story of the liberation of expressed in Moses’ you will see, if you stay in your seat and
the Children of Israel from first conversation with
slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh: “Thus said experience it.
the Lord, the G-d of
Although every nationality Israel: ‘Let My people Joe Lieberman was a US senator
and every family makes go, that they may hold from Connecticut for 24 years. He
individual adaptations, and a feast unto Me in the is the author of “With Liberty and
nuances its version of the wilderness’” (Ex. 5:1). Justice: The Fifty Day Journey
story, and though each may Later, Moses repeatedly from Egypt to Sinai” with Rabbi Ari
sing the text to different transmits G-d’s request Kahn, published by Maggid Books,
tunes or anchor the feast to Pharaoh: “Let My a division of Koren Publishers
with different cuisines, people go that they may Jerusalem
the Passover Seder retains serve Me” (9:1).
its shared meaning. It is a
celebration of G-d’s love for As the Israelites would PASSOVER
humanity and humanity’s soon learn, the purpose
G-d-given right to be free. of the Exodus was for SALE!
them to serve G-d’s values by observing
Passover was not ordained to be a G-d’s laws. Their ultimate destination
singular, isolated moment in our was the Holy Land of Israel, but their
national calendar. It is part of a cycle. first stop was Sinai, where they would Get 20-30% off a variety of Passover
The Exodus was the key with which our receive the Law, and, with it, their and Sefirat HaOmer books from
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