Page 35 - Jewish News_April 2020

COMMENTARY April 2020 35A

The “why” is essential Walk forward in faith

exclaimed with wonder and awe: WHY “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Is-
was there chocolate on our plate? What raelites to go forward.” Exodus 14:15
This simple command seems al-
From did it have to do with Passover? My most impossible to follow. Go forward?
mother explained that asking questions
the was a fundamental need for the Seder, From Into the sea? But go forward they did.
and now that child had met it.
And the miracles began. A dense cloud
Bimah children, was fundamental to the jour- the prevented the Egyptian army from see-
Asking questions, we learned as
ing the Israelites. God told Moses to
ney from slavery to freedom and to Bimah lift his arm over the sea, and the sea
Jewish life in general. Years later, I split to allow the Israelites to pass in
learned this notion was not my moth- between two walls of water.
Rabbi Samantha Kahn er’s but rather came from the Talmud’s When the Egyptian army pursued
Temple Sinai teaching that if a child asks an authen- Rabbi Anne Feibelman them, the sea closed up again, drown-
n Survival at Auschwitz, Primo tic question, they exempt the whole Campus Rabbi and Chaplain at ing the Egyptian soldiers and chariots.
Aviva – A Campus for Senior Life
Levi recalls a moment when driven Seder from reciting Ma Nishtana After the Israelites cross through
Iby thirst, he opened a window and (Pesachim 115b). Still, those chocolate his month, the month of Nis- the sea, they sing out in praise of God
broke off an icicle, only to be stopped lollipops taught this lesson in a way no san in the Hebrew calendar, we for saving them in The Song of the Sea.

by a guard who “brutally snatched it text study ever could. Tcelebrate Pesach, the Exodus Who is like you, O Lord, among the
away” from him. “Warum?” he asked As a rabbi and a mother, as I plan of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt af- celestials
in German. “Hier ist kein warum!” the Passover Seders I will lead this ter 400 years of slavery. According to Who is like you, majestic in holi-
(Here is no place to ask “why”) the year, I am left going through hundreds the story in the Torah, Moses is lead- ness,
guard replied, while pushing him in- of haggadot and commentary, trying to ing the Israelites to the edge of the Sea Awesome in splendor, working
side with a shove. distill the essence of what it is we are of Reeds and the people are frightened. wonders?
“Why” is the foundation of free- supposed to learn. Suddenly, my mind The Egyptian army is gaining on them Who among us has not been in a
dom. Jews, and Judaism, love to ask wanders back to the chocolate lolli- from behind, and the waters of the sea situation in life when you could not see
“why.” We Jews are grounded by our pops and I realize I’ve always known are looming in front of them. They your way out of a dilemma? When all
ability to challenge and question every- the answer. think that Moses has led them out of the options seemed fraught with peril,
thing. We are taught to see nothing as Though asking questions is not the bondage but they will die in the wilder- and you were afraid. And somehow,
obvious as we utilize questions to both only important part of the Seder, it is ness. once you took action, moved forward
establish and destabilize religious and the essential part that bridges togeth- Picture in your mind a band of ex- and put one foot in front of the next,
social norms. Rabbi Steve Greenberg er the recounting of our exodus from slaves, having left Egypt hastily with- you came through to the other side.
notes, “We train children at the Pass- Egypt and the importance of educating out even time to let their dough rise into Only when you look back, can you see
over Seder to ask why because tyrants toward paths to freedom. The “why” bread. They know what their fate will the miracles that happened along the
are undone and liberty is won with a is essential. As we take the narrative be if they are captured by the Egyptian journey.
good question (Wrestling with God and upon ourselves, sharing lessons of army, the most powerful in the world Even at times of struggle, amaz-
Men).” memory, not simply history, we’re re- at that time. Almost surely, there will ing things can happen. As Einstein put
Yes, we train children to ask why, minded that in many ways we all still be slaughter. On the other hand, their it, “There are two ways to live – as if
but do we remember to keep ask- live in Mitzrayim. This, the Hebrew leader has brought them to the edge of nothing is a miracle or everything is a
ing ourselves? How can we enter this word for Egypt, can also be under- a sea which they have no way to swim miracle.” This month, when we recall
Passover season with the questions, the stood as a reminder that we may find or sail across. What to do? the story of Exodus, let us be fearless

awe, the wonder of a child? How can ourselves in narrow places from which “Then the Lord said to Moses, and walk forward in faith.
we remind ourselves that freedom re- we strive to leave. And the only way to
quires questions? change our understanding or our path Opinions printed in The Jewish News of Sarasota-
I was very young, but I’ll never is to pause and question our assump- Manatee do not necessarily re ect those of

forget the time there was a chocolate tions. The only way to leave from the
lollipop on every plate. Yes, it was a narrow places that constrict within and The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee,

kosher for Passover, parve, chocolate around us is by reclaiming our freedom its Board of Directors or sta .
lollipop and it was waiting for each by questioning our reality. Whoever
person to arrive to their seat at my we are, wherever we are, we ask “why”
mother’s Seder table. As the guests and unchain the shackles that bind us
started finding their spots, one child as we stand and seek our freedom.

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