Page 28 - Harlem Pesach Companion 2021

So why do we spill a drop of wine at the mention of each plague?
Ritually, we drink wine during the Passover Seder, and during many other Jewish holy
days, as a symbol of celebration. How, though, are we to commemorate a part of our
history and story that is less than celebratory? Should we feel empathy toward a group
that tormented the Israelites and, if so, how?

The liberation of the Israelites coincided with the suffering of the Egyptians, and the
Egyptians, like the Israelites, are people created by G-d. We are to remember that our joy
came at the expense of the Egyptians’ suffering, even if it deserved. We do not want to
celebrate the affliction of the Egyptians, so we do not drink the wine, but discard it. “[A]
drop of wine of rejoicing is diminished from the cup in sign of pity for the suffering
Egyptians.” David and Tamar De Sola Pool, The Haggadah of Passover (New York:
Jewish Welfare Board, 1943).

Contemporary applications of the spilling of the wine, and this portion of the Exodus
story, are not lacking. Looking at the landscape of our modern day, we may choose to
adopt the spilling of wine as a reduction of the celebratory feeling of the holiday. We
may choose to spill wine to remember those suffering, or those in need of liberation. This
Pesach, I will be rejoicing at my ability to celebrate yet another Pesach, but will be
spilling wine to reduce in my celebration, to remember the millions of individuals whose
lives were cut down due to a modern day plague. What will you be spilling wine to
commemorate this Pesach?

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