Page 19 - HaMizrachi #28 Pesach USA 2021

Dr. Daniel Rose

Rabbi Sacks’ Lessons from the Haggadah

he piece opposite was origi- In Rabbi Sacks’ article, inspired by the free society is one that has a “sense of
nally published in 2013 in the paradoxical nature of matzah as the solidarity that leads those who have
TCredo column of The Times. I bread of ‘affliction’ and at the same time more than they need to share with those
would like to highlight a few of the core the bread of ‘freedom,’ he wrote that who have less.” This is the theme of the
and recurring themes in Rabbi Sacks’ “Sharing food is the first act through last book Rabbi Sacks wrote before his
thought that appear here in connection which slaves become free human passing, Morality, where he argues with
with Pesach. beings.” As he writes in his Haggadah: urgency that we must move from an ‘I’
“Freedom means more than losing your
First and foremost, Pesach and Seder to a ‘We’ society.
Night in particular, is the quintessen- chains. It involves developing the capac- This message, a year into a global pan-
tial expression of the central value of ity to think, feel and act for the benefit of demic that challenges us every day to
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education in Judaism. In Radical Then, others.” The act of sharing food is an act
Radical Now, Rabbi Sacks explains that of “fellowship and faith” (faith that there consider our individual rights vs. our
on the eve of the original Pesach, at the will be enough food tomorrow to share responsibilities to others, feels more rel-
genesis of the Jewish nation, we find out scarce provisions today), and restores evant than ever. He concludes the book
what it means to be a Jew: “About to not just freedom to the redeemed slave, with a hopeful message: “Societies have
but also dignity. This explains why we
gain their freedom, the Israelites were begin our Seder with an act of hospital- moved from ‘I’ to ‘We’ in the past. They
told that they had to become a nation of did so in the nineteenth century. They
educators.” In a year when Jewish par- ity and sharing (אָיְנ ַ ע א ָ מ ְ ח ַ ל א ָ ה), demon- did so in the twentieth century. They
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ents around the world have had to take a strating our freedom and dignity. can do so in the future. And it begins
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more direct role in their children’s daily Freedom and dignity of the human being with us.” Pesach and the lessons of the
education, it is important to remember are supreme values in Judaism according Haggadah can be our inspiration to
that this is a defining characteristic of to Rabbi Sacks, and the values on which achieve this.
what it means to be a Jew. society must be built: “Of all the great
religions, Judaism has the strongest
I am sure many of us have had moments conception of the freedom and dignity 1 Radical Then, Radical Now, p. 32.
of frustration and despair this year as of the individual, beginning with the 2 History and Memory, The Jonathan Sacks Hag-
we have faced up to this monumental principle that the human person as such gada, p. 38.
task. But Rabbi Sacks shows us how is the one bearer of the image of G-d.” 4 3 The Omer and the Politics of Torah, The Jona-
the Haggadah can be a manual for best As we relive the experience of slavery than Sacks Haggada p. 91.
practice in Jewish education. Through and redemption on the night of Pesach, 4 Radical Then, Radical Now, p. 147.
engaging and experiential rituals, we these values are transmitted from gener- 5 Morality, p. 336.
turn ‘history’ into ‘memory’ by reen- ation to generation, and thereby become
acting and reliving the narrative of the absorbed into our national DNA.
Exodus. History, Rabbi Sacks writes in
his Haggadah, is “his story – an event Rabbi Sacks concludes by describing the
that happened sometime else to some- poignancy of this message in our society
one else.” Memory, however, is “my story today, one he argues is the “most indi- Dr. Daniel Rose is the educational consult-
– something that happened to me and is vidualistic society in history.” Freedom, ant and content developer for the Office of
part of who I am.” On the first night of he argues, is not the right to personal Rabbi Sacks.
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Pesach we create identity from history. choice and liberty, but rather a truly

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