Passover's Us and Them

Judaism fights the impulse to say God favors us and only us. Sometimes, however, it yields to this impulse. Take for example the very name of this evening’s holiday: Passover.

God spares us and saves us while striking down the Egyptians and their first born. Then again as we recall these very same plagues, we lessen our joy by removing one drop of wine from our celebratory cups. Our joy is diminished because others suffered so that we might go free. In that moment of particularism, we acknowledge a universal spirit.

God rescues the Israelites. They walk through the sea on dry land. The Egyptian army is drowned in the sea. Our tradition adds: when the angels celebrate our enemies defeat, God admonishes them and says, “My children are drowning.”

The tension continues. The push and pull between universalism and particularism are played out in the Seder’s rituals. Chosenness is sometimes viewed as exclusive favor. “God took us out of Egypt, gave us the Shabbat and the Torah. Dayyenu!” More often it is seen as testimony to additional responsibility. “Ha lachma anya. Let all who are hungry, come and eat.”

Even hidden within the name for this evening’s dessert are hints of this tension. Afikomen is not a Hebrew word but instead Greek. It means dessert or even the after party. One of the central rituals of this festive meal, celebrating the Jewish people’s rescue from foreign rulers, is tied to the very customs from which we try to differentiate ourselves. Let the search for the afikomen begin. Let the after party start!

The seder concludes. “Next year in Jerusalem!” And yet we live in America.

There is no resolution to the tension. We are meant to affirm both.

We are free. Others are not yet free.