As I am about to sit at
our Seder table here in Cleveland, I cannot avoid but reflecting of all
the Seders I experienced as a young boy growing up in Israel. I recall my
grandfather, Mattatyeho Kalir, sitting at the head of the table, assigning
portions of the Hagadah to every member of the family to read. We, the young
children, fiercely competed to impress the grownups with our ability to read
the text properly. Though not aware of it at the time, we actually played a part
in a modern miracle: We were one of the first generations to read the Hagadah
in Hebrew as a first language after more than 2,000 years.
Israel has
changed a lot since then. Yet eating dozens of Matzot with chocolate spread (or
any spread, for that matter), acting the ten plagues and the Exodus as part of
a school play, and a prolonged spring break, are still all hallmarks of
Passover in Israel today.
Yet more than anything else, the
holiday of Passover signifies today, as it always has, the transition from a
state of slavery to that of personal freedom.
That transition, both at the personal and national level, is complex.
And yet we are told to reflect on it every year anew; we are to imagine that
each of us was personally salvaged from the house of bondage and led freedom.
This is especially true here, in the Land of the Free, where freedom is valued
over almost all else.
Yet freedom, like other things of
value, does not come freely. Freedom comes at a cost. For the people of Israel,
part of the cost was the nearly 400 years of oppression and slavery. But anther
part, much less discussed, is the price paid by the then-Egyptian people to
enable that freedom. In particular, the Egyptians had to endure the Tenth
Plague: “And in the middle of the night the Lord has struck down every
first-born in the land of Egypt, from Pharaoh’s first-born sitting on the
throne to the prisoner’s first-born who is in jail, and every first born of the
cattle… There was not a house with no death.” (Ex. 12:29-30)
Was the killing of every first-born
an appropriate price to pay for freedom?
A tough question, no doubt. On its own, probably not. But there is a
reason why the Tenth Plague was preceded by nine others, all lighter in terms
of force and effect. And there is a reason why the Tenth Plague was proceeded
by no other, as Pharaoh finally agreed to “let my people go.” Indeed, the
principle of proportionality – a measured response in relation to the harm
expected – served Moshe well then, as it still serves us today in all matters
of foreign relations.
Happy Passover,
Doron
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