pesach: dayenu and A15
sholem aleichem,
today is april 15th, tax day in the united states, and the day of the A15 Economic Blockades for Palestine
i thought i would take this opportunity to share some non-parasha words of torah as we prepare for pesach.
if you haven't ever paid close attention to the traditional words of the pesach song dayenu, i think this might be the year to do so. here's one verse:
אִלּוּ נַתַן לָנוּ אֶת־הַתּוֹרָה וְלֹא הִכְנִיסָנוּ לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל, דַּיֵּנוּ
if hashem had given us the torah, but not brought us to eretz yisrael, it would have been enough for us
in the modern context, we might ask:
is it enough for us to have the infinite light of torah?
is it enough for us to be jews?
is it enough for us to have survived everything we've survived as a people?
is it enough for to be able to return and live in eretz yisrael, even without sovereignty?
zionism is singing the opposite song: none of this is enough. it is not enough to have the infinite light of torah. it is not enough to be jewish. it is not enough to have survived (as a people) the pogroms and expulsions and holocaust. it is not enough, even, to have a jewish presence in the land – if that presence is not a sovereign jewish state. it is not even enough, for many zionists, to have control over even part of the land.
as i’ve been thinking about this verse, i’ve been thinking about two different kinds of "enough": "enough hatov" and "enough hara".
"enough hatov" is the subjective enough. it is the ability to be grateful for what we have. to find the infinite within the finite. to radically accept that which we cannot control. to find abundance within limitation.
"enough hara" is the opposite. it is when we seek control, not acceptance. it is when we seek to find scarcity within abundance, to reduce the infinite to the finite, to decide "enough for them" instead of "enough for us".
for me, this is what pesach is about this year.
because i cannot look away from the enough hara that is overflowing from the jewish world. i cannot look away from what israel forced palestinians in gaza to eat for iftar. i cannot look away from israel calculating what they think is “enough” aid to enter gaza, “enough” calories for gazans to survive, “enough” land for palestinians to live on. i have even heard, may the all-compassionate have mercy on us, jews saying "enough palestinians, we must end this once and for all."
this "enough" is killing palestinians. it is destroying palestine, it is destroying israel, it is destroying our world.
may the all-merciful help us stop this destruction. may the one who desires teshuvah help us turn from enough hara and seek enough hatov.
next year, in shared abundance. next year, in liberation. next year, in gratitude for torah, yiddishkeit, life.
this year, in solidarity,
ada
p.s. please take today to, as is possible,
withold your labor
donate to palestinian aid
participate in protests and support protestors