Dayenu

Dayenu!

This year Passover is celebrated with Shabbat. Instead of a d’var about the Torah reading (which tells us how to observe the festival), I thought I would make a comment about one of our favorite parts of the Haggadah: Dayenu.

            If we look closely at the poem, we can see that it is divided into three parts:

            (1) There are 5 stanzas about leaving slavery.

            (2) There are 5 stanzas about miracles.

            (3) There are 5 stanzas about our relationship to God.

            This, then, is the core of our Passover celebration: leaving slavery, miracles, and our our worship of God.

             Dayenu is illuminated further by the sage Ben Zoma, who says in Pirke Avot, “Who is happy? One who is satisfied with his lot.” The Seder’s emphasis on freedom, miracles, and our relationship with God helps us understand Ben Zoma’s teaching: be grateful for what we have, and express our gratitude to the One who has provided us with freedom and blessings. This makes Passover a celebration of thanksgiving as well.  May you have a Chag Sameach. 

It's Not Impurity

 Metzorah

Lev. 14:1-15:33

 

Précis: The parasha discusses laws for the purification of “lepers” with sacrifice and water. It also discusses growths on walls of a house which cause ritual impurity. The parasha concludes with a discussion of bodily secretions which are another source of ritual impurity

 

Lev.15:31: “You shall put the Israelites on guard against their impurity, lest they die through their impurity by defiling My Tabernacle which is among them.”

            As we reviewed last week, “impurity” should be understood to be “ritual impurity,” meaning something which prevents the individual from participating in communal ritual.  What we see here is that the punishment imposed by God comes not from impurity itself, but rather by failing to avoid ritual impurity, or failing to restore oneself to ritual purity through prescribed rituals.

            Only the most observant Jews still try to obey some of these laws, through the mikveh (or immersion in water). But I have another take on this which applies more broadly.

            We are coming out of (please God soon) a time of “physical impurity” which prevented many of us from participating in Jewish communal ritual life. How we go about “purifying” ourselves is a complex matter, and we need to be mindful of both the need to return to physical communal worship while still seeking ways and means to be inclusive to those who are not yet ready to share space with others. Remember: those who hesitate to rejoin communal rituals in person are not “impure.” We need to find appropriate means to restore them to the fullness of congregational life.