I am a New York City Jew. I have a great love and respect for my religious and cultural tradition but I don't feel mired in it or in anyway trapped by its mores or traditional worldview. I am not an observant Jew really - hebre school - check. bar mitzvah - check. jewish aspect to my interfaith marriage - check. temple on high holidays - not really. you get the drill.
If anything I have a pretty mystical take on Judaism.
So this weekend I was at my family seder. If you don't know the seder is a ritual story telling of the way the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt and delivered towards the Holy Land. And in listening to a story about freedom some new thoughts about modern Israel and the Palestinians came up. more in extended...
Here is my thumbnail take on what Passover is; an ritualized telling of an important allegorical story that tells of the power and importance of being delivered from our own personal Egypts that enslave us and towards our own Jerusalems.
This is an epic theme in the history of humanity - the quest for true freedom. The experience of freedom and the retelling of the story. This story is as relevant to Jews as it is to non-Jews. The story of the Exodus was deeply embraced by slaves escaping North during the Civil War period and many others as well.
One of the major themes in the Passover story is gratitude. This is embodied in the rearkable song that is sung during the seder "Dayenu". Dayenu is Hebrew for "It would have been enough"
Here is the text of the song
If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them, it would have been enough
If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols it, would have been enough
If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born it, would have been enough
If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth, it would have been enough
If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us, it would have been enough
If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough
If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it, it would have been enough
If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years it would have been enough
If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna, it would have been enough
If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat, it would have been enough
If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai, it would have been enough
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah, it would have been enough
If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel, it would have been enough
If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Temple, it would have been enough
Thus how much more so should we be grateful to the Omnipresent One for the doubled and redoubled goodness that He has bestowed upon us; for He has brought us out of Egypt, and carried out judgments against them, and against their idols, and smote their first-born, and gave us their wealth, and split the sea for us, and took us through it on dry land, and drowned our oppressors in it, and supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and fed us the manna, and gave us the Shabbat, and brought us before Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel and built for us the Temple to atone for all our sins.
This song is wonderful to hear and has a charming tune and an infectious refrain but the words are magnificent. They express the Jews' intense gratitude for any gift given by God. That gift is so remarkable that it -in and of itself- would have been enough for the Jews. According to this text, which is fully accepted by Jews of all stripes, Jews would have happily traded the destruction of Egyptian idols for the Torah, the most holy and revered of all Jewish texts, their scripture. This is incredible.
Embedded in Jewish lore is this incredible detachment from the gifts and blessings they have received because if the deep gratitude they have for all they have received.
And it is here that this new question arose.
Why doesn't the nation of Israel, as a Jewish nation practice Dayenu in regards to the "Disputed Territories", the West Bank etc.
Israel could say "We don't know what God's plan for us is but we are willing to accept his will now because what he has done for us so far has been more than enough."
Who knows what letting go of these territories may bring Jews and the nation of Israel, but Jews have much to grateful for going all the way back to the Exodus.
The word Jew itself comes from the name Judah/Yehuda, the name of a child who was born to an old an barren mother. Upon his birth she decided to name him Yehuda which means gratitude.
So the essence of being a Jew is bound to gratitude. Jews have received so much as the Passover story shows. It seems to me that now they are cutting themselves off from their spiritual heritage by doggedly holding onto a gift that God has given them and not saying as a nation "Dayenu".
thoughts?