Across the years I’ve accumulated, or at least perused, a number of Haggadot from just about every Jewish movement. From HaShomer HaTzair, an anti-religious segment of Israel’s population to the ultra-Orthodox, there’s a similarity in one respect, but interestingly I don’t find it in the Reform Haggadot. All the others focus exclusively on “our” story, “our” being the Jews, “story” being the exodus. We, on the other hand, have an inclusive perspective, that while the “story” is uniquely Jewish in terms of the biblical narrative, the message is universal and is unabashedly highlighted. And this is reflected in more than our Haggadot.
As an example, here is a prayer from the Union Prayer Book, Sinai Edition:
…may we ever be mindful of those who still dwell in poverty and deprivation,
who still eat the bread of affliction? May the good tidings of redemption soon
be heard in every land. May those who hunger for freedom and justice be
satisfied, and may all people be blessed with the joys of harmony and peace.
I know Beth El is familiar with A Passover Haggadah and Open the Door, two of our latest Haggadot, and the newest is called Sharing the Journey. The foreword of the latter was written by Dr. Paula J. Brody, who states,
Alan S. Yoffie, the author, has emphasized the obligation for all of us “to strive to enhance
our vigilance against injustice” and to do our part in freeing ourselves and others from
oppression of any kind. Only when we recognize that which may shackle our own
hearts and minds can we truly leave Egypt (Mitzrayim in Hebrew, literally: narrow
places) and escape the “narrow places” that constrain our own humanity.
Be it the homeless, people of color, the LGBTQ community, or injustice in general, the theme of Passover, slavery vs. freedom, has come through loud and clear in the various iterations of the Haggadah of Reform Judaism.
Now let me say something that I’ve mentioned not in Harrisonburg but in Wilmington.
We have to be very careful that the emphasis remains on “OUR” “STORY” as defined above. All too often we bend over backwards to be inclusive. I believe that by doing so we can lose the heart of the narrative that has made Passover so very meaningful. We have to recapture all the implications of OUR sojourn to Egypt, OUR relationship with Joseph’s pharaoh, OUR relationship with the “new” pharaoh “who knew not Joseph,” OUR subsequent slavery, OUR journey across the Red Sea to freedom, and OUR ultimate 40-year trek in the wilderness to the Promised Land. We cannot lose sight of how our story has informed us and, in many respects, fashioned among our most important values, the value that is the very basis for inclusivity, namely, justice and compassion for all those who suffer. Why? As the Torah states, “for YOU were STRANGERS in the land of Egypt.” It is a refrain appearing no less than 36 times in the Torah; no other phrase appears more often.
As Yul Brynner was the day said in The King and I…”Is a puzzlement”: We have to remember that we were strangers for the sake of others, yet we cannot go overboard in stressing current “strangers” if by doing so we forget our own uniquely Jewish narrative.
(The time is at hand when the wearing of a prayer shawl and skullcap will not bar a man from the White House – unless, of course, the man is Jewish. Attributed to Jules Farber)