Slaves is what we were — slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. And wrested free, were we, by the Lord God-of-Us, lifted out of that place in the mighty hand of an outstretched arm. And if the Holy One, blessed is He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then what of us? We, and our children, and our children’s children, would be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. Were it that we were all learned and well versed in the Torah, still the obligation to tell of the Exodus from Egypt would rest upon us. All who are expansive in their telling of the Exodus from Egypt are worthy of praise.
— New American Haggadah, edited by Jonathan Safran Foer, translated by Nathan Englander
Soon we will sit down, with our families and friends, for Passover seders. In the American Jewish Diaspora there will be all kinds of seders.
Orthodox Jews will commence at sundown, near to 8 p.m. on Monday, April 14, eat shmura matzo and drink four cups of wine. (According to Chabad’s Web site, each cup should be 3.5 fluid ounces: “It is preferable to drink the entire cup each time. However, it is sufficient to drink only the majority of each cup.”)
In families that observe the mitzvot somewhat less rigorously, there will be variations on the traditional seder. You can bet that some seders will feature a pared-down Maggid, the big story part of the haggada. In fact, this issue of the Jewish World includes a notice about two new haggadot: 60minute-Seder and, for those in more of a rush, 30minute-Seder. The latter booklet is billed as “The Haggadah that Blends Brevity with Tradition.”
However you do it, it’s still really remarkable that, 3,000 years on, we’re still telling the story of the Exodus — our escape from cruel bondage in Egypt and the birth of the Jewish people.
As I’ve written in the past, the Exodus story has inspired people facing repression in different eras in all corners of the world.
For example, African-American slaves in the South employed the Exodus story as a code for their eventual freedom. The old spiritual, “Go Down Moses,” was reinterpreted so that “Israel” represented the African-American slaves, and “Pharaoh” was the slavemaster. “[T]he Lord spoke unto Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord: Let My people go that they may worship Me” (Exodus 7:26).
In addition to the literal story of escape from slavery, there is the metaphorical view of “Egypt,” Mitzrayim, in Hebrew, as a psychological state of narrowed opportunities. In our chaotic world today, we are often forced to close ourselves off from the wider possibilities of life, as we engage in our various mundane pursuits. The rat race, so to speak. Where the rats often seem to be winning.
I recently watched the film Inequality for All, Jacob Kornbluth’s documentary about Robert Reich, who was Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor and now teaches at the University of California at Berkeley. Reich, for several decades now, has been trying to improve the lot of working people in the U.S. We like to think of this country as the land of opportunity; but Reich makes a convincing case that America has become nearly the most wealth-unequal country in the world.
Production has risen sharply over the past 30 years, but wages have stagnated. We have a situation now where 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million people in this country. The poorest 47 percent of Americans have no wealth at all.
Reich, an immensely sympathetic figure (he has a great sense of humor regarding his short stature — four-foot, 11-inches tall), travels around the country and speaks to workers trying to unionize and better their living conditions. He talks with a woman who has $25 in her checking account, and the CEO of a manufacturing company who takes in between $10 million to $30 million dollars per year. The CEO realizes that he makes a “ridiculous” amount of money, and that such concentrations of wealth harm the economy, because he can only drive one (luxury) car and just needs a few pairs of jeans and shoes. His immense wealth is invested in capital markets around the world; he has no idea where the money goes.
“People are stressed,” says Reich. “They’re angry and frustrated, and the tide is only rising on that front. Their debt obligations are staggering, yet (if lucky enough to have a job), they’re working harder and longer than ever before. People need to understand what’s happening to them — because from their perspective, the picture looks pretty bleak.”
Reich continues: “Until we can take a step back and understand the big picture, we can’t do anything to get ourselves out of this mess. Our democracy as we know it depends on it. I’m an educator. I love the classroom. But I also write books, appear on television and on the radio, and do everything else I can do to help people understand the economic truth. It’s my life’s work and it’s more important than ever. One of the best ways to help people understand the challenges we face, is with a movie that can grab an audience and move them to action.”
After the Passover seders, I encourage you to watch Inequality for All. In Israel and in the Diaspora, we are mired in a new form of economic bondage. In a sense, we have to leave Egypt again.
The editors and staff wish all of our readers Pesach Sameach, Happy Passover!
— Mordecai Specktor / editor [at] ajwnews [dot] come
(American Jewish World, 4.11.14)
