|
Empty Places at Our Pesach Table
Rabbi Andy Koren
Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, NC
Friday night, April 11, 2008
They are among the first Hebrew words that Jewish children learn:
Mah Nishtanah HaLailah HaZeh MiKol HaLeilot
Why is this night different than all other nights?
They are the introduction to a part of the Passover seder known as the four questions. Passover begins a week from tomorrow night. It is customary for the youngest person at the seder – often a child – to ask the four questions, or at least to begin asking these questions. Questioning is hard-wired into who we are as Jews; it is demanded by our tradition. Jews of all stripes – from the most Liberal among us to the most Orthodox – understand that we are supposed to question. One of the signs of oppression is that you are not permitted to question. Moreover, teachers can tell students’ interest in a subject by the questions that they ask.
The Jewish tradition encourages us to question. About 15 years ago, Elie Wiesel was invited to speak at the University of North Carolina. He spoke there during UNC’s Bicentennial celebration. Instead of giving a speech that evening, Wiesel, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, took four questions from the audience. I was there that night as he fielded the four questions posed to him by inquisitive members of the audience – some students, some faculty. He listened intently to the difficult questions that were asked. One was whether he could forgive the Nazis for what they and others had done to our people during the Holocaust. He took his time, considering his words carefully, and then he began to speak:
AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM
WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT
He said that when Jews gather for Passover each year, we ask Four Questions. The answer to the questions that we pose are four Hebrew words:
AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM
WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT
He then said something that has stayed with me ever since then:
In reality, the answer to every Jewish question is:
AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM
WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT
You want to know why the Sabbath day is special, why we are commanded to rest… because we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. We once had to work every day of the week, were required to be on call at all times. Following the Exodus, we are commanded to take a day off – and to give time off to anyone in our household and anyone who works for us.
You want to know why the Torah reminds us 39 times to care for the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the downtrodden, the poor, and the weak? Why did Abraham Joshua Heschel march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and why did so many Jews become champions of Civil Rights? AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM…WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT. We do our part because we’ve been there. We know better.
Why do we care so much about Israel? You want to know? You want to know why we care about our brothers and sisters wherever they are in the world? AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM…WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT.
When I was a college student, it was customary for there to be an empty chair at each seder table. This chair was left open to remind us that in some parts of the world, namely in the areas ruled by Soviet Russia, Jews were still being oppressed. For nearly 20 years, Soviet Jews have lived in freedom. Many have chosen to leave their former homes for brighter futures in Israel and in North America. But, back then, we left an empty chair for them. Not doing so would have been like not having matzah or like not putting the bitter herbs (the maror) on the seder plate.
It used to be that during Passover we would say AVADIM HAYINU L’FARO B’MITZRAYIM…WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT and then we would point to an empty chair and say – this is the chair of our brothers and sisters waiting to be redeemed, waiting to taste freedom. They are still slaves. We might be free but as long as they aren’t, well neither are we.
Yet, an incredible thing happened when Jews in what is now the former Soviet Union gained their freedom. Jews around the world once again set out only as many chairs as the number of guests we were having over for seder. We did so because we could now invite our families from Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, and so many other places to actually spend Passover with us in freedom. And if they weren’t guests in our homes and congregations and Hillels, then at least we knew that they were free to celebrate as Jews wherever they were. We did not set an empty chair as a sign of triumph.
It may be high time that we return to this practice of leaving an empty chair at our seder tables. Doing so reminds us that since we were once slaves in Egypt, we cannot forget that there are still major problems that demand our attention. We need to remind ourselves and the world that as long as some aren’t free, then none of us is truly free.
We should leave an open chair – an empty place – for those who are suffering in Darfur. Just because this issue has left the front pages doesn’t mean that we cannot and should not do something. As long as they aren’t free, neither are we.
That same open chair should remind us of the Tibetans exiled by the Chinese. This issue is back on the front pages, especially because of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. Protestors have helped draw attention to this issue as the Olympic torch makes its way around the world. Our empty chair will remind us of them, too.
Our open chair should remind us of those impoverished around the world and in our own communities. Can we truly be free while others struggle to make ends meet, loose their homes, or starve? It should also remind us of our world – scorched, heated, and depleted – whose environment needs of our attention, protection, and care.
Our open chair should also remind us of our Israeli brothers and sisters, especially those in the town of Sderot, who have been subject to constant bombardment by missiles fired from the Gaza Strip. They live in a free and democratic state, the only Jewish state in the world. Yet, often, walking freely about their own neighborhoods means putting their lives at risk. We need to remember them and to remember Israeli soldiers held captive by hostile forces – among them: Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser who will not be with their families for Passover for the second straight year. As long as they aren’t free, neither are we.
So, a week from tomorrow night, as we gather with family and friends, as we sing and eat and tell our ancient story, tracing the path from slavery to freedom, let’s also leave an empty seat. WE WERE SLAVES TO PHARAOH IN EGYPT – AVADIM HAYINU L”FARO B’MITZRAYIM – let that seat open space in our hearts and guide our actions to work on behalf of changing and repairing the world. And let’s pray that this will be the year that we will see an end to oppression, and end to injustice and suffering. May this Passover bring redemption to all who are captive, relief to all who live in fear. May it bring understanding, cooperation, and peace.
AMEN
|
