The Words in the Haggadah are NOT Just for Passover/Pesach
Jo Ann Howard, President
Pesach is a little over three weeks behind us…the holiday dishes have been stored away…the choroset bowl is finally empty…we still have unopened boxes of matzah if anyone wants any…and all but one Haggadah has been put away. Why is that, you might ask?
Under the section Makot Mitzrayim, the Plagues of Egypt, we are getting ready to pour ten drops of wine for the plagues upon Egypt. They are: Dam, Blood; Tzfardeyah, Frogs; Kinim, Lice; Arov, Wild Beasts; Dever, Blight; Sh’hin, Boils; Barad, Hail; Arbeh, Locusts; Hosheh, Darkness;
Maka B’horot, Slaying of the First-Born. Did you shutter when you read them at the Seder? Did you react when you just read them? Yes, I did, too. However, that isn’t why one Haggadah has not been put away.
A group reading preceding the ten plaques of Egypt screamed out to me and brought tears to my eyes. It was actually describing what is happening today in the world, including our own country. Read it and then decide what you can do to help change the course to destruction.
“Our rabbis taught: God is urgent about justice, for upon justice the world depends…Each drop of wine we pour is hope and prayer that people will cast out the plagues that threaten everyone everywhere they are found, beginning in our own hearts:
The making of war,
The teaching of hate and violence,
Despoliation of the earth,
Perversion of justice and of government,
Fomenting of vice and crime,
Neglect of human needs,
Oppression of nations and peoples,
Corruption of culture,
Subjugation of science, learning, and human discourse,
Erosion of freedoms.”
Now, what do you think? What can you do as an individual? What can we do as a community?