Give your Seder Contemporary ImportanceShalom and welcome to Tikkun Tips, a monthly nugget of eco-Jewish thought from your friends at the Teva Learning Center. This Wednesday night most of us will have the privilege of joining friends and family to celebrate Pesach through the age-old ritual of the Seder, a feast during which we retell the story of our time as slaves and our liberation from the ancient Egyptians. Another name for Pesach is Z’man Cheruteinu, the time of our liberation. Throughout the year, multiple times a day we recall our exodus from Egypt and the resulting freedom. We do this because we recognize that with freedom comes great responsibility. In fact, the Torah makes this abundantly clear, “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Shemot/Exodus 23:9). This encourages us to maintain the consciousness that we were once not free so that we may never take our freedom for granted.
Imagine if, on Wednesday when we gather to retell the story of our deliverance from captivity, we gave some thought to those who are not free today, and took it upon ourselves to act.
Tikkun Tip #38: Dedicate a portion of your Seder to discuss the situation in Darfur.
I want to use the space below to detail what some describe as the most pressing humanitarian situation today, the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan.
Yesterday, roughly 700 people died in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Today roughly 700 more will die. Tomorrow, yet another 700 will die. Some will be shot by attackers on horse back; others will die due to lack of food or water as they flee their destroyed homes in search of refuge. Women and young girls are being raped and young men are being targeted in order to prevent reproduction of the oppressed. While the conflict in Darfur meets every criteria of genocide, the U.N. has refused to label it such because that will trigger a series of mandatory responses that, for some ungodly reason, that body wishes to avoid. For every day that nothing is done, another 700 human beings will die.
According to reports by the World Food Program, the
United Nations and the Coalition for International Justice,, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence, and 400,000 people have died in Darfur thus far. John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group calls it “Rwanda in slow motion.”
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes on the dignity and value of all humans. “And yet there is something in the world that the Bible does regard as a symbol of God. It is not a temple nor a tree, it is not a statue nor a star. The symbol of God is man, every man. God created man in His image (Tselem), in His likeness…Human life is holy, holier even than the Scrolls of the Torah. Its holiness is not man’s achievement; it is a gift of God rather than attained through merit. Man must, therefore, be treated with the honor due to a likeness representing the King of kings…Reverence for God is shown in our reverence for man. The fear you must feel of offending or hurting a human being must be as ultimate as your fear of God. An act of violence is an act of desecration. To be arrogant toward man is to be blasphemous toward God.” -Man’s Quest for God
An act of violence is an act of desecration. The longer we allow this horror to continue, the more we allow the desecration of God.
I know that these images are unpleasant as we stress over getting our homes clean and kosher for Passover, but I believe that it is our spiritual and moral imperative to act. The Rabbis have asked why it was necessary for the Israelites to see the ten plagues first hand. Why couldn’t God have just made everything quick and easy, without requiring the Israelites to observe the damage done to the Egyptians? Rabbi Will Berkovitz teaches that the value in witnessing the destruction is that we understood the cost of our freedom. As we celebrate Pesach this year, we must understand that our contemporary freedom comes at a cost as well.
So what can be done? In September 2004, President Bush labeled the crisis in Darfur genocide, but activists say the administration has not done enough to stop it. In response to increased public pressure from thousands of Americans, the U.S. recently negotiated a statement in the UN Security Council authorizing the possible deployment of an international peacekeeping force in Darfur.
But the statement does not formally commit troops to a UN mission in Darfur. For now, there is no timetable, no mandate for civilian protection, and no assurance that the violence in Darfur will end. But there is mounting pressure from the public to do more. The growing awareness of the situation is a direct result of a grassroots campaign of letters and education. Much of this organizing is centered on a rally in Washington D.C. on April 30th.
The Seder presents us all with numerous options. We can choose to read the script that has been read for so many years, we can eat the saltwater as a reminder of the bitterness of our time as slaves; we can spill wine to remember that the Egyptians suffered as well. And then we can go on with our time, as though we have truly fulfilled the obligation of seeing ourselves as having been liberated from Egypt. Or we can decide that this year our Seder will be one that raises challenging questions. That forces us to examine what we are doing with our lives, and if we, as individuals and as a people, are willing to sit in ambivalence when we know that there are people who are not free right now.
Signing off from Philadelphia,
Nati Passow
Nati Passow is a carpenter, educator and writer living in Philadelphia, Pa. He is Co-Director of the Jewish Farm School .
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Additional Info
American Jewish World Service page dedicated to the crisis in Darfur, AJWS Sudan Fact Sheet , and Passover Seder Resources that focus on Darfur.
Additonal information for communities of faith .
June 5th-8th, 2006
at Surprise Lake Camp
Spend four days learning about the connection between Judaism and the Environment with Jews of all ages and denominations. Learn how to share this knowledge with your camp, synagogue, school, or youth group.
Programming tracks include:
* Jewish Ethics
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* Organic Agriculture and Educational Gardening
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