Passover 2017

The Inner Circle

This year, we were invited to a Passover Seder at the home of our good friend Jay Nathanson. Jay invited everyone in his inner circle, a circle conveniently sized at 15 since his dining room capacity maxes out at 16. Had his dining room been smaller, this blog entry might not exist.

Joining Jay for the Seder were:

• ​His sister Judy, recently transplanted from Israel
• His brother Jim and Jim's family
• His very special friend Nancy and her son
• His step-daughter Meadow and her son
• His close friends

The Haggadah

The Haggadah is the program that guides the Seder celebration. Although all Haggadot follow the same basic structure, each is fleshed out  differently depending on which Judaic movement authored it. They run the gamut from the far right (Ultra-Orthodox) to the far left (Reconstructionist). For this Seder, Jay chose a Reconstructionist Haggadah that he found online.

After the traditional recounting of the Plagues of Egypt, this Haggadah went on to recount the Ten Modern Plagues: inequity, greed, discrimination and such.

Although I didn't bring up the topic at the Seder because the dinner conversation was decidedly upbeat, I found the analogy imperfect. The biblical plagues were a solution whereas the modern plagues are a problem. The biblical plagues were unleashed by a vengeful god upon the Egyptians (bad) because of their enslavement of the Jews (good). It's all very black and white.

The modern plagues, on the other hand, are of our own making. We are inflicting these plagues upon each other. There is no clear delineation along religious lines. We can no longer simply say "Jews good; non-Jews bad." There are many gray areas.

What conclusion can we draw from this analogy, imperfect as it is? Well, I did some online research and did not find anything substantial. All references were along the lines of "Sure, we're out of Egypt, but don't forget about these other problems. Now, let's eat!"

​After mulling this over for the week, I've decided that the most important aspect of this analogy is precisely that it is imperfect. In my mind, the Reconstructionist would say that there isn't anything to learn from the story of the biblical plagues. We can't mark our doorposts with lamb's blood, go to sleep and hope for the best. Rather, we must acknowledge that the modern plagues are clearly of our own making and any attempts to solve them must also be forged from our own hand.

Of course, you might read all of this and say "Well, duh!" If so, I'm glad. It took me a while to think through it all. As I've said before, my brain isn't as nimble as it once was.

The Dinner Photo