History is the story of humankind told and retold through epochs of pain and liberation. This is how we were taught to read and understand history. We learned to memorize the dates when people slaughtered one another over imagined slights, petty disagreements, unchecked hunger for riches, self-aggrandizement and a thirst to demean and then destroy those who are different. We also were taught when people rose above their basest instincts and courageously acted for the betterment of humanity. On the one hand we all know the stories of pogroms, the World Wars, Babi Yar, the Crusades, Vietnam, the Revolution…. On the other hand, we are also familiar with Maimonides, Martin Luther King, Moses and Gandhi.
Knowing the behavior of humanity we have the choice of taking the side of the victim or victimizer. There is no such thing as remaining neutral. As Rabbi Akiva framed it, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” Akiva reminds us that we have to make a conscious decision to care for ourselves while working to help the stranger. We know what happens when we make the wrong choice.
The story of the Exodus is recounted every year at this time. There is not a story more powerful told through the ages than this. It is the narrative of a supreme power that was totally concerned with the powerless. God showed us which side to take, the side of the victim. “In every generation….” the Haggada begins, reminding us that the date changes but the humanity proclivity to enslave and master has not.
The eve of Pesach is not about telling stories; it is about feeling them. We reach down into our souls to access the part of us that has known pain and understand the pain of others. At the same time we spiritually reach outward to the Holy One who has demonstrated what we must do to lift up those who suffer.
Liberation from the grip of Pharaoh did not happen 4,000 years ago….it is ongoing. The task remains before us and so we must tell the story again.
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