Passover, Politics and the Jewish Obsession with History

I want to speak this morning about the value of history. 

Starting with very recent history.  Last week, the Rabbinical Assembly hosted a call with Dennis Ross about the agreement with Iran. 

He identified 4 areas that need to be emphasized in order for an agreement to be sufficiently satisfying to him:

1.    There needs to be one year minimum breakout period, defined as the time it would take Iran to finalize a nuclear weapon

2.    The international  need to be able to verify; all sites need to be accessible at all times

3.    There need to be severe consequences, that include the use of force, for lack of compliance.

4.    and it needs to be understood that severe consequences, which may include force, can be applied even after 15 years.

He pointed out that there has been mistrust between the US and various nations seeking nuclear power for as long as there’s been nuclear power, that this dynamic is hardly new.

During the Q and A, he was asked about the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu.  He said, it’s not ideal.  But let’s face it – there have been rough spots in relations between US and Israeli leaders throughout Israel’s existence.

He reflected, for example, on the relationship between Ronald Reagan and Menachem Begin which was hardly ideal.  Reagan thought that Begin was a bull in a china closet.  And Begin had reservations regarding Reagan’s mastery of the subtleties of international affairs. 

I’ve referred before to Yehuda Avner’s book, The Prime Ministers, which chronicles Yehuda Avner’s perspective from working in several Israeli administrations from Levi Eshkol to Menachem Begin.

Passover is the holiday which grounds us in historical perspective.  In ways that I will make explicit, and with implications that are political and personal, the Passover story takes us beyond the OMG of the moment and allows us to look at our lives against the backdrop of history and even eternity.

The present can be a very lonely and frightening place and the perspective that this holiday brings can give us insight and hope in multiple realms.

So here we go...

Passover tells the story of our emergence as a nation, starting with slavery, divine intervention, and the first Passover celebration which was actually an act of defiance that took place in Egypt as the Israelites prepared lambs for each household and waited to see what would happen.

The celebration of Passover traces an arc from that first ritual in Egypt, which was a family affair, to the centrality and grandeur of the celebration in the ancient Temple, and back to the family in the form of the seder.

“Leaving Egypt” whether celebrated on the large-scale or the small-scale, became an organizing principle for Israel’s physical and spiritual identity.

Not just at the seder, but every time we pray, every time we lift up the cup of wine to say Kiddush, we invoke y’tziat mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt. 

Two main implications of our leaving Egypt as they’ve been understood, are:

a.    that there have always been threats to us which we somehow have overcome and

b.    that our experience as slaves requires us to be sensitive to those who are persecuted in our own day

In those two implications, you find an extended framework, steeped in history, which urges us to protect ourselves and also to look out for others.  This is the essential dynamic that underscores the approach of the Jew to his or her surroundings – protect yourself, but also protect others. 

In political language, it speaks to the absolute requirement to protect yourself as well as to protect others. 

I find that the disagreements, over the years, between Israeli and American leadership have been around the parameters of how to protect the interests of both countries.  Regarding the recent discussion about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it’s interesting that even the left-leaning Ha’aretz printed an opinion piece criticizing President Obama’s proposed plan, arguing that it allows for the use of force only AFTER Iran crosses the nuclear threshold.  That same newspaper, by the way, called upon the Israeli government to collaborate with PA leader Abbas to respond to the humanitarian crisis of tens of thousands of Palestinians trapped in refugee camps in Syria. 

There you have a contemporary take on two issues that has deep roots in our history – preserve our safety, preserve everyone’s safety – those are the lessons of the Exodus that go back very far.

The crisis of the moment requires a cogent response.  Fortunately, we as a people have a deep reservoir of history to guide us in the current moment, with its challenges and conflicts, if we are thoughtful about how to apply the essential elements of our history to the present.  Judaism provides somewhat of a countercultural proposition that it’s important to transcend the angst of the moment, to look back at larger trends, to see today in the context of yesterdays that go way back.  Even if there are variations in today’s situation, as there always are, history provides a framework that we shouldn’t ignore.

Now I want to say a word about how history works in a more personal way, in our own families. 

No sermon on history and family is complete without a reference to Downton Abbey, the highbrow British soap opera which next year will enter its 6^th and final season.

And no reference to Downton Abbey can have the full impact without mention of the lynchpin role of the Dowager Countess, the wise old mother of the Earl of Grantham played masterfully by Maggie Smith. 

She is in some ways the bearer of the family’s history.  She is the survivor from the time that the family’s wealth was at its peak and she, together with her children and grandchildren, witness major changes that have implications for the family.

Though she often chafes at some of the changes, which she perceives as threatening the glory of the past, she actually responds with great insight to many different challenges which upset the old order.

In fact, the more you get to “know” her, the more you see the she has a past of her own, that she too has faced personal challenges.  Slowly, the family starts to understand that her “historical” perspective brings a realistic and genuinely classy wisdom to the table.

There are many examples of this, but I’ll just give one.  At a certain point, one of her granddaughters demonstrates a real heartless indifference to the plight of her sister. 

And the countess says to her granddaughter:  a lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears.

In terms of encapsulating the family vision at its best, this is perfect. 

Ladies and gentlemen, as time goes on, we provide the history more and more for our own families.

During these emotional moments before yizkor, we are likely to be thinking about our own loved ones, about the influence that they exerted in our lives and in the lives of our families.

There are moments when we realize that it’s our turn, in our own ways, given our own unique personalities, somehow to reflect the history, the essence, the vision of our family to subsequent generations. 

At our second Passover seder, Deanna and I decided to put the kids (now teens and young adults) at the head table and us at the adjacent table.  Thankfully Deanna’s parents are alive and well and were at the table with us; my parents are no longer with us.  But we are feeling, more and more, that in our words and our deeds we need to reflect the transcendent values of our families because the “kids at the head table” are striking out into the world and part of what they bring, will be whatever we gave them and continue to give them.

And I want to encourage each of us to think about that.  To think about what we are saying and doing at high points, low points and in-between points, that helps to ground the next generation in some historical perspective.

In one powerful passage in the Torah, the Israelites are told “hayom atem yotz’im” you are leaving Egypt today!

We often face the moment of now – the urgency, the exhilaration and the challenge of “right now.”

But as the children of Israel, we face “right now” with a rich history behind us, a history that gives a contour and a framework for how to confront right now.

We consider national and international policy with this historical framework in mind and we determine how to exert influence on our leaders in ways we feel are most beneficial.

We also leave the family, nest, make professional and personal decisions and conduct our lives day to day with the historical framework given to us by our own families.

To face now with the support and inspiration of then.  That’s the benefit of history.  That’s the major thrust of Passover.  That’s our proud legacy as the children of Israel. 

Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck on the 8th day of Passover, 5775