3 Responses to “Question of the Week”

1. DeLisa Says:
   April 2nd, 2007 at 10:47 am

   All righty – here’s MY answer for whatever it is or isn’t worth. Tonight is different from all other nights because one religion, Judaism (natch) takes 8 days (7 days in Israel) to deprive oneself, a little, in order to remind ourselves of the oppressed peoples – both historically and currently – who are deprived of alot. I will spend much of the next eight days thinking specifically about the Sudan. I’m proud to be a member of a religion that requires it’s members to personalize and empathize with the oppressed and remind ourselves, at minimum yearly, that such things continue. Two million people have been displaced as a result of the violence in the Sudan. 200,000 people have died. Telling the story in the Haggadah takes that statistic, and makes it more accessible, more relatable. Foregoing pizza, pasta, whiskey and beer? Nothing compared to the deprivation of being a refugee. Passover is eight days of a minor inconvenience to remind me to be mindful of the freedoms I’m fortunate to have and the ones denied others. I dig that.

   I also submit to you a quote from my current Hagaddah. Maybe it will be helpful to you, conversation wise, as you head the Seder for the second time. And I send my best wishes and thoughts to your and your family….

   “Passover is a Jewish holiday, but it isn’t just for Jews. We welcome our non-Jewish brothers and sisters to our celebration of liberation. Liberation from oppression is always a deep concern of Jews, because of our history. But Jews are not the only people who suffer under the yoke of oppression. We invite our friends and family to share this night with Jews all over the world, as we take this opportunity to celebrate our freedom and pray for the freedom of all those who suffer, wherever and whoever they may be.

   Tonight, rather than speak of Egypt during the course of this Seder, we’ll use the name Mitzrayim instead. The term Mitzrayim derives from the root tza-r, “narrow, “meaning literally “from the narrows.” The violent events of history have given Mitzrayim a sense of global consciousness so that we may refer to every place and any place in the world where people have been (or still are) persecuted.

   We invite our friends, family, and community to share this night with Jews all over the world, as we take this opportunity to deeply feel as if we had actually been enslaved in Mitzrayim and redeemed from Mitzrayim. In celebrating our freedom, we as Jews hold out to the world an historical event and model that captured the imagination and vigor of a people. It is by the power of our reenactment of this event and the power of our visualizations of freedom that we can pray for this exodus to occur for all of us, and for all those who suffer, wherever and whoever they may be.”

2. Bill Says:
   April 5th, 2007 at 5:33 am

   Also, we eat matzah.

3. DeLisa Says:
   April 5th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

   Thx – Snark Man. :-)

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