Embracing Dichotomy: Pesach Reflections on Joy, Pain, and Action
By: Rabbi Jordan Silvestri, Head of School
As I began to sit down to write this week’s dvar torah, I felt handcuffed, almost lost. My original intention was to mold themes for Parshat Metzora with that of preparing for Seder night. However, a question was posed to me the other week which sparked deeper reflection. How can we celebrate a holiday of redemption, exodus and renewal when our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael remain broken and not whole? When I was first asked the question, I had an answer that I felt adequately addressed the question’s premise.
The parshiot of Tazria and Metzora, often read on the same Shabbat, identify that the state of impurity and purity exist in liminal time as a constant. What determines the status of our consciousness are the choices we make in how we engage with our social and religious worlds. How we interact with a peer, how we utilize our speech toward or about another and in what fashion we engage the tools that are bestowed upon us, are the determining factors of a life in pursuit of purity or impurity. The Torah outlines the significance that we must give to these areas. They are not a fait accompli, a sentence from upon high. Solutions exist as we look to turn the corner from impurity to purity.
In turn, the answer I suggested to our original question reminds us that a life of beauty, gifts and wonders exists within the same reality as a life full of question, pain and anguish. As we are required to recognize both of these multiversal existences, we are called upon to celebrate the good with the bad as we remind ourselves that each construct occupies its own space.
Grappling with the dichotomy of life has fascinated me. Whether it be halacha, Tanach or Gemara, I have found archetypes of this theme embedded in each of these pivotal Jewish studies. This past week we were introduced to new levels of concern for our Israeli brethren. We find ourselves asking how much pain and sorrow can we endure? How much darkness can exist where we are still able to find the light that remains? As we sit down on Monday evening for the first night of the seder, what should our mindset be in light of all this pain?
Erica Brown, in her haggadah entitled Seder Talk: The Conversational Haggada, highlights the passage of Shfokh Hamatkha, the section highlighted by pouring Eliyahu’s cup of wine and opening the door for his arrival, which speaks of the wrath Hashem expresses to the enemies of the Jewish people. These verses did not appear in earlier versions of the haggadah in the time of Rav Saadia Gaon or the Rambam and can even be as long as 15 verses in some customs. Why?
Brown explains that in every generation the Jewish people will encounter enemies. As such, we are compelled to repeat the story of the exodus, re-lived through the narrative of the Haggadah, recognizing that the true source of our salvation stems from Hashem's imprint on our world. Through the night of the seder, we beseech Hashem to show His sense of justice to all of humanity as we work to realize His redefinition of a just humanity where human suffering is not a given.
In the past months, many of us have found ourselves thinking that nothing we do will make a difference. That our tefillot, our learning or acts of kindness will not be enough to turn the table. Where good people will continue to suffer as evil is rewarded. The parshiot of Tazria and Metzora reminds us that even in darkness, the light that exists within can be the turning point of our shared experience. The night of seder reminds us that as Jews our unique task is to not simply reimagine and speak of a world built in Hashem’s image. The seder night is meant to inspire us to take action and be the difference we need to move the world that is now to the world that ought to be.