Rabbi Peggy Berman de Prophetis, Congregation Beth Shalom of Dover
During the Passover seder we sing Dayeinu. We thank God for what He did for us at the time of the Exodus—brought us out from Egypt, punished the Egyptians, killed their first born, took us through the sea, drowned our oppressors, sustained us for 40 years in the wilderness, gave us the Torah, and brought us to the Promised Land. We say that any one of these interventions would have been enough for us—dayeinu. The message is that we should be grateful to God, however understood, for what He did for us.
This year Passover begins the evening of April 1st, which, on the secular calendar, is April Fool’s Day. This coincidence led me to ponder whether the Exodus, which resulted in our freedom from slavery, was in the end a joke played on us. Were we released from the frying pan only to go into the fire?
In the Torah’s account, it says when God freed us from slavery, He did not release us directly into the Promised Land. Instead, we faced a wilderness which was not welcoming. There were enemies. Food was available, but it was a steady diet of manna. Water was scarce and at times unavailable. Nevertheless, as our history moves forward, there are times when we do find places where we can live in quiet and peace, places where we do flourish. To this day, we continue to find enemies around us, people who contest our right to our land, people who hate us just because we are Jews. By freeing us from the hard but predictable slavery in Egypt, did God play a practical joke on us? Not at all.
God did more for us than His interventions in our history. He gave us the ability to cope with this world. He created us with possibilities. He gave us free will, recognizing that we all have within us the yeitzer ha-ra (the urge to do evil) and the yeitzer ha-tov (the urge to do good). He gave us personal responsibility and guidance to manage them. He gave us the Law to help us live as good human beings in any society, even an imperfect one. And He made us His partners in the ongoing work of creation. All this enables us to live productively as Jews even in difficult times. For all of this, God deserves our gratitude. And this is what Dayeinu means to me.
Rabbi Peter H. Grumbacher, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Beth Emeth
For us, receiving the Torah, Shabbat, splitting the Sea of Reeds, was “enough.” And of course, there are other Dayenu’s in the upbeat tune we sing at our Seder. But that was then, and this is now, and perhaps it is a good idea to think about the Dayenu’s for our day. And since Pesach begins the night of April Fool’s Day, April 1st, let’s add a touch of levity where applicable (and also, don’t expect this to be in any particular order other than what my brain came up with at the moment I composed this).
Had Columbus discovered whatever it was he discovered, and not brought along Louis de Torres, a Jew from the hood who knew Hebrew . . . Dayenu!
Had we Jews not followed de Torres to this country (ok, later, but not by much), we would never have realized you could make blueberry bagels . . . Dayenu!
Had we left blueberry bagels for “them” to eat and not opened the eyes of other citizens to real Jewish food . . . Dayenu!
Had we opened New York’s Carnegie and Stage Delis (both z”l, of blessed memory), Katz’s Deli in New York, the Famous 4th Street Deli in Philly, Pumpernick’s in North Wales, PA, and not substituted Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda for whatever sassafras happens to be . . . Dayenu!
Had we imbibed in Dr. Brown’s many choices of tantalizing soft drinks and not brought Yiddish theater to this country . . . Dayenu!
Had we brought Yiddish theater to America and not encouraged Mandy Patinkin, Barbra Streisand, Tovah Feldshuh, Peter Sellers (ok, so he’s British), and many others to rise to fame . . . Dayenu!
Had we not have had so many wonderful actors who were members of the tribe, and not recognized the athletic ability of Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, Julian Edelman (no, not the brother-in-law of your butcher), a football player who holds the Super Bowl records for punt returns and first-half receptions in a single game (in the second half he stuck with an Oneg instead of a general reception)—and you think I knew this without Googling it? . . . Dayenu!
Now, I ask, how many of you aren’t screaming out to me DAYENU ALREADY! Ok, so you don’t want to learn . . . see what I care!
