Partners in our own redemption

 

Is the lesson of the Exodus that God will do all the heavy lifting for us or that we must show initiative, courage and faith before God will act? 


Rabbi Yael Splansky
Holy Blossom Temple, toronto

Rabbi Mark Fishman
Congregation Beth Tikvah, Montreal


Rabbi Splansky: Our Sages teach that we should “wear out our lips by saying the word dayeinu,” which means “it would have been enough for us” (Leviticus Rabbah 35:12). The most famous example of that effort is the song written more than 1,100 years ago that we sing at the seder. No less than 15 stanzas drive home the point: “If God had brought the plagues upon the Egyptians, but had not given us their wealth, dayeinu!… If God had split the sea for us, but did not bring us through it onto dry land, dayeinu! 

Rabbi Fishman: Classically understood, Dayeinu is a chance to keep asking for more while saying thank you. But perhaps we could look at the song from a new perspective – maybe the words actually mean what they say. 

So underserved were the Hebrew slaves that had God done nothing more for them than take them out of Egypt, it would have sufficed. With each stanza, then, we are left feeling overwhelmed by gratitude to a greater power that keeps going above and beyond. 

After a while, however, we realize that the greater the gift, the greater the dependency. 

Rabbi Splansky: The 14th-century Spanish commentator Abudarham asks if we really mean what we say when we say dayeinu. Would it really have been enough if God had brought us to Mount Sinai, but not given us the Torah? Would it really have been enough if God had brought us out of Egypt, but not into the land of Israel?

On its surface Dayeinu is a pile-on of gratitude, but underneath may be the implied request for more. We can’t help but want more from God’s outstretched and open hand. We praise the Creator of the fruit of the vine and we drink deep from the four cups, but our story isn’t complete until Eliyahu drinks from his cup, too. Ours is an insatiable desire that human history will yet give way to complete redemption.

Rabbi Fishman: What our Sages are most wary about is an omnipotent God outshining His people and not leaving any room for them. Perhaps, like a rich uncle who keeps spoiling his nephew, our tradition was able to turn around and say “Enough already! You have given us so much, but now let us discover our destiny for ourselves!” 

Rabbi Splansky: Similarly, we begin Pesach with the Haggadah’s rendition of how we came to freedom by way of God’s miracles and wonders. Our sages who constructed the Haggadah wrote Moses out of the narrative. But we end Pesach with the Torah’s account that includes Moses, Miriam, and the “mixed multitude” driving toward change. 

Rabbinic legend drives home the point that redemption requires human initiative. With Pharaoh’s army at our backs and the sea before us, Moses raised his staff, and nothing happened. The sea was unchanged. 

Then, a man named Nachshon ben Aminadav stepped into the water while declaring God’s power and might. The waters rose to his knees, his hips, his neck, filled his throat. He was all but drowning in his faith when the sea flung open. An ordinary man forced the miracle. 

The Yiddish expression, “Be a Nachshon” means “Take initiative.” It may also come with theological undertones, as Yiddish expressions often do: to be a Nachshon is to be active in faith that God will act. 

Rabbi Fishman: One of the few songs Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote for Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was With a Little Help from My Friends. I believe that is a fitting title for God’s relationship with us. 

Yes there can be miracles, but first there needs to be a partner that God can call upon, even rely upon. God would rather a partnership than a dictatorship. God is looking for someone, who can show initiative and courage. God would rather see humanity transcend and overcome human nature than perform acts that defy human nature.

Thus, what begins with God ends with man. In a saga that sets the God of history against the most powerful nation on earth, the true test of freedom is whether we mortals wish to take the plunge. 

Perhaps God, too, can sing these lyrics looking for someone to love: “Do you need anybody?/I need somebody to love/Could it be anybody?/I want somebody to love.”