On
Passover we declare that “God took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm.” As many of you have seen I enjoy encouraging people to
recite this phrase with enthusiasm. I ask people to make a fist and extend
their arms while saying “out stretched” slowly and loudly. I ask people to
recite the phrase in this manner to make it fun and to make it memorable.
I
realize that Passover involves a lot of hard work but it should be fun and
memorable. I want the young people of our congregation to grow up looking
forward to Passover. I want the adults of the congregation to see Passover as
an anchor of our lives. It should be the
moment in the year when we “get the band back together.” Depending on the
structure of our lives, this could be our family, our friends or the members of
this community.
The
Passover Seder should the moment of the year when we gather with the right
people, in the right place and say the right words. We eat the right foods and
sing the right songs. Some of us recall foods and melodies from our youth.
Others of us are creating new memories in the here and now. All of us should hear
the words of the haggadah, “In every generation we are obligated to see
ourselves as if we went out of Egypt.”
On Passover we do not describe the Exodus from Egypt as something that happened to someone else a long time ago. We speak of it as an experience in which we participated. We do not say that God took our ancestors out of Egypt. We declare that God took us out of Egypt.
We do not allow the Exodus from Egypt to be “history.” We insist on making it a part of our lives. Each spring we depart Egypt. We go forth from slavery to freedom. So when you gather with your friends and family at your Seder, ask everyone to make a fist and enthusiastically declare that “God took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
