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Questions we should ask ourselves and discuss at the seder
- 29 March 2023
- 10:04 pm
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- 29 March 2023
- 10:04 pm
A sample of various themes and style of Passover Haggadahs. (Screencap: BimBam YouTube)
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Last year, I wrote about how the seder could be improved so that children would receive more benefits from the four questions and from discussing topics that could be applied directly to them.
Over the past few years I have read many left wing and comical interpretations of the Haggadah. I haven’t seen many Haggadahs that deal with the issues important to right-wing Jews, so I thought that this year I should ask questions related to their perspective on some of the issues raised by my old favourite Haggadah – the New Revised Edition of the Passover Haggadah by Rabbi Nathan Goldberg.
What should “We were slaves in Egypt” refer to? Yes, it includes physical slavery but it also includes mental slavery – slavery to our excessive physical needs, to our excessive economic desires, and to our economic and social status successes. Does that call for a rethinking of our lifestyle, the importance of family and friends, and a Passover resolution (like a New Year’s resolution) for the rest of the year?
Next we should look at who are our heroes.
Were they men or women or both? Were they athletes, secular scholars, Jewish scholars, men of integrity, war heroes, those that did good deeds, or financially or otherwise skilled individuals? Were they kind or mean, dominant or submissive or passive, or visionaries like Hertzl and Jabotinski?
Did they work hard and play hard, or did they just work hard? Were they righteous people? Were they smart or of average intelligence? Did they speak up for their values Like Moses and Aaron, or maintain quiet? If they remained quiet on issues of importance to them, why?
There is an important question of personal and group strength and relying on God to protect us. There are many facets to this question.
There are approximately 15 million Jews in the world. Why so few when there are a about a billion Muslims and about the same number of Christians? It is difficult to become Jewish. Should we continue to make it as difficult? Are numbers important?
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Aside from the numbers, do we want to ensure that Israel is a very strong fearless tough Jewish nation so that it and we will survive? Should we individually learn self-defence so that we will limit antisemitism and be respected by our neighbours?
God, in the Torah tried to convince Pharaoh that He (God) was the world’s prime god. He did so with the ten plaques that hurt many innocent Egyptians as well as Pharaoh. That is a tough God. Our God was also tough with the Amalikites, the Flood, the conquest of Jericho, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and many other situations mentioned in the Torah. Should we toughen up as individuals and as a nation, be less kind to our mortal enemies, stop putting an emphasis on once being slaves in Egypt and put more emphasis on our many successes?
Lastly, in the diaspora, how do we acquire pride in ourselves and in our Jewish culture; how do we gain esteem for our religion as practiced in Israel and in the Diaspora.
Passover is a time to celebrate the exodus and to raise questions. These are questions we should ask ourselves and discuss at the seder for a more meaningful Passover.
Jonathan Usher was born in Montreal. He graduated from Queen’s Law School in 1963 and moved to Toronto where he has lived since. In the past 20 years of retirement he has become a very prolific and published letter-to-the-editor writer and conservative, social iconoclast.
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Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
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