One of my favorite memories of our CSS Passover Second Night Seders, was when our youngest child, Noam, recited the “Mah Nishtanah” in front of the whole community. He was three-years-old and we had been prepping him for weeks, but in the leadup to the Seder our most outgoing child had adamantly refused this most important task. Going into that night, we had resigned ourselves that it would be up to the other kids to fill in for him. And then, just as we started the recitation, Noam rushed to the front of the room, pulled the microphone from my hand and recited the Hebrew words flawlessly to everyone’s surprise.
In truth, the youngest child is not the only one responsible for asking the questions. We all are. Whether young or old, Passover challenges us to ask the difficult questions not just about the holiday, but about our world today. Why did my friends spend four days in transit returning from their trip abroad? Why are my niece and nephew on the front lines of a war in Lebanon? Why did our community lose several of our most impactful leaders in the space of a week? Why? Why? Why?
It is the wicked child that gets it wrong by emphasizing the word “you” when asking questions, not realizing that this is about “us,” as in “all” of us. The world is never right. There are always things that need to be challenged, even if they cannot be changed. And the point is not to reserve these questions for one or two nights a year, but to use Passover as a springboard for the entire year. May it be so. May it be so.
A Zissen Pesach and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex