by Dr. Israel Jamitovsky
For the entire Jewish world and especially for those of us living in Israel, this Passover was unquestionably different. The empty chair that accompanied many of us during the course of reading the text of the Haggadah that describes the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt and the Passover meal, evidenced the absence of the 133 hostages still held by Hamas, the fall of loved ones - civilian and military - as well as that of hundreds of wounded and affected in one way or another, a consequence of the confrontation that Israel is currently waging for its survival since October 7.
This night dedicated to the story of the redemption of the Jewish people from the oppression to which they were subjected in Egypt, also carries numerous symbols and customs. In this context, a tradition and norm emerges that, in my opinion, are not always given the proper dimension and for these purposes I base myself on the traditional text of the Haggadah. I allude to the norm of spilling drops of wine while we invoke the plagues that fell on the Egyptians and therefore diminish our joy, as we realize and are aware that unfortunately our redemption inevitably led to the suffering of other human beings.
This is a different reading that is coupled with the rescue of the people of Israel from slavery in merit of the Almighty. The source of this limitation to our joy emerges in the Babylonian Talmud, in the Treatise Megillah, when when the Jewish people were saved and the Egyptians succumbed in the Red Sea, at that moment the angels longed to sing a song, before which the Almighty He added: My creation sinks in the sea and you raise a song?
In this context this custom and interpretation was not the only one. The Hallel (Praise) is a set of prayers collected from the Psalms that were sung during transcendent moments in Jewish history and that in our time are also prayed and sung on occasions such as Israel's Independence Day and Jerusalem Day.
Likewise, at the beginning of each month and to incorporate a festive sign, half of Hallel is prayed, while on the Festival of the Giving of the Scrolls of the Law (Shavuot), as well as on the Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot ) all of these texts are prayed. On the other hand, paradoxically on Pesach, the Festival of Freedom, except for the first day, for the entire rest of the festive week, we only pray half of Hallel, because despite everything, our joy cannot be complete.
This coordinate and premise emerges in Ilkut Shimoni (an ancient treatise that brings together exegesis on verses from the Hebrew Bible) who cites a verse from Proverbs by which it is forbidden to celebrate and rejoice at the fall of one's neighbor, even if it is an enemy.
After long years of oppression, slavery, suffering to which the people of Israel were subjected in Egypt and even their persecution to reincorporate them into slavery, the natural thing would be to give course and free rein to the joy of liberation, without imposing any restrictions. . But the limitation to the overflow of joy and excessive joy emerges precisely because it entailed the suffering of other human beings, even if, as in this case, the liberating feat was totally and fully justified.
The complexity of the human condition
In this context, exegetes of the Jewish tradition have pointed out that the above configures the reason why the word simcha (joy) It does not emerge on Pesach contrary to what happens on other festivities such as Sukkot (Cabins), the festival of joy par excellence. An outstanding personality - Rabbi Lord Dr. Jonathan Sacks - points out in this space that to a large extent Judaism bets and emphasizes the complexity of moral life without falling into doubts or a kind of ethical relativism. In the Torah (Hebrew Bible) even in the most prominent figures deficiencies appear and in turn, in the most questioned human beings, attributes worthy of praise emerge in certain situations.
Personally I would incorporate another facet. Judaism, without forgetting the past, always points towards the future, trying to avoid the perpetuation of resentments that lead to nothing and all of this without prejudice, naturally, to the enormous merit that belongs to the editors and exegetes of the Pesach Haggadah.
The Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people dispersed throughout the world, persecutions, discrimination, humiliations of all kinds and kinds, all of this fortunately did not affect their sensitivity to the human condition and human suffering, even in the case of implacable enemies. It is not in vain that the verse about loving the Gentile who resides in Jewish spaces appears thirty-six times in the Hebrew Bible, given that in those same verses the Jew is reminded of his status as a foreigner when he was living in Egypt.
The Jewish condition in our days
Two last thoughts. Precisely from a Jewish perspective, our duty is to ensure Jewish continuity, strengthening and enriching our tradition, without giving up our personal, collective and national identity, we are and will be sensitive to the suffering of the human condition - whatever its origin or ethnicity - seeking enrich it endlessly.
Secondly, it is important not to forget the aforementioned premises precisely in the unfortunate days that we are currently experiencing in Israel as well as everything that still awaits us in light of the rampant anti-Semitism that unfortunately currently reigns in many areas of the world.