“Shabbat Hagadol – Preparing for Passover”

Shabbat Hagadol 5766/2006
Rabbi Judith Schindler

Sophie turned to her aging husband as she hung up the phone and explained the situation. I called our son David to tell him about your newly diagnosed heart condition and he immediately called his sister, Marlene. Both of them booked their flights, are packing up the kids, and will be here first thing in the morning.

“That’s great said Melvin. They’ll be here just in time for Seder. But what are you going to tell them to get them home for Rosh Hashanah?”

Most parents do not have to cry wolf with illness to bring their kids home for Passover – for demographic studies have shown that Passover is the most widely celebrated of Jewish holidays.

Today is a Shabbat of preparation. It has a special name – it is called Shabbat Hagadol... translated as the big or great Sabbath. This special Shabbat seems to have come on this Jewish scene in the Middle Ages. Many say it was named the great Sabbath because it was long… Rabbis would save their lengthiest sermons and expositions on the topic Passover for this night.

But don't worry, I plan not to follow our tradition by making this a long Shabbat, but instead I plan on following tradition in making it a Shabbat that will help to prepare you for the upcoming holiday.

In just five nights we will be sitting in around our festive tables. The goal of Shabbat Hagadol is to remind is that this holiday is about more than family and food, it is about freedom. This holiday is about more than remembering our exodus from Egypt so long ago, it is about reliving that exodus today. This holiday is about more than telling our own stories, but the stories of present day individuals who are victims of oppression.

Today is a Shabbat Hagadol… a great Shabbat in which we think about the issues we would like to address around our Seder tables. Tonight, I would like to present three potential issues for you to address during you Seder.

The first issue we need to address is the genocide in Darfur.

In the years during the Holocaust when our six million Jewish brothers and sisters of Nazi Europe died and five more million of our brothers and sisters of humanity were murdered, we no doubt asked at least four questions: How could this happen? Where is God? Where is humanity? Why is the world silent?

Following the Holocaust we said “never again,” but sadly it has happened again in the past and his happening again now. For three years there has been a state sponsored genocide in the Sudan. Over 400,000 people have lost their lives. Over 2.5 million have been displaced.

Rabbi Robert Levine, President of the New York Board of Rabbis, noted that our Torah explicitly commands us, 'Thou shall not stand idle while thy neighbor bleeds.' And so he urges our country to take the lead: “Stopping genocide is not a Democratic or Republican issue.” He writes, “It is a moral issue."

The Haggadah teaches us of an ancient genocide, as in the book of Exodus, Pharaoh attempts to drown all newborn sons and tries through oppression to bring the birthrate down to zero. Our President and Congress have declared Darfur to be a present day genocide.

According to the Talmud, on Passover night, if a man has neither children or a wife, he must ask himself questions. This reading adapted from a piece written by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld encourages us to ask ourselves questions and to ask questions of our politicians.

Who knows one?
One is the Janjaweed militia cleansing Darfur.

Who knows two?
Two is the stealing and killing of livestock.

Who knows three?
Three is the poisoning of wells and the destruction of crops.

Who knows four?
Four is the deliberate use of rape to destroy and humiliate families.

Who knows five?
Five is the creation of 2.5 million people:
displaced, hungry, susceptible to disease.

Who knows six?
Six is the over 400,000 people who have already died.

These and more are the plagues of Darfur.

Who knows one?
I know one.
Send a postcard to President Bush.
Urge him to take leadership on this issue.

Who knows one?
I know one.
Encourage institutions to hang Save Darfur
banners outside their buildings.

Who knows one?
I know one.
Attend the rally in Washington, DC on April 30th.

Who knows one?
I know one.
Encourage others to go to the rally.

Who knows one?
I know one-Rwanda.

Who knows one?
I know one-Bosnia.

Who knows one?
I know one-Cambodia.

There are too many ones.

And I am the child who does not know how to count:
One. Two. Four hundred thousand. Six million.

For six million are the lips of our dead mouthing
"never again" in eternal silence.

Who knows one? I know one.
For I am that one.
One person created in the image of God.
It is for me alone to speak out. I and no other.
Not a messenger, not a congressperson,
not a president.
I alone am here to tell the tale.

Who knows one? I am that one.
And who knows-I may be the one who
will make the difference.

The second issue that we need to address at our Seder table is immigration. The goal of Passover is to relive the Exodus story, to remember what it felt like to be slaves in Egypt. Re-experiencing that narrative should move us to treat immigrants – legal and undocumented - with compassion.

"When strangers sojourn with you in your land,” the Torah tells us, “You shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:33-34).

But as a country we do not embrace the stranger instead all too often we oppress him with punitive legislation. The Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 declares the eleven million undocumented immigrants in our country to be criminals – eligible for arrest at anytime. Their legal standing leaves them vulnerable in every way. Even though 96% of undocumented immigrant men, even though these immigrant pay payroll taxes and they are ineligible for welfare, food stamps, Medicare and most other benefits.

Thousands of Mexicans have died struggling to cross our border to a better life. And when they make it here, they are all-too-often paid with oppressively low wages. Those who are lucky, wait for visas, which force them to remain separated them from their immediate families for years.

The four children of today ask not only about our story of Exodus but about our treatment of undocumented immigrants.

The wicked child asks: Why should I care about those who are not citizens? They are using our resources, draining our economy, taking the education that rightfully belongs to our own. To the wicked child you should say, you were once those immigrants – you were slaves in Egypt, you were refugees from Germany, you arrived on Ellis Island with all of your belongings in your hand. Others made you a home for you, and for others, you should do the same.

The wise child asks, “What can I do for those who are strangers as I once was?” To him you can say, “You can care. You can fight for legislation that is generous and fair and the treats immigrants in a safe, legal and just manner. You can fight so that those immigrants who have come here simply to work, and on whose labor our country depends, receive the health care and assistance they need and deserve.

To the simple child who asks “Who are these people?” You should say, “They are like us. They too have been created in the Divine Image. They have come to fulfill their dreams, which are the same as ours – to work so that they can provide food, shelter clothing and education for themselves and their families.

As for the child who does not know how to ask, you should prompt him. “Look around you.” You should say. “It was not just we who were strangers in Egypt. There are strangers here today who need our help. Reach out to them with compassion the way you would for any other person in need. Ask that those who lead our country use a humane approach to fix a broken system.

And a final issue we need to address next Wednesday night is, of course, Israel, our homeland.
We will end this Seder, as we do each year, by saying “Next year in Jerusalem…” for Israel still remains a promise not fully realized.

Even in our holy land, a land that was promised to be one flowing with milk and honey, twenty percent of Israelis chronically feel the pain of hunger. Next year, may Israel create a society where none are in need of food.

Next year, may Israel become a society that embraces pluralism – where all Jews, no matter what their denomination, have equal rights. May Israel view all rabbis, not just Orthodox rabbis, as such, and give liberal synagogues the same economic and legal benefits given to others.

Next year, may the Western Wall, not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue but a national monument.

Next year, may the newly elected party of Kadima succeed in creating safe and solid borders with their neighbors.

Next year, may the Palestinians foster leaders who will denounce violence and affirm Israel’s right to exist.

Next year, may Israelis be able to ride a city bus, go to a movie or mall without fear of terror.

Next year, may Jerusalem live up to its name and be a city of gold and a city of peace.

Next year, may Isaiah’s words come true, may swords be turned into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.

Next year, may we all know peace.

Chag sameach – may your holiday of Passover be fulfilling in every way… with family connections, with food, and with inspiration to heal our world.