Ba’avur Zeh: On Sacred Purpose
וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּעֲב֣וּר זֶ֗ה עָשָׂ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ לִ֔י בְּצֵאתִ֖י מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃

And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is ba’avor zeh that God brought me out of Egypt.’ (Exodus 13:8)

This source text of our Haggadah points to the purpose not just of this holiday, but arguably of Jewish life more broadly.

Much could be said about the act of imagination required to fulfill this commandment. We are to tell our children in our day that God parted the sea and liberated us from Egyptian bondage, even though it was, of course, actually our ancestors from 100 generations ago who experienced the miracle firsthand.

I want to focus this year on two words that I chose intentionally not to translate in the verse above. In the context of the sentence, those words (ba’avur zeh) probably mean, “for this reason.” It seems to refer back to the previous verse, which commands us to refrain from eating leavened bread for seven days in the Passover season. Why do we eat matzah? Because of what God did for our ancestors and for us when we went forth from Egypt. The miracle was so profound that it reverberates through the generations.

But I want to suggest that this little phrase be understood more extensively. It can mean “for this purpose” which points us toward something much bigger.

The purpose of telling the story of Passover—the master narrative of the Jewish People—is to make us more empathetic, compassionate, and sensitive people. Again and again our Torah tells us: “You know the heart of the stranger, the other, the oppressed one, because you were strangers, you were ‘others,’ you were oppressed in the land of Egypt.”

That’s the core of what we are required to tell our children and the generations to come.

Seder is a time for family, a time for yummy food, and a time for thanksgiving and cheer.

But above all else—ba’avur zeh—exists for the sacred purpose of shaping us and our children and the generations to come into better people.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback