Our Daily Kavanot during Passover will feature pieces from our Wise Passover Haggadah Supplement. Each day, our clergy will focus on a different element of the Passover holiday.
Passover and Israel
By Rabbi Ron Stern
Archeologists and Biblical scholars tell us that, despite what the Bible says, the observance of Passover actually began in the land of Israel, not during the Sinai wandering. It was originally two proximate holidays—one for farmers and one for shepherds. Pesach is actually the word for the lamb once sacrificed on a one-day sacrificial holiday. Chag HaMatzot—which began the day after the sacrifice—was for farmers, as it involved the special, sacred, unleavened bread that was prepared for its own seven-day holiday. For the farmers and shepherds, these observances were believed to be integral for ensuring the productivity of the herds and crops.
As the ancient Israelite nation expanded and became more and more established in the land, the observance of Passover evolved. The ancient Temple in Jerusalem became central and the two holidays blended, coming to commemorate the generational memory of an exodus from Egypt. When the Babylonians sacked the Temple in 586 B.C.E. and exiled the people, the story of the Exodus became the primary focus of the holiday. The Passover story of a people leaving a land of exile and oppression to claim ownership of their ancestral land resonated with the Jews living in Babylon as they, too, longed for a return to their own land. Over the centuries, the story of oppression and liberation became the primary message of Passover, and the Haggadah was developed by the ancient sages to convey that meaning to the people. The lamb and the matzah moved to the seder plate and assumed additional layers of meaning.
With the Roman destruction of the second Temple and the growth of the Jewish diaspora throughout the world, an additional feature became integral to the seder and Passover. It is best conveyed by the last words of the seder: לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בִּירוּשָלָיִם L’shanah Haba’ah Birushalayim—”Next year, in Jerusalem.” Wherever Jews found themselves, eyes were turned to the land of Israel, and it became clear that the story of freedom and liberation, essential to the Haggadah, would best be realized with Jewish autonomy in the Holy Land. That aspiration endured in Jewish hearts for thousands of years until it was realized in the middle of the 20th century, when an independent Jewish nation came into existence.
I share this story of Passover’s evolution and Israel’s primacy to remind us of the eons-long investment of the Jewish people in the land of Israel and the nation that we are blessed to have in our lifetimes. Its early founders sought to create a modern nation, embodying the noblest ideals of their times, at the same time recognizing that the nation they anchored was the realization of the centuries-long Passover hope. Here’s a passage from Israel’s Declaration of Independence:
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture …
As we witness Israel’s most right-wing government undermine the vision of justice and freedom expressed in this founding document, a historical understanding of Israel’s importance to Jewish destiny obliges us to understand what’s at stake. Should Israel’s supreme court be eviscerated, its hard-won religious freedoms for all strands of Judaism compromised, and the liberties of its minorities be denied, Israel will no longer be the nation envisioned by its founders and celebrated by Jews throughout the world.. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens–across the religious and political spectrum–are flooding the streets of Israel’s cities, sounding the alarm bells. They are joined by Jewish communal organizations and religious movements across the Diaspora. As we celebrate Passover and are reminded of its centrality in fostering the centuries-long yearning for Jewish independence in the Holy Land, we recognize that we are all invested in Israel’s success. Now, in ways never encountered before, our support for the causes and organizations that will foster the vision of Israel’s Declaration if Independence is more vital than ever.
See Wise’s Israel web page for more.
