by Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback
The word דיינו (dayeinu) means “it’s enough for us!”
When we sing “Dayeinu” at our seders this year, it would be understandable if we were to hear it in the sense of, “Enough already!” Enough of this quarantine. Enough of the worry. Enough of the anxiety. Enough of the economic damage, the loss of jobs, the loss of livelihoods. And—of course most importantly and most urgently—enough of the illness and, please God, enough of the death.
Dayeinu—we’ve had enough already!
But there’s another sense of that word. It’s the way it’s actually used in the song we sing. We mention various blessings in our lives and then we say, if that was all that God had done for us, Dayeinu! It would be enough for us. We were slaves and now we are free—Dayeinu!—that alone would have been enough. To have the gift of Shabbat, the opportunity to rest and to be renewed—Dayeinu!—that alone should be enough. A tradition of learning, thousands of years old, embodied in our Torah—Dayeinu!—that alone is reason to give thanks.
So at your seder this year (and I hope you’ll join us online for one of ours) take some time alone and then with friends and family to make your own dayeinu list for this moment. Here’s just some of what’s on mine:
- For my family for loving me and helping me and giving meaning to my life—dayeinu!
- For a community that cares so deeply for one another and supports each other so fully—dayeinu!
- For the doctors and nurses who are risking their lives for others—dayeinu!
- For the gift of nature—for trees and flowers and mountains all around—how beautiful it is, how blessed we are—dayeinu!
- For the ability to hope, to dream, to imagine a future when we can be together again—dayeinu!
What’s on your dayeinu list? Share it with me at [email protected].
