Leap of Faith: the lesson of the plagues
Why is Pesach different from other festivals?
Al hanissim, v’al hapurkan… sh’asita lavoteinu bayamim hahem baz’man hazeh.
We thank You for the miracles, for the wonders… which You did for our ancestors at this time, in this season. Al hanissim is added to our blessings of the Amidah liturgy and Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) for both Hanukah and Purim, but surely Pesach is filled with more miracles?
There are many explanations for this lack of inclusion, including that both Purim and Chanukah are post-biblical festivals. Many even insert a vav (and) at the beginning of the blessing, as if to assert ‘as well as the wonders of biblical times there was this experience too’.
Pesach is not a time when we use the language of miracles. We don’t talk about 10 miracles we saw afflicting the Egyptians and leading up to our escape. They are always referred to as magephot ( plagues) not nissim (miracles).
Surely these experiences, which run counter to natural law and seem to appear just at the moment we most needed them, are the perfect definition of a miracle. Yet what we look back on and see as miraculous caused devastating effects on the Egyptians. They may have been the enemy but we cannot celebrate the harm caused. One man’s miracle is another man’s plague.
I’ve always hated the merchandise, the songs, the revelling in the plagues in any creative outlets with children around Seder. Our Haggadah gives us the values-based response to them – diminish your joy by taking out the drops of wine. The plagues were simply a necessary evil, not something that should now be celebrated.
The lesson of the plagues is to look for the opportunities within the horror for self- or national improvement. The true miracle was that when Egypt seemed to go from one natural disaster to the next the Israelites could see scope for striving for self-improvement. While the plagues were weakening Egyptian infrastructure and wreaking havoc, the Israelites plotted their escape under the radar.
While we, in the modern world, are so aware of lurching from one crisis to the next, how can we use these crises to highlight opportunities for those who are looking for more in life? New employment potential, causes to support and connections to be made through shared values.
Al hanissim for Chanukah doesn’t mention the story of the oil, it refers to the Maccabees courageously taking on a battle against the odds. Purim’s miracle was changing the influences of the monarch. While democracy is being threatened in Israel and UK life is leaving so many vulnerable, what unexpected battle will you take on this Pesach – which person in leadership will you influence? Let’s make this Pesach a time to look back and say “v’al hanissim” – and this time too was miraculous.
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