Tonight is the first night of Passover. We will soon gather at Seders among families and friends and friends of friends and perhaps even a wandering, hungry stranger... Many of us, myself included, will find ourselves in the company of people with whom we have – to put it mildly – strong political differences.
On Passover, Jews have the obligation to tell the story of Moses and the Exodus. Tonight, we have a chance to tell that story in a way that powerfully confronts the lies, fears, and prejudice that underlie today’s MAGA/MAHA/conservative movement. Because while the Exodus story is about many things – freedom, individual responsibility, redemption and the power of faith – it is fundamentally a story about immigrants and about standing up for human dignity against autocratic oppression. In these dark times for our own country – a “promised land” to so many seeking freedom and opportunity, now turned cruel and oppressive, the Exodus story is freshly relevant.
The Jews were not brought to Egypt as slaves. They immigrated, following Joseph. Joseph’s story – that of a poor herder who rose to become the Pharoah’s most trusted advisor – is a classic immigrant success story, and also illustrates the way that Jews have so often, in so many places, and to so many governments, offered their skills and services for the common good of that country.
Joseph understood that the government can be a force for good. He instituted his own New Deal including a primitive but effective form of Social Security – taking grain in good times to distribute during times of famine. His reforms created a better society not only economically but morally – demonstrating the power of a system of redistribution to create a fairer, freer, and happier country for all.
But then came a Pharoah – or series of them -- who “did not know Joseph.” In other words, who did not appreciate the energy and vitality and innovation that these immigrants could bring to the land of Egypt or the power of his ideas. Instead, they viewed the immigrant Jews as an expendable resource, subjecting them to cruel labor conditions – indeed, enslaving them. As in America, the presence of this slave population led to fears of rebellion and increasingly heinous regime of oppression. The Jews were slandered as an untrustworthy “fifth column” who would rise against their oppressors -- and so they ultimately became what their masters feared.
The story of the Exodus also happens to prominently feature a megalomaniacal, vain, greedy, obstinate, and quite buffoonish autocratic, the Pharoah, whose along with his cult of worshipful subjects believed himself to be God’s gift to his country, who arrogated all power to himself and could do no wrong. His foolish decisions – and vacillating inability to decide – led to untold suffering and catastrophe for his country. His elevation of unqualified quacks and sycophants ensured that he would hear no sound advice. To the contrary, ignoring the plain evidence that his actions were resulting in an inevitable and preventable “climate change” with its disastrous effects – extreme weather, decimation of crops and livestock, spread of disease and pestilence, and ultimately a vast human toll – he instead blindly put his faith in court “magicians” and their reassurances that all would be well.
The Passover story is about the importance of individuals standing up to this kind of repressive, authoritarian, fact-denying, cultlike evil, even at great personal risk, and even when many of one’s fellow citizens seem too frightened of the power of the ruler to rebel – even when some of them accuse you, as some Jews accused Moses and Aaron – of causing trouble, stirring things up, of making things worse. It is the story of a single raised voice that spoke truth to power and won freedom for his people.
Finally, tonight’s Passover story is about the importance of education. The Passover service includes a directive that the children must be told this story, that its lessons must be imparted to future generations, so that they never themselves become like the ignorant, credulous, brainwashed and cruel Egyptians who followed a blind autocrat’s order to their own watery demise.
Tonight, let’s tell that story of Passover – which is also our own – and let the afikomen fall where it may!
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edit: it has been pointed out that Joseph’s interventions may not have been so benevolent That he might, in fact, have abetted the Pharoah’s consolidation of absolute power and subjugation of the populace As I said, it was a “primitive” social safety net! Maybe too primitive! The larger point I think can withstand this critique, but FWIW
