We’re just coming out of Passover in my religion. Pesach, as it’s known in Hebrew, is the Day of Remembrance which Jews the world over have been commanded to “celebrate throughout the ages” (Exodus 12:14).
The cause of the celebration is, of course, the exodus from Egyptian slavery, an event variously estimated to have occurred between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE. The story of that flight, including the parting of the Red Sea and the receiving of the Ten Commandments, has been related by Jews for more than three thousand years. At the annual Pesach dinner, it is retold in the form of a reading from the Haggadah, which dates to the third century of the common era.
A central feature of the Pesach story concerns teaching it to children. Exodus abjures Jews to recount the tale “in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child…in order that you may know that I am God.” For who else beside the Almighty could have performed such miracles as to free the Jews from bondage?
Rabbi Keilah Lebell, of Chattanooga, in a helpful article has explained the importance of the Pesach story by metaphorically recasting it as a lesson in how to recover from any catastrophe, not just slavery. “What you’re experiencing right now is historic,” she suggests telling children in crisis. “I promise you, when you get to the other side of this horror—which you will—you need to remember this moment…you are moving through something terrible, but you are going to make it out, and I don’t want you or your children or your children’s children to forget the gift of your freedom.”
This is a good lesson for people of all religions, or none, but it’s not one that only the Pesach holiday conveys. Indeed, getting through disaster, and recovering from it, is central to the human experience, and specifically to the promise of hope. “For in You, Oh Lord, I hope” (Psalms), expresses a sentiment that surely predates even the ancient Jews. In our era, as the Beach Boys sang in their 1964 hit, Don’t Worry Baby, “everything will turn out all right.” Despite your fears, you live and are loved, and time will salve your hurt.
I know we’re all hurting now. Whether you’re progressive or conservative, MAGA or Democratic Socialist, evangelical or atheist, all of us feel adrift and unmoored in such a time of upheaval. In my case, the thing I await and hope for is the complete, utter destruction of wokeness in Oakland. We can begin that process by crushing Pamela Price this June, in the primary election for District Attorney, thus showing the racist Left it has no future in the East Bay.
The Pesach story may not have the acoustic impact of the Beach Boys. But it can offer comfort. So carry on. Don’t worry, and keep the faith. We will survive. And, after all, who knows more about survival than Jews?
Steve Heimoff