Dor Vador – In Each and Every Generation
Sermon, April 22, 2005
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

The Passover Seder is a pedagogical goldmine containing a rich variety of teachings from our tradition.  Although its core dates back almost 2000 years to the Mishnah, it has been adapted and enriched by additions throughout the generations. 

Perhaps its most important teaching is a passage that is often overlooked.  It is not as well-known as the four questions or the ten plagues or Dayeinu, yet it is a significant part of the Maggid section, where we tell the story of Passover.

It reads:  “B’chol dor vador, chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mimitzrayim.”  “In each and every generation we are obligated to see ourselves as if we came out of Egypt, as it is said, ‘And you shall tell your child on that day saying, “We do this because of what God did for me when I went forth from Egypt.”’”

“For the Holy One redeemed not only our ancestors, but also us along with them, as it is said, ‘God brought us out of there, in order to give us the land promised to our ancestors.’”

This text indicates that it is crucial that we personalize the Exodus from Egypt.  We should not treat it as some story from our history, something from the distant past that we might see at a museum or read about in a book, but as something that we are experiencing here and now. 

That is why the Passover Seder is not done in the sanctuary, but around the dinner table; that is why it is not just a narrative we read, but is replete with the smells and tastes of bitterness and freedom; that is why some Jews actually get up and walk around the room during the Seder and others take scallions and beat each other with them.

During the Seder we are supposed to experience what it means to be a slave and what it means to be free.  We are supposed to experience the brutal oppression, the pain and suffering, and then the sheer joy and ecstasy of liberation and freedom.

It is indeed difficult for us, who are free men and women living in the United States, to know what it means to be a slave and to go from slavery to freedom.  Why is it so important that we personally experience slavery and redemption?  Our Torah teaches, again and again:  “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”  Our experience as strangers in Egypt and in being redeemed from slavery should teach us to treat others with kindness and consideration.

If we learned anything from our history it is the bitterness of suffering and oppression, and of the importance of working to end suffering and oppression wherever it exists.  That is why so many Jews have been involved with liberation movements of every kind; that is why so many Jews have been attracted to social work, teaching, medicine and other helping professions; and that is why we sometimes hold Israel and ourselves to higher standards than we hold others.

Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver wrote an essay called “Remembering:  I stood with Abraham,” that encourages us to identify with every great leader at every important moment of Jewish history.  It reads, in part:

“I stood with Abraham in his lonely vigil
And read the destiny of my people in the stars.
I was with Isaac when he built the altar
Where his faith and devotion were put to the test….
I was with Moses, an alien prince among an alien people.
Unshod, I stood with him before the vision in the wilderness
And from the fire I heard the Voice summoning him to service….”
It concludes:
“They are bone of my bone,
Flesh of my flesh,
Soul of my soul.
They are my people.
Their quest is mine.
They will live within me,
And I will live with them, forever.”

Rabbi Silver recognizes that if we are able to truly identify with our ancestors, their triumphs and tribulations, their victories and defeats, if we can believe that we were there with them, then we will affirm our place in the Jewish people.  By reliving the past, we strengthen our ties to Judaism in the present and future.

As we celebrate Passover this year, may we truly experience what it means to leave Egypt, to make the journey from slavery to freedom.  May this experience teach us to be sensitive to suffering and oppression and to work for freedom and justice for all.  And may it strengthen our commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people.

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