Why each generation must know our Exodus - comment

• Published date: 22 April 2024
• Author: YAIR LAPID
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Egypt is a reminder that reality is not a given; it is the decisions we make, the story we tell, and our ability to choose our own path in life. The journey is not measured in miles, it is measured by our ability to choose hope over despair, courage over resignation, the place we want to reach and not the place we have been forced into by circumstances

People too often tell themselves, "But there is no choice," the Haggadah answers them: there is always a choice.

The Bible tells us that when Moses was a young man, still an Egyptian prince and not yet the leader of the Jewish people, he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish slave. Moses looked around and decided to do something: "And he turned this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."

Wait, what does it mean "and he saw that there was no man"? They are in the largest construction site of the ancient world, clearly there are thousands of people there around them.

Responding to injustice

So what's going on? The answer, or at least the interpretation I prefer, is that if you see injustice, if you see cruelty, and you do not react, you do not take any action to prevent it, you are not entitled to the title "man" (or human). You may be a human being, but there is a basic human component missing in you. When Moses is the only one who reacts to injustice, he becomes a man. A leader is born.

The Haggadah calls on you to be a leader. Leaders of a nation, leaders of a community, leaders of a family, leaders of ideas. Today, perhaps more than ever...