As Passover winds down, we look back at the annual retelling of the story of our people.
Mark Gerson in his “The Telling” explains why we use the framing of “retelling” and “reliving” when conveying the exodus from Egypt. He cites Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov who said, “A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a reader.” Gerson extrapolates, “When we read something for the first time, we are consumed with grasping the plot, following the story or comprehending the argument…but as the earliest designers of our Pesach celebration knew thousands of years before Nabokov, the genuine experience of a truly great work is in its reconsideration.”
Gerson asks us to reconsider the Passover story in comparison to our younger years. Who were we years prior when encountering Dayeinu or Mah Nishtana? He encourages us to reconsider the Passover story without our precious departed sitting around the table. How does our story change without those we love physically sharing this moment? He teaches us to reconsider the exodus story told around the world at various points in history. We aren’t merely rereading a story. We are sharing our own story reconsidered through the lenses of past, present, and future.
Passover is not a recitation of verses, a rote theatrical performance. Passover is our annual reconsideration of self within the greater Jewish story. This year, what kind of Jew am I, how have I changed, and how do I belong? And with each reconsideration, rereading, and reliving, we continue our story forward, enabling future generations to reconsider their own place within the pages of Jewish faith.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is senior rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik or on Instagram @rabbiguzik. For more writings, visit Rabbi Guzik’s blog section from Sinai Temple’s website.
