The
Mighty Zed
Seriously
Eastcoast
Passover
and the Permanent Revolution:
A
tantalizing possibility
The
secular interpretation of Passover involves the call to
freedom and social justice. However, there may be a deeper,
hidden message.
The Haggadah relates
It
happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar
ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining
(at the Seder) in Bnei Brak. They discussed the Exodus all
that night until their students came and said to them: "Our
teachers, it is [daybreak] time for the morning
Shema."
The Vayaged Moshe Haggadah, Rabbi Yosaif Asher Weiss,
Metsorah Publications, Ltd.
I had always imagined the five rabbis studying around a
camp fire in a state of defeat. They had fled to Bnei Brak
after the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem.
Why did their students have to tell them that the sun had
risen?"
One explanation is that the Rabbis did not see the sun rise
because they were hiding in a cave or a bunker. What were
they really doing? They were plotting resistance against
Rome. "It is time for the morning Shema" might be a code
meaning that the Romans were approaching.
Later in the Seder, the Haggadah plays a numbers game,
saying that the 10 plagues were actually 50 (Rabbi Yose the
Gallilean), or 200 (Rabbi Eliezer) or 250 (Rabbi Akiva).
What is going on?
The numbers may be a code. The words are preserved in the
text, but the meaning is long lost in history.
The Seder is more than a recounting of the miracle of the
Exodus from Egypt. It recalls the defiance to Roman
oppression.
Passover is more than a celebration of liberation. It is a
call to resistance.
Is it a coincidence that the Warsaw Ghetto revolt broke out
on the eve of Passover in 1943?
The Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist, Leon
Trotsky (his gravestone has a hammer and sickle rather than
a star of David) argued for a "Permanent Revolution." The
term is appealing. It suggests a continuing process, a
never ending struggle. From that perspective, Passover goes
beyond a social conscience. Passover's hidden meaning is
active resistance to oppression, from Roman times through
our present day.
Rather than a "sweet" Passover, I wish you a revolutionary
Passover.
Havana Nocture
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The Maltese Falcon: A subtle
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Passover and the Permanent
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