On Pesach and Inclusiveness

Who is the Seder for?

Again and again, the Haggadah uses the root kol, “everyone.” Kol dikhfin, “everyone who is hungry,” kulanu mesubin, “tonight we all recline,” “even if we are all wise,” “all who speak much about the Exodus are praiseworthy,” “in every generation,” . . .

It seems that above all, the Haggadah aims at inclusiveness. Even the rasha, the “wicked”child, who is seemingly rejected, is nonetheless in the Haggadah, and therefore every year, appears again at our Seder.

Indeed the 4 children epitomize the aim of the Haggadah – to reach each child, and each adult as they are. Each one has different needs and therefore gets a different response – an early prorotype of differentiated instruction!

Perhaps that is why the Haggadah includes such a plethora of different types of activities – concrete symbols to eat and look at, songs to sing, intellectual discussions and math excercises (check out the argument over how many plagues there were in Egypt and at the Sea!), and ritualized actions like the breaking of the matzah and the pouring out of some wine for the plagues. Perhaps that also explains the repeated attempts to both complicate and simplify the story – on the one hand, to elaborate midrashically using verses from many sources, and on the other hand, to summarize the plagues into three easy words, the mneumonic, Destzakh adash be’ahab and Rabban Gamliel’s attempt to encapsulate the whole meaning of the Seder in 3 simple symbols.

All of these are attempts at reaching different audiences, or sometimes, different parts of ourselves, through different media and teaching methods. There is an acknowledgement here that this ceremony is for “everyone.”

This “everyone” trait means that the Seder is not always an easy affair. It often brings together people of varying religious, tempermental and educational proclivities, and asks them to have an experience of redemption together. I find myself worrying ahead of time and during the Seder about these differences and how everyone will be accommodated. Perhaps it would be easier to have a Seder alone, but the message of the Seder is that true redemption is only achieved together. Instead of feeling the differences to be a source of stress, this year I hope to feel that the differences are a source of strength and richness, precisely what makes our joint tapestry durable, and precisely what helps us to achieve redemption. It is only when we see clearly that we are not alone, but a small piece of something larger, with each one playing her part, that we can move out of ourselves to a place of communal redemption. Happy Passover to all!