Pesach 2020: A Holiday of Paradox and Contradictions

The following transcript contains remarks made by Noa Kligfeld, Immediate Past International President, USY during The Gathering For Healing, a live global event which was presented on FacebookLive and YouTubeLive on April 5th, 2020. See the event in its entirety here: FacebookLive or YouTubeLive.

Pesach is a holiday of paradox and contradictions. We attempt to hold seemingly opposing ideas in harmony: to remember the pain of captivity, and to embrace the beauty of freedom. Individual symbols of the haggadah represent both shi’abud/oppression and geulah/redemption at the same time: the matza is the bread of affliction and the bread of freedom we ate as we escaped. The charoset symbolizes the bloody mortar with which the slaves built pyramids and the sweetness of the apple tree under which, according to the Talmud, love was sparked and the next generation of Jewish life was born. During the seder, we explore the pain of the past while embracing hope for the future. F Scott Fitzgerald writes that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” Pesach trains us as Jews—and as people—to hold pain and hope together.

A little over three weeks ago, I was living in Israel on the Nativ gap year program. When that experience was suddenly cut short, my friends and I processed significant cognitive dissonance. Leaving my friends, my volunteer work, my studies, and my new community felt like a huge loss. When COVID-19 hit, each of us gathered here today was in the middle of something that we had to suddenly give up—whether it was senior year of high school, a bar or bat mitzvah, vacation plans, or whatever it may be. And now, we’re all home and perhaps a bit adrift. But I am also blessed to have a healthy family, a comfortable home, and a stocked kitchen. In order to balance gratitude for what I have, perspective that many are experiencing the pain of loved ones who are ill, and validation that the loss of expectations can also be significant, we must first internalize the wisdom of Fitzgerald and the lessons of Pesach. We need a healthy dose of both, simultaneously.

As the entire global community faces such intense fear and suffering right now, perhaps precisely what we need is the emotional intelligence we learn from Pesach: to hold these two ideas in tension at the same time. Just as we as Conservative/Masorti Jews hold the values of tradition and innovation.

As we head into Pesach, a joyous holiday, while holding tremendous pain in our communities, may the prayers we are about to recite together affirm our belief in hope and the power of healing. And as we begin these healing prayers, you are invited to type the names of people you are praying for, or the blessings we need in our world, into the chat space.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/pesach-2020-a-holiday-of-paradox-and-contradictions
via USCJ