Temple Avoda, Fair Lawn, Reform

It is what it took to get to the other side of the Sea of Reeds as much as the victory it celebrates that continues to challenge us as we approach the conclusion of Passover. The lingering message that we are ever grateful to God for rescuing us from Egyptian bondage seems incomplete. Despite our efforts to bring to the modern seder table the drama experienced by our ancestors, I hope we walked away feeling that there was something we left undone or had forgotten. It may be that we forgot to say or do what we intended, perhaps a ritual or an explanation that was scratched onto a margin or a piece of paper we left between the Haggadah covers. Or when comparing notes with friends who conducted or experienced seders, we learned something new we could bring to our seders next year. We may feel that had we remembered it this year or planned to include it in next year’s celebration, we would be satisfied with telling our story.

In spite of the rise of a pharaoh who did not know Joseph, and we may take it that no one may have told the pharaoh of Joseph’s significance, Joseph’s people did not forget their promise to him. Moses takes up Joseph’s bones for the journey to Israel. Although the text occupies a little space, it is clear that, if the promise to Joseph had not been fulfilled, the exodus and journey to Israel would have been incomplete. In the rush to freedom, often we forget what was once important to us. While we may be reluctant to give it up, we may relinquish it for what we believe will be more important. But there are ideals, if forfeited for the sake of the journey, that may devalue the worth of the journey.

God recognizes that Israel may well be reluctant to go on its journey. That is the reason God leads Israel out of Egypt by the longer route, because "the people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt." In this case, the Israelites have not left behind their courage. They have yet to develop it. They are untutored in courage, and their overconfidence becomes their undoing. So the journey is not only about what we take with us, it is also what we do to prepare for it. While the Israelites are hesitant to proceed on their journey, they begin to exercise their faith in God’s judgment until they do see war. Surely there is evidence of Israel’s impatience and unrealistic expectations. We see in Exodus 14:8 that "the Israelites departed defiantly" until Pharaoh’s armies pursued them. Although armed, the Israelites’ confidence fails and they cry out to God, but also complain to Moses that he misled them into leaving Egypt. Overconfident at first, they then experience fear. Here they may have also learned the lesson of humility.

When the Israelites finally cross the Sea of Reeds, we can only imagine the extraordinary moment captured for us in "The Song at the Sea." While this poem is Israel’s exhalation of relief from the burden of running from terror, it is also Israel’s ecstatic burst of faith in a God who desires Israel as much as Israel desires God. Still, the poem does not conclude our story.

Since then, our people have crossed the wilderness a number of times, the latest in 1948 when the world recognized Israel as the Jewish state. While we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the modern state of Israel, we know that our journey is not complete, that our seders are not done, that we have yet to fulfill the dream meant in the words we express at the end of seder, "Next year in Jerusalem."

Chag sameach!