Voices of Faith: Tears, worry threaten to be a drag on Passover
For Muslims, Jews and Christians, our spring holiday this year feels different. Spring is bursting out everywhere in Northeast Ohio. Many of us spent time witnessing the drama and impact of the eclipse last week. The natural world was announcing itself to us all as a deep, unbounded source of holiness.
However, the celebration of Passover, a festival of liberation, seems confined by the effects of the war in Gaza and Israel. My heart breaks again and again for the trauma experienced by both sides in this terrible war. Hostages are waiting to be freed from their confinement. Gazans encountered much of Ramadan from the perspective of starvation and near famine. We have witnessed shatterings that have devastated our perspectives.
It’s hard to find a reason to celebrate. It’s hard to sing songs of freedom right now. And yet, taking a clue from our Muslim and Christian neighbors, this is a time to come together in community. In community, we can experience our sense of holiness in our shared space, and a deep sense of getting out of our own heads.
A colleague and friend of mine, Rabbi Sharon Brous, has a wonderful new book called “The Amen Effect.” Her idea is that we live in a time of profound brokenness and that connecting with our spiritual communities can help us cope with the emotions and anxieties of these difficult times. She uses the example of the mourner’s prayer in Jewish services, which concludes every Jewish prayer service. She writes that when the mourners rise for that prayer they are symbolically letting their community know that they have suffered a significant loss, and we, the community, are being asked to hold them. We can do that by saying “amen” to their statements of grief.
So as we gather in our homes and in our community for Passover next week, may we celebrate the unmitigated joy of spring, and may we be able to bring our tears and anxieties to our community so they can say “amen” to our pain. May we each hold two cups at our holiday gatherings, one overflowing with wine and joy, and the second cup overflowing with tears of sadness and grief.
May we cultivate the humility to get past our own pride and arrogance as we greet Passover this year. During this time of uncertainty, may lean into humility. May we discover the questions we need to ask at our Passover seders this year, and may we hear the questions others have to ask as well. May our Passover point us to paths of holiness, meaning, and eventual freedom.
Michael Ross is the rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson and the senior Jewish educator at Kent State Hillel. He also teaches in the Jewish Studies Department at Kent State.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Voices of Faith: Tears, worry threaten to be a drag on Passover
