From Liberation to Legislation

Rabbi Melanie Aron

April 26, 2003

One of the most familiar parts of the Seder is when, after recounting the ten plagues and removing ten drops of wine from our cup of joy, we sing together - Ilu Hotzianu Mimitzrayim, dayenu. If God had only taken us out of Egypt, and by implication, not cared for us in the desert, or given us the Torah, or established us in the Promised Land, it would have been enough.

But the weight of our tradition is on the side of it not having been enough. Passover is tied to Shavuot through the counting of the omer, in great measure because the rabbi's believed that the real benefit in being liberated from Egypt came only with the giving of the Torah. Freedom from Tyranny without a code of law that enabled the setting up of a new society would in their minds be meaningless.

This is a teaching that I have studied and taught for many years, but I don't think I every really got it until this year.

For me, the current situation in Baghdad brings home that message in a very vivid way. The people of Iraq have been liberated from a tyrant, truly of Pharoanic proportions. But it is still unclear whether that liberation will really have meaning.

Listening to the news this week, I was thinking that retired General Gardner might benefit by a quick re-reading of the book of Numbers. Like Moses, he is dealing with a "mixed multitude." Remember that it is only after the 40 years of wandering and some Biblical scholars say a lot longer than that, that one sees the formation of a cohesive Israelite society. Like Moses, retired General Gardner may find that the Iraqis are less focused on what he and the US have done for them, and more on what hasn't yet been accomplished. God smote the Egyptians with ten plagues and split the sea, but the Israelites were only momentarily grateful. Briefly, they sang and danced and celebrated. At the shores of the sea, we are told Vayaminu b'Adonai ube Mosheh avdo- they had faith in God and in Moses, God's servant. Then for the next 40 years, they complained and agitated and rebelled, always focused on what they didn't have. Moses' life was threatened on more than one occasion and criticism came not only from the rabble, but also from those within the leadership structure, heads of clans and fellow Levites including his nephew Korach and on at least on occasion, Aaron and Miriam.

Thinking about Iraq this year, also opened my eyes to the reality that many countries in the third world, especially in Africa, succeeded in Exodus but failed in the next step. They threw off their colonial oppressors, without being able to establish successful governance and a cohesive civil society.

When I was in rabbinic school, what was very hot in Christian religious circles was Liberation Theology. Liberation Theology was built on the Exodus as a model and had become dominant in the Catholic Church in South and Central America. For me as a young rabbinic student, it was interesting to see Christian theologians turning from the New Testament to the Hebrew Scriptures.

Perhaps as a world community, we need to go back to those scriptures and recognize that focusing on Liberation alone is not being true to our Biblical roots. We are not just liberated from, we are also liberated to. Consider where the Bible puts its emphasis. The Israelites are liberated in chapter 12 of the second of five books. If we compared the Five books of the Bible to a single Harry Potter novel, it would be equivalent to everything that happens to Harry before he gets to Hogwarts. Clearly the Biblical authors thought that what happened after the Exodus was pretty important.

This year as I count the Omer and move from Liberation to Legislation, I appreciate in a new way the task that Moses faced, and the meaning in our traditions trying Passover with Shavuot.