Web Exclusives | May 10, 2006 Web Wire Editor's Note |
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| Written by Daniel Estrin | |||||
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Post-Passover Ponderings When I flew home to St. Louis for the seders, I expected nothing different than the usual: last-minute cleaning, good old home cookin’, expected matza bellyaches, and antiquated English readings from our vintage Hagaddah for the American Family. You may be familiar with my family’s Hagaddah—the text of which appears in the legendary Maxwell House Hagaddah and which has remained in print for over 40 years now. We’ve always read aloud from it, chuckling at every Lo! and Yea! that punctuates this Hagaddah’s retelling of the Passover story. Recently we bought a new, snazzy Hagaddah with updated readings, but it plays second fiddle to the Hagaddah for the American Family. My mom grew up with it, and when my grandfather brings a box of them to our house on Seder night, you can’t refuse. But for me, this year’s Hagaddah reading was different from all other Hagaddah readings. At this year’s seder, I found myself stumbling upon the following passage in awe: In every age, some new freedom is won and established, adding to the advancement of human happiness and security. Yet, each age uncovers a formerly unrecognized servitude, requiring liberation to set man’s soul free. In every age, the concept of freedom grows broader, widening the horizons for finer and nobler living. Each generation is duty-bound to contribute to this growth… Reading this passage aloud at our seder resulted in a sincere and impassioned conversation based on these questions: What freedoms have been gained in our lifetime? What freedoms have been threatened? What struggles for freedom have only recently began to occupy the public consciousness? Topics we discussed include gay rights and sexual freedoms, technological advances in global communication, threats of terrorism and effects of the Freedom Act, acknowledgement of genocides committed on our watch, a patient’s right to die, and immigrant rights. And as the Hagaddah for the American Family says—and you don’t mess with the Hagaddah for the American Family—each generation is duty-bound to question the norm and expand the concept of freedom. And it’s our generation’s turn to step up to the bat. This post-Passover publication of the New Voices Web Wire is full of questions: Why should Jews care about immigration reforms? How are Jews expanding traditional uses of the mikveh? What is it about Jews for Jesus that makes our skin crawl? And what the heck is the Lubavitcher Rebbe doing on porn sites? This marks my last issue as Web Wire editor. It’s been a labor of love. Special thanks to all of the talented contributors who endured my repeated nagging throughout the year, to the fantastic and hardworking staff of New Voices, and especially to editor-in-chief Ilana Sichel for her patience, advice and editing skills par excellence.
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