Rabbi Steve Wernick, Beth Tzedec Congregation

“The Seder as Therapy” is the title of an eerily relevant comment of a new Haggadah by Tablet Magazine.

We read aloud of our travails — and of the dire punishments visited on our Egyptian oppressors by an all-powerful and vengeful God — with the intention of reexperiencing both the dread of oppression and the exhilaration of freedom. In contemporary terms, the Haggadah can be seen as both a trauma narrative, filled with the psychic repetition that trauma produces, and a story of redemption, shot through with joy and song. (Daphne Merkin, P.37)

We are living through an international trauma. The coronavirus is disrupting every aspect of our lives, including Passover. Haggadah itself, however, provides us the wisdom.

Psychologists tell us that an effective way to deal with trauma is to tell the story of the experience over again. Trauma-informed story-telling helps us to identify and label the event, explore its meaning and evaluate its personal impact. 

In retelling the Exodus story as if we were there and as if it happened to us, Judaism has developed an internal resiliency to trauma. We have been here before. We have been redeemed. We will be redeemed again.

As we celebrate Passover this year it is important to share, in person and virtually, exactly how different this night really is. And to remember and celebrate the joy of simply being able to do so, with the knowledge that this pandemic will end and next year, God willing, will be better.

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