Parashat HaShavua - Pesach

God promised Avraham that his descendants would be enslaved for four hundred years…and we thank God for keeping that promise? “Blessed is the One who keeps His promise to Israel / בָּרוּךְ שׁוֹמֵר הַבְטָחָתוֹ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל,” we say every year, but maybe this is a promise we would have preferred God not keep!

Of course, the part of the promise that we are meant to focus on is not the enslavement but that God would judge our enslavers, and that we would depart with significant riches. And whenever someone rises against us, God will save us from them.

Nevertheless, it still seems that it would be better to not be enslaved in the first place. Theologically, it is hard to appreciate being saved from difficulties that an omnipotent God could prevent, to the point of actually thanking God for seeing them through.

It is possible, I think, to therefore read the idea of a “promise” here differently. While literally this refers to a promise that God made to us, perhaps we can instead understand this as the promise that God instilled in us, to succeed in a world that we cannot fully comprehend. This is something that we can be grateful for. Sometimes the fulfillment of our promise is more obviously with God’s help, sometimes less obviously so. Either way, though, we all have that promise within us - of determination, of resoluteness, of resilience - which enables us to survive and even thrive during difficult times, alongside the occasions we have in our lives for celebration. May we all, as we prepare to celebrate Pesach this year, recognize our potential to fulfill our promise as well.

Chag Pesach Sameach,

Rabbi Jack
Middle School Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/Tanach/Toshba)
Rabbinic Advisor