Spilling a Drop By Any Name
During the Seder, while the plagues are being recited there is an easy to miss tradition. Not the taking out of a drop of wine as each plague is said, which can stand out as one of the most powerful moments in the story as we think about how our own celebration of freedom came with the suffering of others. But following that part, the traditional text tells is that one of the sages, Rabbi Yehuda used three words or actually just hebrew letter combinations that were used as mnemonics for the ten plagues. And as we say them, d'tzach, adash, bechav, we take one more drop for each. Why? First of all, why do we make such a big deal about these acronyms at this dramatic moment? And why is it necessary to take more drops out just for this mnemonic device?
I think one answer is actually quite impactful in the world we live in. The names of the plagues themselves, moving from the blood that ran through the Nile to the slaughter of the first born of every Egyptian household, evoke strong images. But the mnemonics are just letters strung together. They are easier to say, easier to remember and make it even easier to forget the devastation each wreaked. And that is the point. We say these letter combinations and take a drop of wine to remind us that even when we use other more anodyne words, euphemisms to describe the plagues it us on us to not let it get too easy.
G*d famously tells the angels who want to sing at the drowning the Egyptian army, that the death of G*d's creatures is an occasion to remember the preciousness of life. We have an angel eye view, able to watch from anywhere the stories of others, devastation from wars, and statistics that sketch the shape and curve of a global crisis. We have no capacity to truly alllow ourselves to feel the sorrow just as we never could truly lean into what even a drop of the suffering in Egypt is like. Certainly it was not covered by a single drop of wine.
Yet at this moment we stop to at least take that much. Ten for the plagues we name. And a few more to remind us not to hide behind terminology and statistics. A few drops to remind us of the depth of the troubled waters.
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