The Telling is Not Enough
“This year we are slaves; next year may we be free.” In every generation, we find ourselves in narrow places— political oppression, environmental crisis, personal struggles to live up to our own best selves. The seder ritual is a brilliant orchestration of an extended conversation around the central themes of memory and justice and liberation. To which, let us add, whoever expands the doing of the work of tikkun, “healing”— of myself and of society—is even more praiseworthy. As another rabbinic statement puts it, lo ha midrash ha-ikkar, ela ha-ma’aseh: the telling alone is not enough; it must lead us to act in the world.
From “The Telling is Not Enough,” an essay published in the Torah Queeries series. This exploration of Torah, written by Rabbi Laurence Edwards, delves into the ideas surrounding how we tell the story of Passover.
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