In Every Generation . . .

Theodore Roberts as Moses in “The Ten Commandments” (1923) — Theodore Roberts as Moses in “The Ten Commandments” (1923)

The second Stone family seder will begin in about 7 hours. It will be a smallish affair, yet far less technically challenging than last year’s “Matzah via Zoom.” At the end - after a flood of stories, prayers, the opening of the front door for Elijah the Prophet, and tons of food and wine - we will all say לְשָנָה הַבָאָה בִירוּשָלָיִם (“Next year in Jerusalem”) and then expand that tradition by adding something new: וְגָם פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים (“And also, face-to-face”). Indeed, we have come a long-long way since last year. And thanks to the miracle of modern medicine we’re getting ever closer (both literally and figuratively) to putting a healthy muzzle on that which has enslaved us . . . i.e. COVID19. To me, the two most important passages in the seder have always been:

.שֶבְכָׇל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵינוּ וְהַקָדוֹשׁ בָרוּךְ הוּא מַצִילֵנוּ מִיָדָם.

(In every generation it is incumbent upon each of us to see ourselves as if we had been freed from Egypt) and:

שֶבְכָׇל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵינוּ וְהַקָדוֹשׁ בָרוּךְ הוּא מַצִילֵנוּ מִיָדָם.

(“In every generation they stand up against us to destroy us, but the Blessed Holy One redeems us from their hands.”)

This year, these overarching lessons are of far greater importance than at any time in recent memory . . . and not just in a specifically Jewish sense. For this year we are being beset by innumerable “pharaohs” seeking to “enslave” us such tyrannies as assault weapons and assaults on voting rights, as well as racism and gross economic inequality.

Let’s start with the last first: According to the latest available statistics, the average CEO of a Fortune 500 company earned $21.3 million last year. This means it would take a worker earing minimum wage for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year and working, on average, for 50 years, 13 lifetimes to earn as much as his or her boss makes in a single year (and that’s if the minimum wage were $15.00/hour).

So far as the tyranny of assault weapons and assaults on voting rights, more and more states are enacting more diabolically disabling legislation in order to ensure that fewer and fewer Americans of color, students and retirees will be able to vote. These disabling mechanisms include cutting back on the weeks and hours that voting places can be open; outlawing voting on Sunday and putting stumbling blocks in the path of voting by mail. In this manner, they (the mostly Republican pharaohs) hope to keep their state houses and legislatures filled with those who are at the beck and call of lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association and deep-pocketed, conspiracy-minded conservatives, whose interests begin with scaring the daylights out of average Americans and end in lying with virtual impunity about the threat of a war against Christianity, capitalism and morality. Of course, what truly scares the daylights out of them is America becoming a minority/majority country.

That is largely why Republicans in 43 states have now introduced 253 voter suppression bills since Donald Trump’s Big Lie spurred the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. As but one example of this, just the other day (a mere 48 hours after the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, the Texas legislature passed SB7 which would limit extended early voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting and allow partisan poll watchers to record voters who receive help filling out their ballots. It would also forbid local election officials from encouraging voters to fill out applications to vote by mail, even if they qualify.

Then there’s the Georgia legislature, whose bill - SB 202 - just became law. This anti-democratic voter suppression bill gives Georgia state officials the lawful right and power to overrule county election boards, imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water. It was this last clause (the one about making it a crime to pass out bottles of water to prospective voters standing in the hot sun brings to mind the scene in both versions of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1923’s starring Theodore Roberts and 1956’s starring Charlton Heston) . . . it was this clause that brought to mind Moses’ and Aaron’s sister Miriam (Estelle Taylor in 1923 and Olive Deering in 1956) tenderly giving water to dying Hebrew slaves as they toiled in the broiling sun. Seems to me that those Republicans who overwhelmingly voted for this law haven’t got a heart . . . and likely never read the Hebrew Bible.

And speaking of the Hebrew Bible (that’s “Old Testament” to non-Jews), during hearings by the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee on the “For the People Act”, which would expand voting rights, Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith informed Senator Chuck Schumer that there shouldn’t be any voting on Sunday. Holding up a dollar bill, she condescendingly told the Senate Majority Leader (who is Jewish and a senior member of the committee) “You know this is our currency, this is a dollar bill. This says, ‘The United States of America . . . In God We Trust.’ Etched in stone in the U.S. Senate chamber is ‘In God We Trust.’ When you swore in all of these witnesses, the last thing you said to them in your instructions was, ‘so help you God.’ In God’s word in Exodus 20:18. it says remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy. So that is my response to Senator Schumer.” Schumer, along with Senators Dianne Feinstein and the newly-elected Jon Osoff - the 3 Jewish members of that committee - were somewhere between bemused and flabbergasted; they refused to inform their colleague of the obvious . . . that in the Hebrew Bible, the Sabbath is on Saturday, not Sunday. Instead, they let the media go after Senator Hyde-Smith with everything they had.

The modern-day pharaohs are doing their utmost to enslave Americans by either blaming others for problems which do not truly exist (such as ridding elections of corruption and chaos where provably there is little to none) or scaring the daylights out of otherwise decent people (“Ban assault-style weapons today and they’ll come and take away all our guns tomorrow”). Some of their arguments are beyond belief. Here’s Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) equating gun violence with drunk driving: “I’m not trying to perfectly equate these two but, we have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that, too. But I think what many folks on my side of the aisle are saying is that the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers. I don’t believe we have a gun control problem in America, I believe we have an idiot control problem.” Perhaps he should look in the mirror . . . or at his side of the Senate chamber . . .

Then there is Pharaoh Ted Cruz who warns that no kind of background check will ever stem the tide of gun violence: "Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater, where this committee (Senate Judiciary) gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders.” And what is his suggestion for what can be done to reduce our staggering levels of mass shootings? “Make sure even more people are armed and can protect themselves and their families.”

The Haggadah speaks the truth when it reminds us that “In every generation they rise up against us,” and further admonishes each of us to hold fast to the memory that “we were slaves in the land of Egypt.” It is a universal message.

What to do about the latest claque of pharaohs is hard to fathom. Oh sure, we could all wait for the Holy Blessed One to bring us out of the newest forms of slavery. But that is not enough. We must work as one to remove all the pharaohs from their thrones of gold.

Along with our hard work, might I suggest a bit of humor to boot:

Let’s treat guns like cars. Do remember that while he sat on the throne, Pharaoh Trump told members of the NRA that “Cars kill people, and if we’re going to outlaw guns, then we will have to outlaw all cars.”

So here’s a proposal to treat guns like automobiles:

Title and tag at each point of sale;
Mandated gun training;
Written tests;
Practical tests;
Health requirements;
Proof of liability insurance and annual renewals and
Inspections each year.

And, as a further proposal which links guns to voting:

You can only purchase one gun every two years;
It can only be on a Tuesday;
You must go and wait in line;
There is only one place in your county, regardless of its geographic size or population;
You must have multiple forms of I.D.
No one can give you water while you wait in line.
And with these thoughts my friends, please excuse me while I go and unlock the front door'; in every generation we do this in order to make sure that Elijah the Prophet can enter with the news that once again, we’ve fought back against the Pharaohs and consigned them to what we call גֵיהִנוֹם . . . namely, “Hell.”

Wishing one and all a thoughtful, tasty and energizing Pesach as well as a peaceful and awe-inspiring Easter,