{"id":53997,"date":"2019-04-18T10:17:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T07:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53997"},"modified":"2019-04-18T10:17:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T07:17:41","slug":"how-to-begin-the-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-begin-the-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Begin The Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"53997","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1040","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"","content":"<p>To get someone to tell a story you need to begin by\u00a0asking them a question.\u00a0The type of inquiry will guide the way the story is told.<\/p>\n<p>The reading that is chosen for the first day of Passover, Exodus 12:21-51 contains the query that drives the telling of the story over the holiday, \u201cwhat is this avodah (service\/worship) to you?\u201d (verse 26).\u00a0The purpose of the activities of the Passover holiday are to create our ability as a people to \u201cpreserve this matter as a law for you and your offspring unto eternity\u201d (Exodus 12:24).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>How is this done?<\/p>\n<p>In Exodus it is through the killing of a lamb and the placement of blood on the door as a sign to God to &#8220;pass over,&#8221; or to have compassion\u00a0on the homes of the Israelites.\u00a0The physical symbol is a reminder of an emotional state, that of gratitude and wonder, that when every home in Egypt contained a family member who had died (Exodus 12:30), no Israelites were among the lifeless.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Can a mere artifact or physical symbol convey an emotion?\u00a0Even blood, rife with the symbolism of a life that once existed and is no more, the substance that enables an organism to live and thrive, is devoid of sentiment.\u00a0The only way that the symbol has power is when a story is attached to it, an understanding conveyed alongside the tangible object.<\/p>\n<p>That is what the entire Passover holiday is for, to enable Jews to tell a story that will give us the experience of seeing ourselves as being obligated to understand that we must feel\u00a0we ourselves have come out of Egypt.\u00a0We must act out a drama in which we experience the emotions of being redeemed, of entering into life as a freed people.\u00a0The inherent theatricality of the Passover seder is no accident but an integral part of what we are trying to achieve, to create a drama that we understand ourselves to be enacting with every elaborate step of the complex meal and recitation, the washing, the dipping, the reclining, the questioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This ritual is done by \u201cadat yisrael\u201d (12:47), the collective of Israel, which the Mechilta says means \u201ceach family.\u201c\u00a0 It is incumbent on each unit to create the experience so questions are asked which will enable us to tell a story of both our individual family journeys and that of the entire people.\u00a0Rather than being something that excludes some, as the Haggadah reads the verse 12:26\u00a0 \u201cto you\u201d as being for some and not others, the significant portion of the verse is the opening it gives in asking, \u201cwhat is this worship?\u201d These are the verses we choose to read publicly to begin the story of the liberation of the children of Israel on the first day of the Passover holiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hag sameach!\u00a0 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