One of the more joyous moments of the Seder is singing Dayenu, during which we express our profound gratitude for 15 acts of kindness that G-d showed us in association with the Exodus.
They are: He has brought us out of Egypt, and carried out judgments against them, and against their idols, and smote their first-born, and gave us their wealth, and split the sea for us, and took us through it on dry land, and drowned our oppressors in it, and supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and fed us the manna, and gave us the Shabbat, and brought us before Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel and built for us the Holy Temple.
The Maharal (R’ Yehuda Lowe of Prague) in his commentary to the Haggadah points out that the 15 clauses of Dayenu can be categorized into three themes. The first five, that are directly connected to the Exodus, are about our becoming a nation, Am Yisrael.
The second five are about the miracles that G-d performed for us during our 40 years journey through the wilderness. They demonstrate that we are not a people subject to the laws of nature, rather we are a miraculous nation.
The third set of five are about the spiritual gifts that G-d gave us, allowing us to have a relationship with Him. These convey that our nation, which is supernatural, has a purpose.
To sum it up it would be 1. That we are. 2. How we are. 3. Why we are.
The Passover Seder is not merely about historical reminiscence. Rather, we are meant to internalize the meaning of all that we recall and apply them in our contemporary lives.
As we sing Dayenu this year, let us recall that we are a nation, Am Yisrael. We are one people, and we need to be united with each other in harmony. We are a miraculous people. We have survived 3,500 years of repeated attempts at annihilation. (Can anyone spell genocide?) We are here to tell the story, while our oppressors have been relegated to the ash-heap of history. We will survive this current attempt as well because “Am Yisrael Chai.” We must also remember that our peoplehood, and our miraculous survival and thriving, must be infused with purpose. Those gifts which were given by G-d to our ancestors, the Shabbat, Revelation, the Torah, the Land of Israel, and the worship of the Holy Temple, are what make our lives meaningful and purposeful. By remaining loyal to these unique gifts, we can serve as a source of light and inspiration to the whole world.
For this we are eternally grateful, and we declare, Dayenu!
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Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin