Mar 23, 2015 By: yunews
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Senator Joseph Lieberman Discuss the Haggada鈥檚 Politics at Center for the Jewish Future Event
Hundreds of people gathered at 樱花动漫鈥檚 Wilf Campus on Sunday, March 22, to hear a pre-Passover conversation with former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman on 鈥淭he Haggada鈥檚 Politics: From 2,000 Years Ago to Today.鈥 Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of YU鈥檚 , moderated the discussion.
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In his introductory remarks, Rabbi Soloveichik highlighted the nature of the Haggada as a work of political Jewish thought. He also pointed out the Haggada鈥檚 deep attraction for America鈥檚 Founding Fathers. (Several suggested emblazoning Exodus scenes on the new Unites States seal, and Benjamin Franklin suggested the motto, 鈥淩ebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.鈥)
Rabbi Sacks traced the widespread influence of the Exodus narrative to the proliferation of Bible study following the Protestant Reformation and the invention of the printing press. According to Rabbi Sacks, Enlightenment philosophers鈥攕uch as Hobbes, Locke, and Spinoza鈥攚ho forwarded ideas about freedom 鈥渨ere in dialogue with Tanach.鈥
Lieberman suggested that the Haggada鈥檚 appeal results from people鈥檚 鈥渋nherent desire鈥 for freedom. 鈥淭he story has become a standard, not only for personal conduct, but for freedom movements and individuals fighting for freedom throughout the world,鈥 he said. Lieberman noted how the Exodus has served as inspiration for social movements like abolitionism and the Civil Rights Movement, and also recounted how the mandate to remember that 鈥榳e were once slaves in Egypt鈥 motivated him in part to go into public service. 鈥淭here was some sense that I had to stand up for the other, for the stranger,鈥 stated Lieberman, adding this perception influenced his stance on minority, women鈥檚, and gay rights, in addition to foreign policy.
Similarly, Rabbi Sacks located the Haggada鈥檚 central intellectual and emotional power in its 鈥渞adical, revolutionary, unprecedented idea that the Supreme Power intervenes in history to liberate the supremely powerless.鈥
However, Soloveichik noted that the Haggada鈥檚 message of freedom may be abused; many movements in history that have spoken in the name of liberty ended up devolving into corruption and tyranny. According to both Lieberman and Rabbi Sacks, the antidote to this danger is the message of Shavuot, the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and viewed as the culmination of the Exodus. 鈥淭he purpose of the Exodus was not simply freedom, because if you have freedom alone with nothing else, it can be chaotic or corrupt,鈥 said Lieberman. 鈥淲hat we received at Sinai was our values, our mission statement, but also the centrality of the rule of law, the means by which we adopt a code of [ethical] behavior.鈥
鈥淚n the end, what Am Yisrael did at Sinai was accept God as their sovereign, which meant that for the first time you had a doctrine of the moral limits of power,鈥 added Rabbi Sacks, who compared the English and American Revolutions (based on biblical teachings) to the French and Russian models (based on secular philosophy). 鈥淭he English and American Revolutions, despite all their tensions, ended up with a great enhancement of human rights,鈥 said Rabbi Sacks, whereas the French and Russian Revolutions 鈥渨ere dreams of utopia that ended as nightmares of hell.鈥
Rabbi Sacks and Lieberman also stressed the Exodus鈥檚 message that human beings have a responsibility to act as God鈥檚 partners on Earth鈥攁nd emulate the divine intervention that put an end to the Israelites鈥 slavery. Moses himself could have lived a life of quiet comfort as an Egyptian prince or Midianite shepherd, said Rabbi Sacks, 鈥渂ut if you have a Jewish neshama [soul], you cannot walk away.鈥 As an example, he recounted witnessing the passionate efforts of Holocaust survivors to raise awareness about other genocides, such as in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, and help the victims.
For Lieberman, it is the divine element of the Exodus intervention that provides comfort. 鈥淕od didn鈥檛 create the world and leave, and he didn鈥檛 make a covenant with Abraham and leave,鈥 he said. 鈥淕od continues to care and reenter history.鈥
Both Rabbi Sacks and Lieberman currently serve as YU faculty鈥擱abbi Sacks as the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought and Lieberman as the inaugural Joseph Lieberman Chair in Public Policy and Public Service. The event was hosted by 樱花动漫鈥檚 Center for the Jewish Future and the Abraham Arbesfeld Kollel Yom Rishon and Mille Arbesfeld Midreshet Yom Rishon, and was generously sponsored by Robyn and Shukie Grossman and family.
