An Earth Day Passover
Blog written by Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal, Senior Rabbi, Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta and GIPL Board Chair.
Photo taken by GIPL Team Members at the 13th Annual Atlanta Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Interfaith Hunger Seder on April 10, 2023. Learn more about this year’s Hunger Seder on April 28 at www.atlhungerseder.org.
This year, the Jewish holiday of Passover falls on our global observance of Earth Day, Monday, April 22. These two celebrations are aptly joined this year, (and every year, frankly, but the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars don’t always align).
Throughout the Passover story and sacred rituals of the Passover seder (The special dinner that features symbolic foods, storytelling, question-asking, and much more), we are reminded of the power of our physical environment and the role it plays in our lives. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, I will try not to spoil it but just know that because of the cruelty and stubbornness of the Pharoah, the leader of the land of Mitzrayim (ancient Egypt), this civilization experiences divine retribution in the form of ten devastating plagues. The plagues that befall Mitzrayim are manifested by effects associated with environmental shifts. For instance, the water turns to blood which makes it undrinkable; frogs, lice, and locusts infest the land destroying crops, spreading disease and discomfort for both humans and creatures. Livestock and people are stricken with diseases like boils and it all culminates in the final and most devastating plague—the death of every firstborn child. It’s a horrific reprisal for the bad behaviors of humanity.
I am leery about extending the theological claims of this sacred Biblical story to our modern environmental crisis. We try not to think of ourselves and the many wonderful people of our planet as akin to the cruel, hateful Pharoah and his people who supported and participated in his oppressive civilization. I do not believe that the current humanity is deserving of divine retribution. However, I do recognize that just as Pharoah’s actions brought on the suffering of the ancient Egyptian civilization through the 10 plagues, we cannot pretend that our actions, which have led to the depletion of our natural resources and the pollution of the resources we have left, did not contribute mightily to the environmental crisis we are facing today.
Passover helps to infuse Earth Day with an added message from the ages:
Just as the destruction of Mitzrayim came about by the stubborn response to our hero’s call of, “Let my people go!” The Pharoah’s response was, “No!,” Earth Day on Passover urges us to listen more carefully to the cries, pleas and demands of our current era.
I hope that Passover helps us respond more positively to the humane and just needs of our crisis today.
