From the Editors :
In Every Generation
This month all over the world Jews sat down to matzah, four cups of wine, and if lucky—chicken soup. Passover may be the most celebrated Jewish holiday in America with eighty three percent of Jews reporting that they have attended at least one Seder. (This is remarkable considering that in the same survey only fifty three percent of those surveyed reported to belonging to a synagogue and only twenty three percent had visited Israel at least once.) While it seems that religious observances in America are generally on the decline, the Passover Seder remains a ritual observed by affiliated and unaffiliated alike. What is unique about the Seder that it continues to be observed in the era of the “The Vanishing American Jew”?
Perhaps it is because Passover idealizes freedom and liberty—values that are cherished by the American political system. Thus, for American Jews, Passover can be both a public and a religious holiday. It affirms that one can be both a good American and a good Jew. Given this consonance, we should not be surprised that historian Henry Feingold called Jews, “America’s most politically engaged and activist group,” adding, “Survey research consistently informs us that they are the most involved in the political process, the most well informed, the most active culture carriers this nation possess.” This is, as well, the view of Jewish organizations including AIPAC who have made civic participation in politics the “Jewish way”.
This is not surprising. Civic involvement and political engagement are not just “the Jewish way” in America but are core Jewish values. As Mordechai Kaplan, the renowned twentieth century Jewish thinker, wrote “The moral responsibility… [that] devolves on all of us individually and collectively,” to promote a better life for the human race. He warns that, “We dare not escape that responsibility by taking refuge in the claim of individual powerlessness.”
This is why we find the results of Barry Dolinger’s study in ‘Apathy in the University’ (p. 44) so disturbing. If Dolinger is correct and students are leaving the University less civically engaged than when they begin, the future of American democracy is in dire straits indeed. At the same time potential Jewish lay leaders may be disheartened to find all of Washington DC immersed in the Jack Abramoff and AIPAC scandals.
However we do not have the luxury of apathy or the privilege of indifference. Rather we must internalize the lessons of the Haggadah and use the holiday of Passover not only as a talisman of freedom but as a reminder of responsibility.
Sarah Breger
Meira Levinson