THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, April
Purely Commentary
The Universalistic Ideals of
Freedom for All, as They Are
Embodied in Passover Haggadah
By Philip Slomovitz
It has been said, rightfully, that freedom can be prevented more
by those who obey than by those who seek to or desire to command.
The person who obeys too submissively is the readiest champion of
enslavement; he who commands unjustly or unwisely can be removed
from power if there are people who reject servility.
That is why a free press is so vital for mankind. It is through the
free newspapers that we encourage untrammeled expressions of ideas.
Is it any wonder, therefore, that Thomas Jefferson should have said:
On Passover, as on the Fourth of July, we speak of freedom. On
this festival, which marks the liberation of enslaved Jews, we take
pride in libertarian ideas, just as we rejoice in the justice of the
American way of life on Independence Day.
That is how liberties are protected: by remembering the occasions.
when they became realities, by thinking of them and speaking about
theme
• Such is the case about all festivals of freedom—about our Ameri-
can Independence Day and the Jewish Passover.
There are many elements in the idea of freedom. The major
aspiration of free men should be the retention of their right to speak
freely, to express their views no matter how unpopular they may be,
to propagate sincere ideas even though the propagandist stands alone.
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a govern-
ment without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I
should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
If anyone were to assert this today, he might be stoned and almost
surely jailed if some people had their way; but we have on record the
Jeffersonian idea, and we believe it will prevail.
But freedom must spring from the people; it can not be imposed
upon the people with effectiveness. - Here we are inclined to accept
another great truism—Benjamin Disraeli's assertion that the press
springs from the people, as he indicated:
*
More than a century ago, John Stuart Mill defined the right of
an individual to his opinion, even if it went against the views of all
others, when he declared:
"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one
person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more
justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power,
would be justified in silencing mankind."
"The press is not only free, it is powerful. That power is ours.
It is the proudest that man can enjoy. It was not granted by monarchs;
it was not gained for us by aristocracies; but it sprang from the
people, and, with an immortal instinct, it has always worked for the
people."
*
*
*
We view this as one of the noblest approaches to the idea of
freedom, just as we acclaim this assertion of John Milton, made more
than three centuries ago:
Thus, on Passover, we link the right to speak with the freedom
to write and the liberty to choose unimpededly the literature that one
Isn't this the essence of our Passover Haggadah, whose story, is to read.
All of this is predicated on the people's ability to think, to discuss
while it acclaims liberty, bases the right to it upon knowledge and
upon the right to free discussion! The dissemination of facts, and the freely, to meet in unhampered assemblies, to evaluate facts, as the
lengthy polemics and discussionS—ad hatzi halaila—lasting into the great Rabbis of old did in the story recorded in the Haggadah which
will be our text again at the Sedorim on Wednesday and Thursday
late hours—abound in the Haggadah story.
evenings. When we gather
again on the two Passover
evenings, next week, we
will be reasserting the prin-
ciples of the Festival • of
Freedom, while also, reaf-
firming that freedom is not
FOR THE SIX MILLION JEWS WHO PERISHED AT THE HANDS OF THE NAZIS
for a single gtoup — not
for ourselves—but for all
AND FOR THE HEROES OF THE GHETTO UPRISINGS
mankind. Humanity would
be doomed if liberty were
Perform this Ritual
to be apportioned to a sin-
English rendition of the Hebrew:
after the THIRD of the Four Ceremonial Cups,
gle element. That in it-
just before the door is opened
On this night of the Seder we remember with reverence and love the self would be a form of
tyranny. And tyranny is
for the symbolic entrance of the Prophet Elijah.
six millions of our people of the European exile who perished at the
proscribed in the Passover
411 rise,
hands of a tyrant more wicked than the Pharaoh who enslaved our theme.
and the leader of the Seder recites the following:
fathers in Egypt. Come, said he to his minions, let us cut them off from
In his "Judaism as Creed
and
Life,” published in
being
a
people,
that
the
name
of
Israel
may
be
remembered
no
more.
rT
ivt
no
D'
-rnal
-
n0)
irott
1903, Rabbi Morris Joseph
And they slew the blameless and pure, men and women and little ones,
emphasized:
133j t? y -.117
1By; ntk mrrkt n.1);
with vapors of poison and burned them with fire. But we abstain from
"Passover affirms the
.71y1PP
dwelling on the deeds of the evil ones lest we defame the image of God
great truth that liberty is
the inalienable right of
,r_rtr?'? rew -1;1 nn in which man was created.
, 14 n-rr.q;1 )z
"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely
according to consience, above all liberties."
Seder Ritual of Rexambrture
•
CO "Pi! 1.4471
to,n,"prs
Y?r-i4 19 071171?VP Arl? 119 1? r9."1 ? t'61 .1t4r)?"1-11D 1 4?;1
',327"it.g ,ritoz DV; cott/t._
temp 5A) c4N 1 -99 svp.0,7.rnir,in;1
Impiprsrl
,111
ok -,1; It77.1
;007.1
141.7 nt0
cr:rp ry311,
riP97 2:1 0712r171 t7 'L7;1 •E3' t? 1:.!
iDr,itr3 ritr,q; ito;. ;:1 "1"A,
17:1".r.; o'VPF31 13';71tgl. sirlyt? '???Pr .1 71-71'; crtP.EP7 DV
tp
1 7t,t1tr. niz; ntos ri -w4 Rt7 orTii73;1
T'i';; rptip ,4t1 rrinti4 DT! ritt ont)1 -771iir19 a,p7pvm
.ryVF.7
All sing ANI MAAMIN ("I Believe"),
the on of the martyrs in the ghettos and liquidation camps:
every human being."
Now, the remnants of our people who were left in the ghettos and
camps of annihilation rose up against the wicked ones for the sanccifica.
tion of the Name, and slew many of them before they died. On the first
day of Passover the remnants in the Ghetto of Warsaw rose up against
the adversary, even as in the days of Judah the Maccabee. They were
lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not
divided, and they brought redemption to the name of Israel through
all the world.
And from the depths of their affliction the martyrs lifted their voices
in a song of faith in the coming of the Messiah, when justice and
brotherhood will reign among men.
411 sing ANI MAAMIN ("I Believe"),
the song of the martyrs in the ghettos and liquidation camptt
r14171:4,
Ir:1'2..) V-1 r114v;;
Ipo
711 t 7; Dv ,;3QrsiQl?V 'V IN/ nt41
I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah's
And though he tarry, none the less do I believe!
ANI MAAMIN
("I Believe")
A•ni ma-a•min be-e-mu-no shle•mo
B'vi-as ha-mo-shi-ah, v'af al pi
She•yis-ma-mey-ha, im kol ze a-ni ma-a•min.
Im141•)N1ti Ca- bit VAM-YAIn CZ - Ai
/MM.=
•
. 11"..W J1,10.011•I Armweilarir ammurnmsume........ammilie.u.trams
INVIVIIIP7 AMIN MI
LIN
WIM:1".M1111111111P,MIIIIII .11.111.111•1111•111111111111111•4.1M II 1.11111•11111110wANUNIE A 11111/1111/111111,./1/W•ir 'P.M/ TMI
Il ,CMW Jo
=MINI
1•11111111•111111•1•11M111•111•111MMINIIIIIN NM
IMO
■ 'AINI111111111111111
We• w o• „
Z5Nao
„
VI
!Med by
SEDER RITUAL COMMITTEE
WK' --
"•""'
no
a-
ru V.
V- W.."'
Win V.
S
as twt.tno-A-0.4 f:;-
t-
Rag 84 Street New York 28, New York
a- Itt
Kilvt
owst-min
rii malips"tti
win
It is no wonder that the
basic American idea is rep-
resented in the Biblical pro-
nouncement (Lev. 25:10):
"Proclaim liberty
throughout the land, unto
all the inhabitants there-
of. ”
And it is because freedom
is so vital to man that we
are directed by the Mishna
(Pesahim 10:1):
"Even the poorest Jew,
a recipient of charity,
must, on the eve of Pass-
-over, eat only in a reclin-
ing position, as a mark of
freedom, and drink no
less than four cups of
wine."
The wine is incidental —
although it is symbolic of
the rejoicing in our rights
and privileges; but the mark
of freedom is a paramount
mark of our blessings.
* * *
Thus, as we celebrate the
Passover, we make it real
by acknowledging that it is
not for us alone.
It is the reaffirmation of
the idea that freedom is for
all that dominates the Pass-
over festival. The accept-
ance of this idea — of the
universality of righteous-
ness — is the predominant
factor in the observance of
Passover. We reaffirm these
principles as we bid all
lovers of freedom a Happy
Passover.