My Father’s Passover Speech (1986)
As you probably know, my father and mother escaped Nazi Europe just in time … unlike many of their friends and family who were murdered in the concentration camps. With the theme of ‘freedom’ ever-present in his mind and heart, the Jewish holiday of Passover provided my father with an annual opportunity to reflect on his cultural heritage, current events, and the relentless pursuit of peace for us all.
Born in 1914 in Hamburg just two months after the start of WWI, and never having known his own father who had died while serving in the German army, Pop once said: I wanted so badly to live a life without war, in peace and quiet. Quoting from another of his speeches, at 20 years old, Pop “searched for words which would best express my needs: “Stay away from evil, do good, seek peace” … and CHASE after it. But, I learned that you cannot chase after it at ANY price … rather, you have to fight for it.”
Pop fought for peace here on the ranch … for his family and community, by constantly opening our home and his heart, searching his history and sharing, year after year, glimmers of hope. May his memory be a blessing.
+++
This is the day we celebrate freedom.
Freedom of body, freedom of spirit. Our religion is built on the concept of freedom, freedom in its widest, deepest sense. In fact, the highest basic law given to us – The Ten Commandments – is prefaced by the sentence: I am your God who has led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom.
To be free, be really free, we are required to let God enter our heart. And we are required to search ourselves, develop ourselves, and finally to say “yes” to ourselves. And to stand upright and strong and to stand for all that is good in us.
Then – only then – will we find our way to a happy, meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling life.
The times we live in do not make this task any easier. The world appears to us an ever more frightening place to live in, full of stupidity and violence. This should not – MUST NOT – deter us to go our way. We have only one life to live. It better be a good one.
A German poet, Cristian Morganstern, once wrote a poem:
Go simply God’s path, don’t let anything less be your guide.
Then you will go right and straight, even though may go all alone.
I would also like to read to you from Albert Schweitzer who said:
In this time when brute force clothed in lies sits so terribly on the throne of the world – in spite of this I am certain that truth, love, peacefulness and kindness are the forces above all other forces. To them will belong the world if only enough people will live and think pure and strong and steady the thoughts of love, and love for peace. What men send out in kindness works on the hearts and thoughts of others. Our fault is that we don’t dare to take our own kindness seriously. We want to change the world without having to use the lever which has a hundredfold force.
Last year I was quoting from William Buckley of all people on the topic of Bach. This trait of mine I interpret as meaning that even the strangest people we don’t normally agree with, have something good in them.
This year, I am quoting from a man who signs his name Ionnis Paulus Secundus – “Papa”. Thirteen days ago this Pope – the first pope ever to enter a synagogue and in that way carrying on the work begun by one I consider one of the greatest men of the century, John XXIII. In his speech in the synagogue (it was long and flowery), he said this:
We are all aware of how acute the crisis of morality is in the age we are living. In a society which is often lost in agnosticism and individualism and which is suffering the bitter consequence of selfishness and violence, Jews and Christians are the trustees of an ethic marked by the Ten Commandments in the observance of which man finds his truth and freedom.
He ends by reading in Hebrew the most beautiful psalm which we sing tonight, the Hallel, in praise of God:
Haudu L’adonay ki tov, ki l’olam chasdau. Yoman-na Yisrael, Ki L’Olam chasdau, Yomeru-na yir’e adonay, ki L’Olam chasdau.
1900 years our people were tortured and killed because they were accursed of collective guilt for having killed Jesus. If after all this time an event such as this can occur – there may be hope for the beginning of a long process of love between us and others.
In sum, I would like to say to you, my family and my good friends:
Ye’vorech’cho adonay v’yishme’erecho, Yoer adonay ponav eleicho vi’chunecha, Yissa adonay ponaf eleicho v’yossem l’cha SHALOM.
May God bless you and keep you, May He turn to each of you, and may He shine into your eyes and into your hearts. May He turn to you and give you PEACE.
May He light the spark in each of us so that all that is good in us will shine into the world and will help make it a better place to live in.
Like last year, I end with the words of Baruch de Spinoza:
Omnia praeclare tam difficilia quam rara sunt.
Everything good and beautiful is as difficult as it is rare.
Every book in the Old Testament ends with these words:
Onasa, Chasak, V’nit’chasak.
Be strong, be strong, be really strong. One day we will be free.
Amen, v’amen.
