Look at where you are
Look at where you started
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle
Just stay alive, that would be enough.
Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Look at where you started
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle
Just stay alive, that would be enough.
Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Five Stanzas of Leaving Slavery
1) If God had only brought us out of Egypt.
2) If God had only brought down justice upon the Egyptians.
3) If God had only brought down justice upon their gods.
4) If God had only slain their first-born.
5) If God had only given to us their health and wealth.
Five Stanzas of Miracles
6) If God had only split the sea for us.
7) If God had only led us through on dry land.
8) If God had only drowned our oppressors.
9) If God had only provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years.
10) If God had only fed us manna.
Five Stanzas of Being With God
11) If God had only given us Shabbat.
12) If God had only led us to Mount Sinai.
13) If God had only given us the Torah.
14) If God had only brought us into the Land of Israel.
15) If God built the Temple for us.
1) If God had only brought us out of Egypt.
2) If God had only brought down justice upon the Egyptians.
3) If God had only brought down justice upon their gods.
4) If God had only slain their first-born.
5) If God had only given to us their health and wealth.
Five Stanzas of Miracles
6) If God had only split the sea for us.
7) If God had only led us through on dry land.
8) If God had only drowned our oppressors.
9) If God had only provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years.
10) If God had only fed us manna.
Five Stanzas of Being With God
11) If God had only given us Shabbat.
12) If God had only led us to Mount Sinai.
13) If God had only given us the Torah.
14) If God had only brought us into the Land of Israel.
15) If God built the Temple for us.
Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Dayenu is not an attempt to sum up God’s gifts in the past; it is a sincere effort to atone for all the moments when we responded to God’s beneficence with the disparagement and belittling of ungrateful children.
Dayenu is not an attempt to sum up God’s gifts in the past; it is a sincere effort to atone for all the moments when we responded to God’s beneficence with the disparagement and belittling of ungrateful children.
Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
How easy it is to live in constant anticipation, promising God and ourselves that we will be satisfied and grateful, if only . . . but there is always something else. This is part of what makes us human. When we say Dayeinu, on one level we are lying. We say, “It would have been enough.” But we know that this is not true. No single step of our journey out of slavery would have been sufficient.
Yet, we tell this lie in order to cultivate our capacity for gratitude. We exercise our thanking muscles, trying at least for a moment to appreciate each and every small gift as if we really believed it was enough. Of course we want more. We have hopes and dreams for ourselves and for our children. But for their sakes, and for our own, we must also be able to stop and say Dayeinu: “This is enough for us, thank God.” For a moment, to feel that we have everything we need — that is what it means to say Dayeinu.
How easy it is to live in constant anticipation, promising God and ourselves that we will be satisfied and grateful, if only . . . but there is always something else. This is part of what makes us human. When we say Dayeinu, on one level we are lying. We say, “It would have been enough.” But we know that this is not true. No single step of our journey out of slavery would have been sufficient.
Yet, we tell this lie in order to cultivate our capacity for gratitude. We exercise our thanking muscles, trying at least for a moment to appreciate each and every small gift as if we really believed it was enough. Of course we want more. We have hopes and dreams for ourselves and for our children. But for their sakes, and for our own, we must also be able to stop and say Dayeinu: “This is enough for us, thank God.” For a moment, to feel that we have everything we need — that is what it means to say Dayeinu.
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag
The refrain of “dayenu” has an implicit suffix. In other words, – “dayenu” should not be translated simply as ‘it would have been enough’; rather, “dayenu” means ‘it would have been enough to praise God' – even if God had only taken us out of Egypt, or only if [God] had split the Sea, etc.
The refrain of “dayenu” has an implicit suffix. In other words, – “dayenu” should not be translated simply as ‘it would have been enough’; rather, “dayenu” means ‘it would have been enough to praise God' – even if God had only taken us out of Egypt, or only if [God] had split the Sea, etc.
Central Conference of American Rabbis - The Columbus Platform (1937)
In Judaism religion and morality blend into an indissoluble unity. Seeking God means to strive after holiness, righteousness and goodness. The love of God is incomplete without the love of one’s fellowmen. Judaism emphasizes the kinship of the human race, the sanctity and worth of human life and personality and the right of the individual to freedom and to the pursuit of his chosen vocation. justice to all, irrespective of race, sect or class, is the inalienable right and the inescapable obligation of all. The state and organized government exist in order to further these ends.
In Judaism religion and morality blend into an indissoluble unity. Seeking God means to strive after holiness, righteousness and goodness. The love of God is incomplete without the love of one’s fellowmen. Judaism emphasizes the kinship of the human race, the sanctity and worth of human life and personality and the right of the individual to freedom and to the pursuit of his chosen vocation. justice to all, irrespective of race, sect or class, is the inalienable right and the inescapable obligation of all. The state and organized government exist in order to further these ends.
Selections from Passover Haggadah: The Feast of Freedom, The Rabbinical Assembly 1982.
"And God saw". What did God see? That the people of Israel were compassionate towards one another. If one completed producing their quota of bricks, they would go help another do the same.
"And God saw". What did God see? That the people of Israel were compassionate towards one another. If one completed producing their quota of bricks, they would go help another do the same.