Dayenu: Gratitude — and the journey toward ‘enough’

I hope your seders were meaningful and that you are still enjoying the matzah.

Even as I like to stay in the present as much as possible, it is true that my retirement is just over two months away. I have been looking through my archive of Chronicle articles and divrei Torah for Pesach and it looks like I return to one of just a few themes every year — my favorite, it seems, is Dayenu.

Dayenu contains 14 “if only” verses, followed by the one-word chorus. The idea is that we would have been happy with the first thing; “if only” God had done this one thing for us, it would have been enough, “Dayenu.” But God did more and more and more. The first seven verses describe our redemption beginning with being taken out of Egypt and ending with passing through the sea on dry land. The second half of the verses span from having our needs met (with manna) in the wilderness to taking us into the land of Israel. The litany culminates with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, when our lives are stable and safe and we are free.

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Two thoughts: The first, we are truly grateful for the gifts we have received along the way. It is important to recognize each step in our redemption story and to celebrate it. The same is true for our own lives, the steps we take along the path to a particular goal are worth acknowledgement, gratitude and celebration.

And second, it would not have been enough to have been freed from slavery, without the end of the story — not for us and not for anyone else. Until we are free and safe, and until everyone is free and safe, we are not really free.

Both things are true. The gratitude part, the thank you part, of Dayenu is essential. For what are you truly grateful? And, the “it doesn’t feel like enough” part of Dayenu? That part is true as well. Today there is struggle; we have work to do. Today we might need a bit more help, encouragement, support and patience. Maybe tomorrow it will be enough. Maybe tomorrow we will say Dayenu.

That eternal optimism is one of the best things about Judaism. We open the door every year for Elijah, we hope for and we pray for and we work for the time when the teachings and rituals of the holiday come to be … when there is a final Dayenu, and the world is transformed. PJC

Rabbi Sharyn Henry is rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.