A-Z OF JEWISH VALUES -

V FOR VALUES - The Value of Values

V is for Victory – as everybody knows. We think of Churchill’s famous cigar and his V-sign which gave everyone a sense of hope and encouragement. Victory over a vicious tyranny. Pesach which will be with us in two weeks celebrates the same theme.

It was a victory for the tribes of Israel; a triumph for the right to one’s own identity not to be submerged in another culture.

When you read the Exodus story, though, you get the distinct impression that this was more the agenda of God and Moses than of the people. There was resistance to being freed. ‘The worst aspect of the slavery in Egypt,’ say the sages, ‘was that they had learned to endure it’. The first Seder was held in Egypt, before the departure. They needed to be rallied, to be unified, to be prepared for the Great Escape.

V is for Values. Whilst we all have values, most of which we are probably unaware of, for them to be a living reality for a whole community of people, there needs to be some encouragement if not coercion, they don’t come automatically.

Pesach is one of our greatest exemplars of values. What’s the greatest value of Pesach – ask anyone – what’s the first image that springs into your mind? People, isn’t it?. Family and friends. For any community to succeed, these values have to be strengthened. Friendliness. Welcoming people in. Sharing family seder tables with somebody new.

Pesach celebrates the values of history and tradition. We don’t just talk about it, we live it, we taste it. With special food – that’s a value in itself.

What about the food we don’t eat? All the restrictions that surround avoiding foods with leaven and thoroughly clearing your home of leaven. What’s the value of that? The traditional answer is that leaven symbolizes the inflation of the ego and we are to be aware of our humble origins. OK, but I suspect for most of us it is simply another expression of our Jewish identity.

It is a case among many of where we voluntarily submit ourselves to special boundaries. If you take Pesach seriously, you won’t buy a sandwich during the week – you’ll take a packed lunch to work which is kosher lePesach. You won’t go to Café Nero or Starbucks at all during the seven days Pesach, and so on. It is more than a food boundary; it can also be a social boundary, which takes self-control and effort. And it’s a time boundary, when you are taking time out to be extra aware of your Judaism.

Just as the victory in Egypt was not being completely submerged in the surrounding culture, so it is for us today. I don’t think there’s another festival which gives quite as much opportunity to live the value of a day to day special way of life as Pesach does.

Freedom is a prime value of Pesach. The encouragement of questions at the seder table. Slaves are not free to question; they just do as they are told. As Reform Jews questioning critically is highly valued. For example: why if you are an Ashkenazi Jew are you not allowed to eat rice and grain foods like seeds and beans (kitniot) on Pesach but if you are a Sephardi you are – and we find the answer in history. There are 5 grains which class as hametz, leaven: which are wheat oats barley, rye and spelt. The ban against other grains was introduced in certain European communities where these foodstuffs were kept in open sacks where they could be come confused with the 5 grains or become mixed in with them. The ruling spread from those communities to others, but not as far as the Sephardi communities. If there is a value in this boundary, I would suggest it might be an awareness of the historical background you spring from, which in itself is a Pesach value, awareness of your roots and the roots of the community you belong to.

Pesach, by the volume of questions it raises, spontaneously encourages the value of knowledge, of study, of discovery.

There’s the value of creativity; for example adding to new ways of doing things to the Seder; using a haggadah which has interesting commentaries; encouraging discussion around the table; talking about family history (many people will be making family history discoveries now from the new Jewish Chronicle archives.) Storytelling (Haggadah means narration) - real life stories retelling our family journeys. New songs and games can be found on the internet; quite popular with communal sedarim as well as family ones. Imaginative ways of dramatising the 12 plagues.

V is for Variety. And variety is the spice of life.

These are progressive values of course. The traditional way is to do it straight, although even there discussion and debate is very much encouraged. The prime value in the tradition is obedience to a command. But we do find the value of experiencing it is also emphasized. It does after all say in the Haggadah that you are obligated to regard yourself as if you personally had come out of Egypt.

And we do have our own Egypts, of being oppressed by circumstances beyond our control. The bitterness and the sweetness which intermingle in the eating on Pesach reflect life. Essentially the value here is one of optimism.

These are some Pesach values. What’s the value of values?

Why not just do it – why do we have to think about it?

I think the answer to why in the question itself – ‘why?’

Because the smallest child will ask ‘why’? And the teenager will ask ‘why’, and at every stage in our lives we will be motivated by the meanings our traditions have for us.

And so the more we are aware of the values we hold behind what we do, the stronger will be our motivation, our ability to keep it going, and to pass it on.