April 2003 Blood And Blessing By Rabbi Alvin Kass Passover is an endlessly fascinating holiday which stands out particularly in its compassion for the enemies of the Jewish people. The Midrash tells us that when the angels joined the Israelites in song on the banks of the Red Sea after their miraculous deliverance, God rebuked the angels for singing "while my children (i.e., the Egyptians) are drowning." When we read the Ten Plagues at the seder we spill a drop of wine from our cup with the mention of each plague as a symbolic diminution of our joy, because we are sensitive to the pain endured by the victims of those plagues. It is that very same empathy for the foes of our emancipation that lead to the practice of reciting only the half Hallel during the last six days of the festival. While we are cognizant that our independence was achieved at a high human cost, there is no suggestion in our tradition that we and the world would have been better off if our ancestors had simply acquiesced in their slave status. The unavoidable truth is that no great cause can be attained without paying a high price. That price is often spelled out in the loss of large numbers of human beings, both combatants and civilians. It is no accident that the word "bless" and the word "bleed" are etymologically traceable to the same root, because the blessings we enjoy in life are so frequently immersed in the blood of brave men and women who put their lives on the line on behalf of a noble goal. All of New York rejoices in our status as the safest large city in America. However, that status was achieved only because of the thousands of police officers who each and every day deliberately put themselves in harm's way as they go about their official duties. Too frequently some of those officers have never returned home to their loved ones. Our country was born in the blood of the patriots who died. Like Jefferson, they were committed to the proposition that all human beings are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We have never stopped shedding blood. In the 227 years of our history, our sons and daughters put on the uniform of the nation many times to protect our country and its principles from foreign predators. Tom Brokaw refers to the veterans of World War II as America's "greatest generation," but there have been extraordinarily dedicated patriots in all of this nation's battles for survival. Who can begin to calculate the losses suffered each and every day in the State of Israel in the ongoing effort to preserve a Jewish homeland? There is not a family in that countryÊ which has not endured loss in the struggle to survive. The heroes of modern Israel are only the latest in the endless list of Jewish martyrs going back to the Bible. The recent problems with Iraq have generated differences of opinion over whether war with that country is justifiable. Honorable people can arrive at opposite conclusions on this and most other issues. Nevertheless, I have been troubled by the slogans of some of the anti-war protesters, particularly a very popular placard which proclaims: "Make love, not war." That is simplistic, meaningless nonsense! Of course, every sane person would rather make love than war. Nobody hates wars more than the people who have to fight them, since they're the principal victims. However, sometimes unless we are willing toÊ go to war to protect what this country stands for, none of us may ever survive to make love again. The greatness of America is our right to dissent and express our views pro and con on every subject. But we ought never to forget our duty and our debt to the men and women who actually go forth and fight on our behalf. We owe them our loyalty and our love. The sad reality is that blood is the ineluctable price of blessing. Miryom, Sarah, Lewis and Sarah, Danny and Debby all join me in wishing you and yours a Happy and Healthy Passover.