It is a familiar custom amongst many liberal Jews to remove a drop of wine from the glass at the Passover seder during the recitation of the Ten Plagues. We tell ourselves, basing this explanation on an ancient Rabbinic midrash, (legendary story) that God told the angels to hush their triumphant song when the Red Sea crashed upon the Egyptians saying “They too, are My children!”
It is a beautiful story, and exemplifies the grandeur of the Jewish ethical tradition. We do not rejoice in the death of our enemies.
But there is another part of the seder that most liberal Jews do not recite, and indeed, it is left out of many versions of the Passover Haggadah. That section takes place during the “opening of the door for Elijah” and is known as “Pour Out Your Wrath” It reads :
Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the wrath of Your anger overtake them. Pursue them with anger, and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the L-rd.
Scholars think this passage was added about 1000 years ago, during a particularly horrific time of persecution, but it has remained part of the traditional Haggadah since that time.
I get it. Its not “politically correct”- and to ask God to pour out His wrath on the enemies of the Jewish people makes us uncomfortable. But consider this: Anti-semitism is real, violence against Jews is real and on the first night of Passover the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania narrowly escaped a horrific death along with his family when his home was firebombed with Molotov cocktails. The picture that accompanies this is the burned Haggadah used by Governor Shapiro. It is time for those of us in the liberal Jewish community to seriously consider restoring “Pour Out Your Wrath” to our seders. It does not mean we do not love, nor do not have compassion. It means we recognize that we have true enemies who are evil and wish us harm-and that we have compassion not just for our foes, but for our people as well.
Rabbi Doug Sagal aka “The Boxing Rabbi”-