As Pesach preparations approach their final stages, it may inspire us to pause briefly and reflect on how the routines and rituals of Pesach in general, and Seder night in particular, represent a fundamental distinction between Jewish values and those of contemporary Western culture.
What is prompting this recent change and what might it tell us about the state of Western society?
From the promotional material of Childfree influencers quoted in the article, the motivation for avoiding parenthood is clear: “kids would interfere with her passions for spontaneous travel, football training and regular lie-ins”. It would follow that we are witnessing a substantial increase in the number of Western adults choosing not to have children so that they can concentrate on their personal careers and recreation.
It was once widely believed that humans possess a strong innate desire to reproduce and raise children. According to proponents of a Childfree lifestyle such a choice, when viewed from the perspective of personal benefit, is not self-evident – it is even counter-intuitive. When a significant proportion of society begins to look at matters solely from an individualistic perspective, however, this may be an alarming indication of where it is headed.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks compiled an impressive array of historians and philosophers to argue that great civilisations have failed and decayed when the pursuit of individualism and personal luxury overtakes the importance of society and collective values and morals. Only against this backdrop, she argues can we understand the agenda of the Torah as
“the creation of a society capable of defeating the normal laws of the growth-and-decline of civilisations…By each person bearing and sharing responsibility for the society as a whole. By each knowing the history of his or her people. By each individual studying and understanding the laws that govern all. By teaching their children so that they too become literate and articulate in their identity.”
In contrast to the current Western trend, Judaism’s emphasis on a historical national covenant and collective consciousness is felt throughout the Torah. As the Exodus reaches fever-pitch with miraculous plagues striking the obstinate Pharaoh, God informs Moshe of their purpose being: “so that you tell into the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and [that you tell of] My signs that I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord”. A few chapters later a set of rites are commanded in order to ensure that this national memory will be burned into the collective consciousness of the Jews throughout future generations – rituals which we perform at the annual Pesach Seder (at which we fulfil the biblical commandment of “and you shall tell your son on that day”).
For a People whose life and aspirations of society are centered around internalising and transmitting core societal values rather than short-term personal pleasure and fulfillment, the task of raising and educating children becomes sacred and paramount. This is a repeated theme in the writings of Rabbi S. R. Hirsch who decried how, even in his day, the values of secular society were preventing modern Jewish communities from according sufficient respect for parents and teachers trying to impart a traditional education.
Later this week we will be gathering – collectively as a nation – around our tables in a unified attempt to convey our national story and fundamental values to our children. Perhaps the most important value of them all is the unstated emphasis that is embodied by our very act of holding an annual family Seder.
Posted to Facebook 2 April 2023, here.
