At Seder meal, the ritual has the youngest child ask four questions. This is just a start to get the conversation rolling so its not just an empty ritual. This discourse is traditiontal: The Seder in fact is modeled after a ritual format of the Greek Symposium...a meal with a dialog: socratic questioning, inquiry, mind experiments, etc.
Here is a start of a few questions you can ask at your seder to get the pump primed about issues of the day...
1. What is “Freedom” ?
(after Isaiah Berlin’s essay on positive and negative freedom).
Is freedom only Negative—freedom from Coercion from others….independence. i.e. resisting pharaohs who pressed so hard we could not stand….
or Could Freedom involve others…a commitment to being part of a community with its obligation, rules and understandings? “let my people go so they may SERVE me…
2. What does it mean to live in a Free County? What are Liberty..and responsibilities it might entail?
3. Look at the Labels on the clothes you are wearing. Where were they made? What do we know about the people who live their and their working conditions. What are ethics of benefiting from oppressive working conditions of others? Hebrews in Egypt were not slaves the way blacks in south were--the Hebrews lived and choose their own family. they were Couvee slaves..their labor was forced from them at less than alivable wage, and without access to court of justice. This "serfdom" is widespread in the world today--Consider that undocumented farm workers in US do not have practical access to the US court system.
4. Grappling with metaphor of removing drops of wine. We remove drops of wine from our cups of celebratory wine for each of the ten plague to remind us of suffering of others that were "collateral damage" in your getting our freedom. We recall that Phaorah lived while his child--and his entire people suffered death and disease, and his entire army was destroyed at the Red Sea as we sang praises. With is metaphor of the eliltes surviving while the masses suffer, can we find room in our heart to empathize with suffering of Nazi Army in bitter cold of the Stalingrad siege of 1942-43? Of the Palestinians families in Gaza?
5. Are Liberty and unity in opposition? Is commitment to a group help or hinder freedom?
Does the joke about Jews--"Two Jews, Three Opinions" still hold true when there is an ethic enforced by much of our community not to express criticism of Israel as we are surrounded by hostile nations. Or in the progressive community, do we stand behind Obama even if we are disappointed? When must you stand with your people/movement and quell your differences...and when must you speak up and dissent? What are limits to dissent and opting out?
6. Is being safe part of freedom…or does being kept safe and "protected" by authority/culture norms reduce our freedom?
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More thoughts on Freedom:
Some believe Government regulation impinges Freedom.
For some, Taxation is Slavery as force to give up your labor and it fruits. (Hayek).
For others, Government regulation give freedom as it sets rules between individuals and makes things safe.
Does freedom mean there is no limits on relationship of employee and employee?
Or Does Freedom limit what you can trade to get sustenance?
Or do we need to commit to certain rules and mores to be able to feel safe and uncoerced?
Some believe Freedom is ability to “do your own thing” -- without other’s controls or criticism.
This might include:
Right to carry a gun, Sexual behavior ( premarital, access to abortion & contraceptive), freedom to dress and use language …from chador to bikini, obscenity or racism --without repercussion in workplace or at school/college. Right to work on Shabbat, To live anywhere you want (from Hebron to Maya she rim)
Or it might included freedom to raise your child as you want -- including corporal punishment, sexual teaching and practices, restricting medical treatment based on religious belief- or should certain parental behavior be banned –like some circumcision rituals when they have been tied to spread of herpes to newborns.
Would this freedom include the personal right to signing away anything you own ---
Like access to court of justice to get a job, the right to sell your own organs, to indenture yourself to pay a debt or to be advanced money to get a job (e.g. may 17th C emigrants to US did this to pay passage…and even today even many foreign workers will indenture themselves to pay employment agencies. We could we discuss minimum wage laws and self-indenture of college loans on this continuum. The “right” to indenture yourself is sanction in Torah law.) Take a job that endangers your health.
7. What role is the right of private property as part of “Freedom”? ("Life, Liberty Property" was is the source of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" in our declaration of independenceor.
8. What is left out--or empiled, in FDR Four freedoms: (circa 1/6/1941:
The first is freedom of speech and expression --
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
The third is freedom from want --
The fourth is freedom from fear