Dayenu

By Grace Van Note, a senior public relations major from Chicago

For every year as long as I have been alive, my parents, my Godparents and whomever else we invite, get together to celebrate Passover. Every year come rain or shine we celebrated. I remember one year when I was a child I forced myself to get over a particularly bad bout of the flu because there was no way I was going to miss the Seder. For every year I have been alive, there is a Passover celebration to go along with it. Every year until this year.

This year, I mourn because I do not see my family even on zoom, I do not smell the kugel my Godmother has meticulously prepared, I do not taste the bitter herbs, or my father’s lamb, or hear the laughter I have gotten used to hearing over the years. Passover is a feast, it is a feast of the past, of the present and hopefully the future.

It is a feast of humbling. Be grateful for what you have and remember what your ancestors did to make it so. In our Haggadah we talk of a rabbi who every seder would buy two of everything, one for himself and one for those in need. He created a feast for himself and one for those who needed it. Anyone who needed it had a place to eat a warm meal and to talk, without fear and without judgement.

Every year at Passover we say Dayenu; for that would have been enough. If God had brought us out of Egypt, but not killed our oppressors – Dayenu. If God had killed our oppressors, but not sustained us in the wilderness for forty years – Dayenu. When it comes time for Dayenu, each of us adds to the story that was started by the person before with a chorus of Dayenu after the statement is complete.

I have been thinking about Dayenu a lot lately, especially in terms of the last year. If my family had survived COVID, but I was not able to get the vaccine – Dayenu. If I got the vaccine, but I cannot see my friends – Dayenu. If I am able to see my friends, but I cannot graduate in four years – Dayenu. If I can graduate in four years, but my parents cannot attend my graduation – Dayenu.

My life will always be Dayenu – it would have been enough. No matter how hard my life seems to have gotten, it can always be worse. I am grateful for everyone who sits around my Passover table, both the physical and the metaphorical. For they will always be enough and that’s something I can toast to, every day.

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4 (NRSV)

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.