Passover and our Seders are the corrective to all our complaining #Passover#devartorah

I don’t have to tell anybody who has gone Passover shopping that the grocery prices has gone through the roof. Judy and the women in my short story class have been complaining about what everything costs. As of March 2025, the average price of a dozen eggs in New York City is around $5.89. The average cost of Temp Tee Whipped Cream Cheese in New York City appears to be around $7.99 for an 11.5 oz tub. Judy can’t find any raw chicken livers to make chopped liver, but the price for broiled livers is $15.99 per pound! Indeed everything is much more expensive this year than ever before.

Passover and our Seders are the corrective to all our complaining. The underlying theme of the first five parashot of the book of Exodus is hakarat hatov, gratitude and acknowledgment of God as our benefactor. Perhaps that is why in the Haggadah we refer to the Deuteronomy verses in Parashat Ki Tavo that are recited during the ceremony of the first fruits offering rather than the verses in the first 15 chapters of the book of Exodus where the story is originally recorded. Bringing Bikkurim, the first fruits exemplifies one’s gratitude to God for having provided produce.

The retelling the story of the Exodus from Egypt is also example of expressing our gratitude to God with the knowledge that “In every generation each person must see himself as if he himself had come out of Egypt, as it is said: “And you shall tell your child on that day, ‘Because of this the LORD acted for me when I came out of Egypt.’” It was not only our ancestors whom the Holy One redeemed; He redeemed us too along with them, as it is said: “He took us out of there, to bring us to the land He promised our ancestors and to give it to us.” (The Haggadah)

We have much to be grateful for even with all those grocery high prices. If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

80 live in substandard housing

24 don’t have any electricity

50 malnourished and 1 dying of starvation and 1 with HIV

1 with a college education and 7 with Internet access

5 control 32% of the entire world’s wealth, all are United States citizens (from A Night To Remember Haggadah by Mishael and Noam Zion, page 15)

I think too many Seders end at the meal before the recitation of grace after meals thanking God for the delicious Passover supper we enjoyed and the collection of Psalms called Hallel, praising and thanking God for our deliverance. I want to encourage you not to skip the ultimate purpose of our Seder, showing our gratitude to God. If the classical texts are too long and incomprehensible to you, it’s okay to abbreviate the second half of your Seder.

Safam and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach have recorded wonderful and singable melodies that will enhance your Seder.

For Safam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-n8AAox4lk

For Carlebach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahy0O5judUg&list=PLnuftEmfAbZzX7L5PJJuPca6oNj1Sa_YR

If you want to be more creative, this blog contains 5 modern Israeli songs that will get you into a thanks giving mood. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/celebrating-thanksgiving-5-hebrew-songs-to-get-you-into-the-holiday-spirit/

I’ve also done some research for some modern American gratitude songs.

Pop/Rock

·        "Thankful" - Kelly Clarkson: (2003)

·        "Grateful" - Rita Ora: (2014)

Soul/Funk:

·        "Gratitude" - Earth, Wind & Fire: (1975

Country:

·        "Thank You for a Life" - Kris Kristofferson 

Worship/Gospel:

·        "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" - Matt Redman (Warning: although the video has Christian images, the words of the song do not mention Jesus)

Other:

·        "Thank You Lord" - Bob Marley

·        "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" - Bing Crosby

·        "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong

I  wish you a very happy and kosher Passover,

Rabbi Greene