Freedom Is Not Free
The lessons of Passover are clear, universal, and transcendent, affirming the triumph of liberation over slavery and tyranny. And yet, the means by which this was achieved is often underplayed. In the face of obstinate evil and unbounded arrogance, God inflicted suffering and loss upon all of Egypt, impacting both the culpable (Pharaoh and his court) and the complicit (the rest of Egyptian society). This inevitable necessity to meet despotism and the subjugation of life with force is most evident in the destruction of the Egyptian army, as the waters of the Red Sea closed upon them as they pursued our people with genocidal intent. The later rabbis of the midrash expressed great ambivalence about what was required to free the Israelites, as God chastised the celebrations of the heavenly host as the Egyptians drowned, intoning: “You rejoice as these, my creations, perish?” Our removal of drops of wine as we recite the plagues at the Seder, diminishing the joy of our celebration, is a remembrance of this awareness.
Perhaps the most indelible use of the term “necessary evil” arises from fields of battle, in which civilian loss is designated as “collateral damage,” and the needs of conflict supersede our normal moral imperatives. But whether 3000 years ago or in Israel’s current defensive war against genocidal acts and intent, the pursuit of freedom does not come without a cost. The critical concern is not to lose our sensitivities or our souls in the process.