Enough to Be Thankful For
This is the title of the most popular song of the Passover seder in which we enumerate the historical kindness bestowed on our people by our Creator. After mentioning each kindness, from the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the Beit HaMikdash, we declare in melodic fashion that any one of them would have been enough for us (dayeinu) to be thankful for.
The final pair of this long list teach an important lesson in our scale of values:
Had He given us the Torah and not brought us into Eretz Yisrael – it would have been enough for us. Had He brought us into Eretz Yisrael and not built for us the Holy Temple – it would have been enough for us.
Torah without Eretz Yisrael is a viable formula for the fulfillment of our identity as a chosen people. For thousands of years Jews have preserved their identity in lands not their own. Eretz Yisrael without Torah, on the other hand, can degenerate into the empty nationalism of other peoples.
Once we have the Torah, however, Eretz Yisrael becomes the ideal setting for the development of our spiritual potential, and the Beit HaBechirah – the house in Jerusalem chosen by God as the dwelling place for His presence – is the sacred shrine for facilitating total development of our human potential to connect with our Creator.
Today, when all Jews have the Torah and the opportunity to come to Eretz Yisrael – even if we have not yet merited having the Beit HaBechirah in our midst – we can joyously sing: Dayeinu!
