Pesach Sermon – April 18, 2025

All the shine of a thousand spotlights

All the stars we steal from the night sky

Will never be enough

Never be enough

Towers of gold are still too little

These hands could hold the world but it’ll

Never be enough

Never be enough…For me!

This portion of the now-famous song “Never Enough” comes from the 2017 movie “The Greatest Showman” with music and lyrics by the prolific duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, sometimes known as Pasek and Paul. In the movie, Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind sings these words at her American debut, but the editing and camerawork make it clear that this moment really serves to represent the mentality of the movie’s main character, PT Barnum: A man who desires excess, the most lavish luxuries and an uncountable amount of money. As Hugh Jackman’s Barnum watches Lind sing directly from the wings of the theater’s main stage, PT Barnum stares with amazement as Lind belts these words out. Over and over we hear “Never enough, Never enough.” The words and sentiment clearly touch his soul. 

As we enter into the final days of the festival of Pesach, our tradition convinces us of the exact opposite. As much as we might like the hauntingly beautiful melody of “Never Enough”, we sing a different song. We sing a song together that is at least 1,000 years old. We sing a song about how “It would have been enough.” In fact, that is the name of the song itself. If you haven’t already guessed, the song is “Dayeinu.” For those who attended a Passover seder, you likely repeated the word over and over during our reading of the Magid, the story section of the meal. Year after year we drive home the fact that had God provided us even with one blessing, that it would have sufficed, that it would have been enough. But God provided our people with multiple blessings and miracles along the way. Dayeinu reminds us that through all of the moments of bitter maror, there has also been so much sweet charoset to be savored. God brought us out of Egypt…but also divided the sea. God also sustained us for forty years in the desert. God gave us the Torah, and God gave us Shabbat.The words lead us all the way to the appreciation and gratitude that can exist in the current moment. 

So, let us address the moment that we live in. We are trending in a direction of “Never enough” as opposed to “Dayeinu.” In the America of the year 1989, the wealthiest 1 percent of the population accounted for 22.8 percent of the country’s net worth. Fast forward to 2024, and the top one percent of the population accounts for a staggering 30.8 percent of the country’s total net worth. We live in a country where the 50 wealthiest Americans alone own more wealth than the bottom half of all American people – that is 165 million people. Now, please don’t misunderstand this message. I am not here to criticize individuals for becoming successful. I am here to question why so many are singing and holding the highest notes of “Never enough” while some are simply longing for just one blessing. I am a firm believer in this country, and its desire to be the model of freedom. I am a believer that we all long to do the right thing…that most of us long for a time when we can all confidently say that it has been, is, and will be, enough. We live in a country where there is so much wealth and myriad resources. We also live in a country where 100 percent of the counties have individuals who struggle with food insecurity. We live in a country where in 2023, 50 million people turned to food assistance programs for help. 

It seems that in a society where there is certainly enough, we might not be doing enough. 

There are absolutely actionable steps we can take to help quell the hunger issue. We can host food drives, volunteer at food pantries, donate to organizations like Mazon, which aims to end the systemic hunger problem in America. While all of this is noble and certainly needed, I believe that we also require a spiritual shift or adjustment. In Pirkei Avot, Ben Zoma teaches: “Who is rich? The one who is content with what one has.” While this might seem like an oversimplification, aren’t there many who might benefit from these words? As Jenny Lind sang, “These hands could hold the world, but it’ll never be enough.” If we can get to a place where we are secure and comfortable, how much more than that do we really need? When we leave this physical world, what can we take with us? Perhaps we should be much more concerned with how much we can leave behind. If we all considered leaving the proverbial corners of our fields unharvested as opposed to accumulating more acreage of field, how much would the world change for the better?

As we begin to reflect on our Passover 5785 experience, let us not forget the beautiful story of our Exodus from Egypt, about the miraculous workings of God, and the resilience of our people…can we also take a moment to appreciate the fact that we are so blessed to simply be able to celebrate, among family, among friends, thanking God for the wonders that God has given us? Let us remember that we were once slaves and now we are free. Let us also remember that freedom comes with a significant amount of responsibility. We must be the exemplars, the living models, of what it looks like to say “Dayeinu” every day. Remember there are those who were not fortunate enough to be at a seder table, waiting patiently through the parsley and the maror for the shulchan orech (the festive meal.) In a world of “Never enough…never never,” we can overpower the notes of that song with the thousand-year old sound of “Dayeinu.” It would have been enough. Let us fulfill the Jewish value of gathering together from all the corners of the earth those who feel in any way exiled; those who feel as if the gap between themselves and financial comfort, income stability, and even food security, is untraversable. It is our duty as a country, and as Jewish people to insist on never ceasing the great work. We appreciate and thank God for just how “enough” it all is. We then continue to act as if everything depends upon us.  Chag Pesach Sameach. 

Rabbi Josh Gray