Dayeinu is a highly counter-intuitive hymn. Among its fourteen stanzas it proclaims that:

- Had G-d taken our ancestors out of Mitzrayim, but not rescued them at the Red Sea, it would have been enough

- And had G-d rescued them at the Red Sea, but not nourished them in the dessert, it would have been enough.

- And had G-d brought them to Sinai, but not given them the Torah, it would have been enough.

What does this mean, ‘it would have been enough’? Surely no one of these would indeed have been enough for us. A Jewish philosopher was once asked, “what is the opposite of hopelessness?” And he said, “Dayenu,” the ability to be thankful for what we have received, for what we are. Dayenu means to celebrate each step toward freedom as if that were enough, then to start on the next step. It means that if we reject each step because it is not the whole liberation, we will never be able to achieve the whole liberation.

Dayeinu is an ingenious hymn because, by placing us squarely in the story, it allows us to experience what our ancestor’s would have felt as the events unfolded in real time.

It does for liturgy what Faulkner, Joyce, and Wolf did for literature.

Dayeinu invites us to be grateful for the blessings in our lives, as and when they unfold. We have no way of knowing how our story is going to end, much less what next year, or even tomorrow, will look like. All we have is here and now. Dayeinu teaches us to live in the moment by cherishing each of life's blessings as we experience them.

What is one thing you are grateful for in this moment?


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu