Persian and Iraqi Jews have the delightful and slightly sadomasochistic tradition of playfully whipping each other with scallions, leeks, or green onions during the singing of Dayenu. This is done primarily to remember the brutal taskmasters who oppressed our ancestors, but it carries another meaning too: when B’ney Yisra’el were wandering the desert for forty years, they grew tired of the miraculous manna that Hashem provided them, and kvetched about missing the food that they ate in Mitzrayim. “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Mitzrayim, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic! Now our spirits are dried up, and there is nothing at all but manna to look forward to!” (Numbers 11:4-5) 

In doing so, they not only rejected the miraculous sustenance they’d been provided, but they disparaged the greatest miracle of all: their liberation from Mitzrayim. But perhaps we should have some compassion for the Israelites’ suffering in the desert. They were struggling to free their minds from Mitzrayim long after they crossed the Red Sea. Though slavery was miserable for them, it was the only life they’d known for generations. Hashem could provide them with all their physical needs in the desert, but not immediately heal them from the trauma of slavery and genocide. Their bodies were freed from slavery’s chains, but like us, the Israelites needed to liberate their own minds. It might be difficult for us to let go of some of the comforts we find in our oppression, to take a leap of faith from the devil we know to the vast unknown. But it might just be worth it.

(If you’re brave and have onions on hand, start whipping each other during the first chorus:)

.אִלוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִצְרָיִם, דַיֵנוּ
.אִלוּ קָרַע לָנוּ אֶת־הַיָּם, דַּיֵּנוּ
.אִלוּ הֶאֱכִילָנוּ אֶת־הַמָּן, דַּיֵּנוּ
.אִלוּ נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת הַשָׁבָּת, דַיֵנוּ
.אִלוּ נָתַן לָנוּ אֶת הַתּוֹרָה, דַיֵנוּ

Eelu hotzi’anu mi-Mitzrayim, dayenu.
Eelu kara lanu et ha-yam, dayenu.
Eelu he’echilanu et ha-man, dayenu.
Eelu natan lanu et ha-Shabbat, dayenu.
Eelu natan lanu et ha-Torah, dayenu.

If we’d been brought out of Mitzrayim, it would have been enough.
If the sea had split for us, it would have been enough.
If we’d been fed manna, it would have been enough.
If we’d been given Shabbat, it would have been enough.
If we’d been given the Torah, it would have been enough.
 


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan