In an Ideal World

Did Elijah show up at your Seder two weeks ago? Oh, yea, he forgot to come to mine too! Why do we open the door every year and wait for this perpetual no show? Why do we even care now that Passover is over and gone? Elijah is supposed to come to every Seder to bring good news- he comes to announce the Messiah is on his way! Hey, speaking of the Messiah, he seems to be a perpetual no show too! All of this Elijah and the Messiah talk centers around the Passover season because, according to Jewish tradition, Passover will be the time of redemption for the Jewish people and the entire world.

So here we are- we have celebrated Passover, invited Elijah, and waited for the Messiah for over 3000 years. We are still waiting and yet the coming of the Messiah is still an important part of Jewish theology. Why haven’t we abandoned all this Messiah talk after all this time? I think it is because we still believe that an ideal world is possible. We still believe that it is worth dreaming about a time in which all people can live in peace.

It seems like peace has always been a pipedream and war has been the reality. As Jews we have never given up on the possibility of peace. That is the job of the Messiah- to usher in a time of peace, a time described as a time during which “the lamb will lay down with the lion and none shall be afraid.”

The last few days have shown us just how far we still are from that ideal world- new attacks in Israel have put us on edge, North Korea’s insane saber rattling bewilders us, and war is still waged around the world. It seems like it never ends. I wonder if a study of human history could discover a single year in which there was not a war somewhere on this small planet. Probably not.

Perhaps that is the best reason of all to open the door for Elijah- maybe we should make it a daily practice. The consequence of modern technology is the possibility of modern warfare. We now have to think in global terms- a war in one place can have tragic “fallout” for the entire planet. We no longer worry about the death of individuals or even nations. Now we worry about the destruction of our entire world as we know it.

We have often been described as a stubborn people. That is often meant as an insult but I would like to think of it as a compliment. We are stubborn- despite the history of the human race we still believe an ideal world is a possibility. We have waited a long time with disappointment but have been too “stubborn” to give up the dream. Elijah still keeps forgetting to come with his announcement but we still keep opening the door and waiting.

Like many of you I often turn the news off- too much bad news, too many crazy people in the world, too many people who place no value on human life. How can we react otherwise? The Jewish reaction is to keep the door open- as long as the door is open we can still dream of an ideal world.