I'd like to share a narrative with you, and two questions, not unlike some of those we ask on the Seder night. The purpose is to provoke thought and further discussion. The questions may provide an opportunity to turn a lens on ourselves, and draw conclusions, as we celebrate the story and the holiday of our liberation.

The 22nd and 23rd chapters of the second book of Kings tell a remarkable and troubling story. The kingdom of Judah, after the righteous reign of King Hezekiah, falls into evil, idolatry and cruelty under the malign King Amos and the long reigning, thoroughly evil King Manasseh. It is only during the reign of Hezekiah’s young great-grandson, King Josiah, that righteousness is restored. And it is only well into the second decade of his reign that he turns to the task of reclaiming and rededicating the Temple, cleansed from the idolatrous practices of his predecessors.

As part of this process, he sends his delegate to speak with Hilkiah, the Kohen Gadol, the high priest. Instructed to cleanse the Temple, Hilkiah discovers a hidden or forgotten scroll. Some say that this scroll was the book of Devarim, or Deuteronomy. Others say it was the entire Torah. Either way, it describes the dire consequences of the very activities that the King’s father and grandfather had been doing that would bring about ruin and destruction. King Josiah immediately embarks on a mission to return to justice, peace, holiness and allegiance to the Almighty.

One of the remarkable things we read in this chapter is the fact that the scroll indicates how to observe the Pesach (Passover) holiday. As it instructed, King Josiah re established that observance, and the passage relates that Pesach hadn’t been observed in such a manner since the days of the Judges. Think about that. Not David. Not Solomon. Neither the righteous Asa nor the wise Yehoshaphat. Not even Josiah’s pious and penitent great-grandfather Hezekiah had observed and caused to be observed a Pesach as it was meant to be.

How is this possible? How did righteous and holy kings fall short on our most cherished holiday?

As well, determined to know what the Almighty wants of him, and how to avert disaster, Josiah sends for the prophetess Huldah to give insight, succour, and inspiration. But Huldah has little comfort to give. She confirms the ordained and unavoidable outcomes of the cruelty, evil, and idolatry of too many leaders of the kingdom of Judah. Josiah’s reign (31 years) would be mostly peaceful, his kingdom would expand, and his piety would protect his people while he lived. But, she said, the kingdom would fall soon after, as the promised results of the betrayal of the covenant by the people. Indeed there were four kings in quick succession after Josiah (who was killed by the Egyption Pharaoh Necho at Meggido). During their reigns, the Empire of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was ascendant, and he ultimately destroyed the first Temple, exiling most of the inhabitants of the kingdom.

As the Yom Kippur prayer “Eleh Ezkerah” recounting the story of the ten martyrs, allegorically says of the angels questioning the Almighty: “Zeh Torah VeZeh Sekhora?” This is the Torah and this is its reward? What is the point of a repentant King Josiah, if it will all come to naught?

Neither one of these questions is easily answered, and, frankly, I may not satisfy you with my suggestions. Nonetheless, it is essential that we, the Jewish people, grapple with existential questions such as these, using the frame of our long, turbulent history as a prism through which we can shed light to guide us.

It seems to me that the answers to these questions are related, if not intertwined.

The original Pesach, and those immediately thereafter, came at a time when the Jewish people were transient. At first, they were former slaves leaving bondage, traveling through a desert, beset on all sides and depending solely on the Almighty for direction and protection. Even when they entered the land of Israel, they spent generations without a unified leadership, a Temple, a capital, or even the national narrative that was their inheritance.

It was only under the unified kingdom of David that these threads finally came together. From that point, they became a settled people, with the opportunity to experience the fruits of the liberty bestowed on Pesach. The command we read in the Haggadah “Each person is obliged to visualize themselves as if it was him or her who was liberated from Egypt.” clarifies this. It becomes increasingly difficult to fulfill this command the further you are from the experience, and the more comfortable or settled you are in your land.

So it remained for hundreds of years. But as the kings Manasseh and Amos shook the foundations of that inheritance, forsaking the covenant that put us there, it became possible, in a small way, to replicate the insecurity and bewilderment of those hovering between slavery and sovereignty. Thus Josiah and his people were able to observe Pesach in a way that harkened all the way back to that time of insecurity, disunity, and challenge.

This framing may perhaps give us an insight into what the second question portends. The Jewish people have a history that spans more than 3500 years. We have cycles of sovereignty and exile, of righteousness and transgression, of unity and division. The only certainty we have is that in the scope of history, we overcome every challenge, even the most brutal. It is by the merit of those like King Josiah, who persevered in justice and righteousness even though he knew it would not avail in all but the longest terms; by the merit of Huldah, who spoke the unvarnished truth even to the king himself, regardless of the consequences; and by the merit of righteous, charitable, responsible and giving Jews - as each of us aspires to be - that the long arc of our history, to paraphrase Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., bends towards justice, sovereignty and peace.

May we all be blessed with a full understanding of our history and the implications of our actions for the future of our people. May we be granted the confidence to act - to ensure our security, to defend our sovereignty, to be proud of our identity, to overcome division - seeking true unity, fulfilling our destinies as individuals and as a people.

Chag Sameach