LOVING-KINDNESSOR BAD LUCK? ECHAD MI YODEA

LOVING-KINDNESSOR BAD LUCK? ECHAD MI YODEA

Numbersexist as pure concepts, decontextualized by their very nature. We thereforetend to associate specific numbers with phenomena which exist in ourexperiential frames of reference.

Asa result, numbers may function as a virtual Rorschach test; the images whichfirst come to mind when we think of a specific number reflect our cultural,moral, and spiritual priorities.

Whenwe hear the number “five,” do we immediately think of a basketball team or,alternatively, the Five Books of the Torah? Do we associate “thirteen” with“bad luck,” or with the Divine Middot HaRachamim – attributes ofloving-kindness which Judaism beckons us to  emulate?

EchadMi Yodea encourages us to yodea - to understand and to know - that the onlyauthentic frame of reference in our lives is the one that reflects an existencepermeated with Torah values.

Thisrealization may be the “meta-goal” of Seder Pesach.