Pour Out Your Wrath... or notBetween wrath and love, a deeper question emerges: what do we do with our anger?
There’s a closing moment in the Seder when everything stops. Dramatically, climactically, the door is opened. But instead of opening the door to a new day— we say:
Not on Egypt. But on the nations. I am sure that I am not alone in cringing, mumbling, maybe even skipping this incantation, but this year it feels particularly inappropriate. Not because we don’t have enemies amongst the Nations and not because antisemitism has not raised its ugly head in all the expected places, because we do and it has. But because in the last two and a half years— I didn’t hear it… Not all the funerals were broadcast or streamed, and I didn’t watch them all, not by a long shot. There’s been no statistical study—but from those I did watch, and from everything I’ve heard— There was no language of revenge. No “pour out Your wrath.” Just stories. And the same is true of the Kibbutz Haggadot written after October 7th:
But not calls for revenge. We have a word for that: Resilience. Not the absence of anger— THE TEXT WE INHERITEDAnd yet the Haggadah says: שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּךָ כִּי אָכַל אֶת־יַעֲקֹב שְׁפָךְ עֲלֵיהֶם זַעְמֶךָ תִּרְדֹּף בְּאַף וְתַשְׁמִידֵם Pour your wrath upon the nations that did not know You and upon the kingdoms that did not call upon Your Name! Since they have consumed Ya’akov and laid waste his habitation (Psalms 79:6-7). Pour out Your fury upon them and the fierceness of Your anger shall reach them (Psalms 69:25)! You shall pursue them with anger and eradicate them from under the skies of the Lord (Lamentations 3:66). According to modern scholarship the “Pour Out Your Wrath” prayer is not an original composition but rather a combination of biblical verses. It seems to be a later addition to the Machzor Vitry (11th Century) and there is no evidence of these verses being recited outside Germany or France before this period. See: JPS Commentary on the Haggadah, Joseph Tabory, 2008 pp 53-4 Professor Israel Yuval, an expert in Medieval Judaism and the relationship between Jews and Christians in that era, situates “Pour Out Your Wrath” within the broader pagan and Christian curse-incantation tradition.. It is an incantation with a context— It is a prayer forged in a world where Jews had no power— THE MODERN RESPONSE: “POUR OUT YOUR LOVE”Modern Jews did something entirely predictable— They wrote (or found) a counter-prayer: 👉 Shefokh Ahavatekha — “Pour out Your love.” שְׁפֹךְ אַהֲבָתְךָ עַל הַגּוֹיִים אֲשֶׁר יְדָעוּךָ Pour out Your love on the nations that know You THE TWISTHere’s the part no one tells you: 👉 This text may not be ancient at all. Scholars have shown:
To which I ask, which Jewish texts have not been fabricated, re-interpreted, “found” or re-purposed. Even the origins of the traditional “Pour Out Your Wrath” are not clear… so… thank you, Rabbi Bloch.. Just as the Israelis over the last few years, celebrated those they have lost, thanked those who had given them shelter and support and dreamed of a brighter future. Just as our Haggadah inflates the good and opens the door, with a glass half full on the table to Elijah the Prophet of hope. So too, we are entitled to claim that pouring out love is the more authentic Jewish response. And ask: Which one sounds more like us? But the Tradition Doesn’t Stop ThereIsrael Yuval argues that Shefokh Hamatkha is a response—in the form of a curse-incantation—to:
A prayer that says: God, do the justice we cannot. But Yuval doesn’t stop there. He points to something almost hidden in the tradition. THE SELICHOT PIYUT — SAME LANGUAGE, NEW TARGETBelow is a text of a piyut (liturgical poem) preserved in our Selichot recited up until today on Erev Rosh Hashanah attributed to Rabbi Simeon b. Isaac of the 10th century (Mainz Germany) that uses the same violent language as Pour Out Your Wrath—but directs it elsewhere. אויל המתעה מרגיז ומחטיא בלעהו קלעהו ועוד בל יסטיא
Destroy and cast away the seductive folly which excites man to sin, so that he may mislead us no more. Remove and destroy the moldy leaven which spoils the dough, so that it may not involve us in sin. Cause the intriguer, who ensnares us and leads us astray to be burnt out; break his neck, so that he should have no followers.
From: The Authorised Selichot for the Whole Year by Abraham Rosenfeld 1978 p. 152 Selichot for the Eve of the New Year. KEY LINEשְׂאוֹר הַמְּעֻפָּשׁ וּמַבְאִישׁ הָעִסָּה “The moldy leaven that spoils the dough” Scholars note about litugical collections such as the Sleichot or the Haggadah: “When such a volume was compiled, it became customary to add poetical pieces. ...These piyyuṭim were not written for this service, but were selected from other collections.” So we will never know which service Simeon b. Isaac intended his piyyut to be a part of. We do know that in this piyut:
It is that which is corrupt— The impulse that:
FULL CIRCLE — RABBI ALEXANDREIAnd now we return to where this whole Madlik Haggadah began: Rabbi Alexandrei: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם… What prevents us from doing Your will? 👉 The leaven in the dough Two obstacles. Not one.
So the Haggadah leaves the door open. Not just for Elijah. But for a choice: Pour out wrath. Because the deepest freedom isn’t leaving Egypt. It’s refusing to carry it with you. As for me, I’ll be celebrating my seder on a Caribbean beach, and at this point I’ll teach my family Shlomo Carlebach’s Shifchi CaMayim Libeich… שִׁפְכִ֤י כַמַּ֙יִם֙ לִבֵּ֔ךְ נֹ֖כַח פְּנֵ֣י אֲדֹנָ֑י Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord Hag Sameaych! Sefaria Source Sheet: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/105867
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