The Haggadah—A Political Classic Ep. 7: Rabbi Akiva’s Blessing—Destruction, Freedom, and Endurance

A free, 8-part audio course / Passover 2020 The most widely read, beloved, and perplexing book of the Jewish tradition is the Passover Haggadah. It is also a serious work of Jewish political philosophy. This Passover, Tikvah brings you a free audio course from Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, exploring the social, civic, and political teachings of the Haggadah. He will show how every prayer, passage, symbol, and song aims to describe and preserve the Jewish understanding of the good society, and why the festival of freedom is so central to understanding what Judaism stands for in every generation. Episode 7: In this episode, Rabbi Soloveichik demonstrates the often-missed political wisdom in the Haggadah’s story of the sages who were discussed the Exodus from Egypt “all night.” In doing so, he brings into relief how Judaism preserves rabbis’ philosophical and theological insights even when they do not become the law.