Photo Credit: Courtney Ball
The Dayenu is a Jewish liturgy with a powerful refrain: “It would have been enough…”
Imagine the Dayenu seeping into our lives. Enough time, enough love, enough resources. Enough for all of us, enough to share.
Throughout my life in work in impoverished communities, I have witnessed bold people practicing this ethic in a philosophy of: “You make do with what you have.” I heard it again last week from a mother describing plans to create a special holiday for her child even despite hardship.
Practicing gratitude in the midst of a pandemic asks a lot of us. Worry and concern can overshadow gratitude. The practice of Dayenu offers a lens to experience a healing perspective. It honors that which is “enough” and offsets the experience of missing what we do not have.
An image of Dayenu stands out from a time when my family visited Guatemala. As we came up to a bus stop at the top of a steep mountain path in Antigua, we came upon a community well. A large family gathered around washing their clothes in the well, talking and laughing together while they did their weekly laundry. No one seemed bothered by the work at hand. They simply seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. It was enough to be together on a beautiful mountain with each other.
What is enough in your lives at this time in history? How do you live your life so that others have enough? The Dayenu regrounds and refocuses. May it be enough.
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