"I think there is still a sense in society of `us and them,' and I don't mean Jews and non-Jews, " he said. In employment, education, health care or the environment, for example, if our system fails for some, "it fails with all of us," he declared.
Rabbi Loeb worries about the growing gap between rich and poor, and the instability it produces around the world. He's appalled by Americans' capacity to tolerate the war in Iraq "because most of us have nothing to do with it," he said. Without a draft, he said, "it doesn't touch our families. We're just paying for it."
He also blames a lack of what he calls "a universal view of life." "People don't cherish each other with a sacredness or holiness that we used to," he said.
These, he says, are among the lessons in the Passover story, which Jewish families will recount at Seder dinners tonight and tomorrow.
It's a story of the 10 biblical plagues that God unleashed upon the Egyptians as Moses struggled to win the Jews' release from slavery - and especially the terrifying 10th plague, which took the lives of Egypt's firstborn sons. God spared only the Hebrews, who smeared lamb's blood on their doors so that death would "pass over" their homes, giving the holiday its name.
It's a story of the unleavened bread, or matzo, that the Hebrews baked for their hasty escape into the desert and that Jews still eat for eight days to commemorate the holiday.
But the Passover story does not end with liberation, Loeb said.
"Being released from suffering is not enough," Loeb said. "The result of suffering is to come away with respect for those who suffer and not join those who offend them. You learn from your suffering and find a way to dedicate yourself to something important."
"Some people are frightened by freedom, because it imposes responsibility," Loeb added. "It doesn't give you the right to do what you want all the time." Free people are also obliged to live "a purposeful life, and to accept responsibility for your life."
frank.roylance@baltsun.com
