Shfoch
Rabbi David Seidenberg , PhD
Pour Your fierce anger onto the nations that did not know You and on the governments that did not call in Your name . For it has eaten Jacob and made his habitat desolate . ( Psalms 79:6-7 )
Pour on them Your fury and make You burning anger grip them . ( Psalms 69:25 )
Pursue in anger and destroy them from under YHVH ’ s heavens . ( Lament . 3:66 )
It is right to feel anger when we think about the trauma of Jewish history and the recent traumas of October 7and its aftermath . Repressing or denying our fierce anger is unhealthy . That fire held tightly inside can consume us , as it says , “ it has eaten Jacob .” But feeling it as a desire for vengeance , and acting that out , is unholy . Anger , when hardened into a desire for vengeance , can become vicious , can re-traumatize us again and again , can turn victim into victimizer . Instead , the Haggadah invites us to entrust God with our anger , and to ask Hashem to take over our anger and find its right use in the world .
This can only happen after we are willing to let go , to release even the most justified , firmly rooted anger , anger that is born out of grief and loss . A way to do this : open the door , step outside , recite Sh ’ foch Chamat ’ cha aloud ,
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