Dayenu

If the Lord had merely rescued us, but had not punished the Egyptians, it would have been enough.
If He had only destroyed their gods, but had not parted the Red Sea, it would have been enough.
If He had only destroyed our enemies, but had not fed us His food in the desert, it would have been enough.
If He had only led us through the desert, but had not given us his holy day of rest, it would have been enough.
If He had only given us His Words and Commandments, but not a Promised Land forever, it would have been enough.


It would have been enough - these words are probably my favorite part of the Seder meal. Those words hold the memory of all God has done for us and the promise of all that He will do. God owes us nothing; had He done no more than create us, it would have been more than we could ask, and certainly enough. This recitation begins with the reason for the meal, the night when the Isrealites were rescued from Egypt. God did not need to do more than that, yet on their journey He continued to give to them so many other blessings. Today we remember how He suffered and died for our sins; let us also remember how often He has blessed each of us since.

It would have been enough. For each of the blessings we have received in our own lives, we should be able to be grateful, to be content with what we have. Any one of them would have been enough; even the first was more than God was required to give, and each blessing, whatever it may be, is such a huge and amazing gift. Each one would have been enough; how much more wonderful, then, that God has blessed us not just once but a multitude of times.

It would have been enough. As we recognize how many times God has gone beyond "enough," these words remind us that God will not abandon us. His blessings will not stop. Each time we proclaim that it would have been enough, we are reminded that His love for us did not end, and will not end now. We can look forward to each future blessing we will recieve and trust that He will not abandon us, for just as He did not stop after the first gift, so He will not stop now, though everything we have recieved so far would have been enough.