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Among the many lessons to learn from the Passover story as it relates to Koach hadibur and Emet, is the strength and value of sincere communication, dialog and debate, sharing personal “truths and understandings for the purpose of growing our souls. 

Anyone who grew up reading the full Maxwell House version of the Haggadah may recall the numerous times the learned sages discussed in protracted detail the meaning in the words “all the days of your life” or “... with a strong hand and outstretched arm…”  While many skip over it these days, the discussion may be the most important part of the seder, a vehicle for exploring truth by embracing the whole of human experience.  This can not possibly occur alone or in silence.  Every voice matters, every question is the right one.  New ideas mean new realities.  Even the term Torat Emet, which could be translated as Torah of truth, does not actually mean Torah of fact.

“Torah becomes emet in the partnership between the ancient word and those readers committed to Torah as the trustworthy vocabulary of ongoing, unfolding Jewish consciousness and imagination. Torat emet—a Torah that is trustworthy, tried and true— is produced by ongoing communities that strive to make the world intelligible through conversations between living experience and the ancient Torah text.” Source

Practice:  from Devotaj Sacred Arts

• WHAT is a truth you need to work to understand through others’ perspective? HOW do you differentiate truth from fact and fact from truth?