Dayeinu…When Will Enough Be Enough?

A Reading For Your Passover Seder

Had 18 college students been gunned down at the University of Texas in Austin (1966) but not 32 at Virginia Tech (2007)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 49 been killed and 58 wounded at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando (2016) but not 58 killed and nearly 500 wounded at a Las Vegas concert (2017)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 12 been killed and 58 wounded at a movie theatre in Aurora Colorado (2012) but not 9 killed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon (2015)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 9 worshippers been killed at a church in Charleston, South Carolina (2015) but not 25 more at a church in Southerland Springs, TX (2017)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 21 diners been killed at McDonald’s in San Ysidro, CA (1984), but not another 23 at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, TX (1991)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 7 teachers been killed, but not 20 six and seven year old children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT (2012)…dayeinu. It should have been enough.

Had 13 students and teachers been murdered in Columbine High School in Littleton, CO (1999), but not 17 more students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (2018)...dayeinu. It should have been enough.


If our leaders offer thoughts and prayers, but not action, lo dayeinu…it will not be enough.

If our lawmakers outlaw bump stocks but not the sale of military grade weapons, lo dayeinu…it will not be enough.

If our elected officials raise the age for gun purchases but do not close the background check loopholes, lo dayeinu…it will not be enough.

If millions of citizens march for an end to gun violence, but fail to vote to assure real change…lo dayeinu. It will not be enough.


At this Passover season, our children – the wise ones, the motivated ones, the angry ones, and the fearful ones – are asking us their own four questions:

Why on this very day, will 7 children and teens be killed with a gun?

Why on this very day, will multiple women be killed by an intimate partner with a gun?

Why on this very day, will there be more than 30 gun homicides in the U.S.?

When will enough be enough? 

Rabbi Marla Feldman is Executive Director of Women of Reform Judaism and the former Director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism.