Dayenu, It Would Have Been Enough

​Every year, my family and I celebrate the Jewish Passover as a remembrance of what God has done. This meal takes place every year before Easter and serves as a way for the Jewish people to celebrate all that God did leading them from Egypt and into the promised land. 

It’s called “Passover” because of how the angel of death “passed over” the Israelites who followed God’s instructions, His promised people. The following are the Passover instructions given in Exodus:

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. ‘Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. ‘This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.”
Exodus 12:1‭-‬17 ESV


 At the very end of Passovers celebrated throughout later years, the Israelites would recount everything God had done for them in a very specific way.

They would gratefully name everything God did to bring them to this point, and then at the end, humbly say, “Dayenu.”

The word “Dayenu” directly translates to “It would have been enough.”

Here’s a list of what they proclaim:
"How many levels of favors has the Omnipresent One bestowed upon us:

-If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat (rest) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah (perfect law) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

-If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Beit Habechirah (Chosen House; the Beit Hamikdash; temple) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (it would have been enough!)

And today...

-If He had sent His Son, Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (It would have been enough!)

-If He had sent His son, but not given us His Holy Spirit Dayenu, it would have sufficed us! (It would have been enough!)


This simple word, Dayenu, caused me to think a lot about my relationship with God. Would He be enough for me if He never did a single thing for me again, never gave me His presence, and never spoke to me again?

It took me a while and I wrestled with it a lot to be honest…
But, yes, He is enough just as He is and He owes me nothing but still gives me everything.

So, if He never does anything for me again, Dayenu, it is enough.