Jewish tradition and its dealings with suffering

this year i participated in a Seder meal -- the traditional Jewish meal of Passover. There are many variations of how the meal is to proceed, but the general idea is that the group is gathered around a table and goes through a series of readings and songs during the course of the meal which provide sanctification before God, a remembrance of the work of God in the lives of his people throughout history, a re-commitment to work against the injustice and slavery in the world to bring justice and peace, and an acknowledgement of hope. ...a second-grade child read this portion of the Seder meal:

'On Passover, we eat theology and drink ethics. The bitter herbs [here we chewed on horseradish root] may not be swallowed. They must be chewed and tasted. It is not enough to talk abstractly 'about' oppression, to analyze the causes which led to slavery, to read 'about' the forced labor camps. To the best of our ability we are to expereience the lives embittered by totalitarian punishment. To taste the bitter herbs is part of the process of feeling the affliction of body and spirit which a subjugated people sufffers.

'Yet, when the bitter herb is eaten, it is mixed with the cinnamoned charoset [a thick, sweet creamed paste eaten on unleavened bread], perhaps to teach us that memory cannot be immersed only in darkness and despair. The sweet mixture is not the dominant taste as the bitter herb is dipped in the charoset. The charoset is not meant to eradicate the bitter, only to remind us that there is goodness in the world, however small, nad hope in the future, however slight. Without the charoset, the only lasting memory would be that of torture and shame.'