|
Day 10
Linked to the Struggle
Liberation itself is sacred. To come out of bondage is to discover God; to exult in freedom is to reclaim the divine image that had been robbed from you by your oppressor.
This is true no matter what your “Egyptian bondage” is. But enslavement comes in many forms. We in America have come to understand that enslavement of our African American brothers and sisters did not end in 1865. Jim Crow laws, economic and educational disadvantage, and stereotyping still are part of slavery’s continuing legacy. Millions of Americans of every race and religion are slaves to addiction, unable to be and express their fullest selves because of dependency on drugs, alcohol, or other substances. More subtle forms of addiction, including the constant need for approval, for success, and for high achievement can also become “narrow straits,” keeping us from being free.
The great message of the Torah and of Passover should link us to all those who still struggle for freedom and cause us to celebrate with them the great and sacred joy in the moments when they find it—and to connect with the aspects of our own selves that both struggle and celebrate along the way.
--Rabbi Arthur Green: Liberation: A Sacred Moment, hebrewcollege.edu
| 
