Blog Posts

Every year it has felt that the messages of Passover are more relevant than ever, and this year is no exception. Passover celebrates our freedom from Egyptian slavery, but the call to bring freedom to every type of enslavement continues. In the reader for Passover prepared by the organization Hadar, we read, "Redemption is not a static point in history. The Exodus is just one chapter in a long story still unfolding before us. Redemption is not a one-time event, but a process that stretches from the furthest origins behind us to the remotest prospects that lie ahead. Our story can only truly be told as a long, extended redemption.”

Allow these weeks before Passover to be a time when we orient our hearts to those suffering from oppression and poverty, sickness and suffering, and ask what we might do to help redeem/free/assist people (and ourselves) afflicted with these realities. By recounting our story, our empathy kicks in so that we both imagine what might be and act to bring it about.

Rabbi Irving Greenberg puts it this way, “How can we create a continuing set of Exodus experiences powerful enough to offset the impact of present evil? The challenge is to make the Exodus experience vivid enough in an ongoing way to counter but not blot out the unredeemed experiences of life. The goal is not to flee from reality but to perfect it.”

The Seders that I hope you are planning will use our history and our enslavement as a springboard to working for a time where peace and dignity for all humanity will exist. This is not an easy challenge! I pray that we support one another in creating meaningful Seders which allow us to be God’s partners in creating new realities and bringing redemption.