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Passover: The Nature of Modern Slavery
Passover has become a very special time for me. Not only do we celebrate the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, but it arrives at a time of new beginnings: springtime.
This year, Passover time fills my heart with mixed emotions. I will not be able to celebrate with the @iwe family in Baltimore. They have grounded my Passover observance in holiness and light, and they were central to my own personal spring/rebirth, my return to Judaism. This year I have asked my husband to participate in a mini-Seder, just the two of us, so that we might observe not only the Jews’ freedom from slavery, but also how we are called to pay attention to the real and imaginary ways that we enslave ourselves, and how we might transcend those limitations.
This year many of us feel like we are captive to a dangerous oppressor, the coronavirus. It demands at the very least that we recognize the societal costs and the steps we can take to protect ourselves and others. Even though we realize the importance of these steps, it only makes sense that our first instinct is to rebel at least emotionally against the limitations that the government and our neighbors have asked us to observe. We have come to take our freedom for granted. We might be tempted to act like rebels against our enslavement. We might want to “break the rules,” demand our freedom, and rail against the narrow lives we feel compelled to follow right now.
If we stop for a moment, though, we can call ourselves back to the meaning of Passover and the indications of spring. This is a time of rebirth, of noting what it really means to be free.
We are not trapped in our homes unless we believe that we are. Our homes can be our prisons, or they can be our sanctuaries. We have the freedom to express ourselves, to walk around and note the things of beauty in each part of our dwellings: photographs, artwork, favorite knickknacks. We can write, telephone, or Skype anyone in the world, and wish them well. In other words, slavery in these times is only in our hearts and minds. We are free to reach out to others, help them find ways to liberate themselves, and provide them comfort in the process.
Remember: we are free.
Published in Group Writing
It’s amazing how before you were told you cannot leave, the home was a sanctuary. It is only the demand that has made it otherwise.
It just validates how much of our “reality” rests in our minds. Thanks, @rodin.
What a beautiful post. We are going to miss you and your insights this Pesach!
We’ll miss you and your family and Susan, too!
It would have been nice to see you and Caryn again, @StevenSeward.
Someday soon!
Please do exercise your freedom in your own dwelling to stop by the April group writing sign up sheet, with the broad theme “April Flowers.” Yes, it is April showers and May flowers in the old rhyme, and I’ve linked the two with good cause in this particular spring season. If you have a thought on work, we still have some openings in March, so you are welcome to make however brief a post and I will be happy to link it against a past open day, capturing your thoughts into the easily searchable theme. Tired of binge watching your streaming service? Cast an eye back across the wide range of different, delightful, and downright entertaining and informative past contributions. See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.