Each week my Rabbi sends out an email message about the Torah portion we are covering. His message this week was something I wanted to share with my friends on FusionCash. Enjoy...I know I did.
As we each began our respective Seder meals earlier this week, we spoke of the bitterness of bondage and slavery. In fact, the Seder begins by reminding each one of us that we were slaves in the land of Egypt. This is not a vicarious holiday celebration. Actually, that our ancestors were slaves to Pharaoh is of little consequence to the story. Ultimately, what did or did not happen thirty-five hundred years ago takes a back seat to the very real purpose of the holiday. If there was an Exodus that freed people from slavery, I am thankful to God, but that event has not served to change the world, bringing an end to servitude or oppression. Many will go so far as to argue that religion has done more to enslave man than any other factor in human existence.
The way in which we throw God at each other, tying our use (abuse) of God to blame, to guilt, to supremacy ... people are oppressed by religion (usually someone else's being imposed on them). Now, I know, this is a heck of a thing for a Rabbi to be saying, but we all know that it is true. Look at the news. The wars in the Middle East are billed as religious wars, as we refer to combatants as religious fanatics, not political power mongers. I was called an intolerant religious fanatic, for refusing to accept that God liked anyone of us more than the other. Our own government's political system is exploited for ardently religious ideologies. I refuse to believe that whether a man believes in abortion or not speaks to his ability to handle fiscal policy responsibly. I refuse to accept that the gender of partners in a marriage is the legislative business of a government who guarantees inalienable rights to people, one of those rights being marriage (Loving vs. the State of Virginia, United States Supreme Court). Faith should be sacred, not political. By politicizing it, we make God pick sides. As I recall, though, from a commentary several thousand years old, as the people of Israel crossed the sea into freedom, Pharaoh's chariots were overcome by the sea. The angels were celebrating because Israel was free. God was crying saying, "The Egyptians are also my children." God does not choose between us, we do.
For me, this is the real story, even the real value of Passover. If we ever want to bring healing and peace to this world, we have to get passed the notion that there is an "us" and a "them." The Pharaoh in this story is only one of a long list of tyrannical people in history, who oppressed others, believing that God liked them - best. It takes a tremendous amount of ego and arrogance to think that one is better than the rest of the world. If God is the universal creator, then this type of ego must be outside of the experience of God.
To read the Haggadah (the book used for the Passover Seder ritual), one sees the theme played out over and over again. Social degradation destroys humanity. Where we earn more money, we are entitled to enjoy more things, not more dignity. Where we diminish another’s dignity, we enslave them. Where we diminish our own dignity, we enslave ourselves. This holiday reminds us that slavery is not a term locked in history; it is very real today.
With Passover comes the command to work for freedom, and we know that freedom has to come from within, first. We were free for forty years in the wilderness, but still saw ourselves as slaves to the life we lived in Egypt. Throughout time, even while living in horrific conditions, people who are accustomed to being oppressed, often stay oppressed, even when other options were present. Abused children become abusive adults. Abused spouses stay in abusive situations, oppressed people support oppressive regimes. Until the soul is free, the condition of the body is not dispositive. Freedom must begin internally. Rabbi Isaac Luria taught the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesakh, can actually be read as the two words, peh sakh, “the mouth speaks.” On Pesakh, we open our mouths to sing songs of praise to God because this is the time we celebrate the miracle of freedom. There are many different levels of the soul. At the very highest level, the soul is completely free to move in the direction of God. At its lowest level, it is enslaved to the demands of the human ego and search for power. As people who are oppressed, we must first realize that enslaved, our souls have fallen. Only when we can understand and accept where we are in life, can we move towards redemption. Each of us still has one foot in Egypt. Each of us are held back and hold others back. Each of us needs to understand and accept the role we play in diminishing each other’s dignity, then and only then, can we work towards freedom. Next year may we be closer to fulfilling the prophecy that is the name of the city sacred to so many; Jerusalem. May our Yiru Shalaem, our ability to “See Peace” be more real and clearer as we would gather next year. Shabbat Shalom.
Community Forum
Topic: More words of wisdom from my Rabbi (Read 1540 times)
May 10, 2012, 05:38:52 pm
