The Passover festival retells the Exodus story of the Israelites liberation from the bondage of听Mitzrayim, Egypt.听听惭颈迟锄谤补测颈尘听holds the meaning in Hebrew of being stuck or in narrow straits, which makes it more of a state of being than a geographical place.听听惭颈迟锄谤补测颈尘听represents a system of institutionalized oppression and degradation.
Passover centers around a festive meal called a seder where symbolic foods and rituals aid in telling the story of liberation.听The Passover experience tasks the Jewish people to examine liberation from the microcosm of the personal to the macrocosm of contemporary social injustice.听听We learn from the prophet Isaiah, 鈥淯ntie the cords of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break off every yoke鈥� if you banish the yoke from your midst鈥� then shall your light shine in darkness, and your gloom shall be like noon day.听听God will guide you always.鈥� (Isaiah 56:6) None of us are truly free until we are all free.
听Passover is about maintaining awareness of the condition of humanity on our planet and working together towards true social justice as well as examining our personal places of stuckness.听听We all have an internal Pharaoh who subjugates us with destructive messages; 鈥測ou are inadequate, you are not worthy, you do not belong鈥�.鈥� We also have an internal Moses an agent for Divine Source supporting our own personal liberation.
Early on in the听蝉别诲别谤听there is a song that holds one of my favourite passages, 鈥淟et all who are hungry come and eat.听Let all who need celebrate Passover.鈥澨齌here is a deeply spiritual commentary on this passage.听听If you know what you hunger for, come eat.听听In our world today many of us feel an internal hollow that we define as a hunger.听We try to fill this perceived lack with all sorts of substances that essentially leave us feeling more empty and toxic.听听We fill the internal emptiness with food, alcohol, drugs, dysfunctional relationships, shopping therapy鈥�. The risk of filling our lives and our very beings with stuff is that this stuff can enslave us and serve as a pathway to empower our personal Pharaoh.听
The word for Passover in Hebrew is Pesach.听One way to understand this passage is a beautiful play on words in Hebrew.听听If you don鈥檛 know what you hunger for听pehliterally mouth,听sach-literally talk as in dialogue.听听If you feel empty and don鈥檛 know how to fill it- talk to someone, get help, enter counselling.
The Exodus archetype is not about 'liberation from' but rather' liberation to'.听听The Israelites experience liberty only when they connect to Divine Source at the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai.听
The emptiness we all sometimes experience is the internal soul space that is calling for transcendence and is aching for meaning and connection.听
My hope for us all, not just my Jewish readers, is that right now when Spring is coming to renew our world we can each introspect on our personal life places where we are stuck; from the material realm to the realm of emotions and relationships, from the realm of ideas and world views to the realm of our relationship with Divine Source and the universe. I strongly sense is that in order for us to make positive change in the world of social justice we need to first work on our own personal liberation that leads to self realization.
Rabbi Harry Brechner听is Rabbi of Congregation of Emanu-El in Victoria, B.C.
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, HERE
* This article was published in the print edition of the TImes 91原创 on Saturday, April 27th 2019
Photo by Jonathunder [CC BY-SA 3.0 ()]
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