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Part of Our Story

01/22/2020 09:37:37 AM

Jan22

Beth Schafer

In this week’s Torah portion, parshat Va’era, we begin hearing about the plagues that befell Egypt while Moses tried to get Pharaoh to free the Israelites from bondage. I always found it humorous that while the props my Christian friends’ kids played with on Easter were a bunny and painted eggs, the Jewish children very often played with a bag of plush plague “toys.” As adults, however, we recall the plagues at the Passover seder when we dip our pinkies in our cups and diminish a drop of wine for each plague-remembering that others suffered so that we could be free. 

Our guest speaker for MLK Shabbat last week, Ilham Askia, was known to say that white people aren’t just learning the African-Americans’ story and plight, but that the African-American story IS the white person’s story-they are not separate narratives. It begs the question, “As a free people today, are we not obligated to bear witness to what plagues are still being suffered? Are we really liberated if others are still shackled or oppressed in some way?” In a discussion this week, the topic of modern-day plagues came up. Addiction, food insecurity, homelessness, disease, war, inequality, racism, environmental distress...the list goes on and on.  Judaism teaches that someone else’s suffering is part of OUR story. And if it’s our story then we have the power to change it.

Shabbat shalom,

Beth

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784