April 14, 2014
By bethmordecai
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Dear Hevreh,
Every year, Passover affords us an opportunity to remember to not take our freedom for granted, as individuals and especially as Jews. No matter how starkly the haggadah teaches us that our freedom is precious, that if it wasn’t for the exodus we “would still be slaves in Egypt,” our day-to-day life in a country in which Jews are freer than ever before can make this entreaty by the rabbis sound little hollow.
That is until moments like yesterday.
With gunshots sounding at the JCC and a Jewish retirement home in Kansas City, so too does the warning of the rabbis embedded in the teachings of the haggadah: remember that you were slaves in Egypt because if you’re not careful it could happen again. Throughout history we have been reminded over and over again of just how tenuous and precious our Jewish freedom is and how it needs to be guarded and protected as well as valued and honored. We don’t know exactly what the future holds for our people and it can be easy (and preferable) to look at events like these as independent incidents that shouldn’t change the view of how accepting our country is to our people. Yet, when members of our community experience anti-semitism or when tragedies like what happened in Kansas City occur, we should remember what the haggadah is trying to teach us: that our freedom is precious.
May this Passover remind us to cherish our freedom as Jews and motivate us to safeguard it for generations to come.
Hag Sameah,
Rabbi Ari Saks
Category :
American Jewish News
Passover
Rabbi
Rabbi's Journal
Tag : american jewish news anti-semitism JCC Kansas City passover rabbi rabbi's journal
