Israel in those years. Closing my eyes to imagine those containers, I am catapulted back in time, sitting on a stone wall in Jerusalem, waterskiing on the Kinneret and finding my way to various bus-stations and city centers. I am both independent and interdependent. Thinking back to that time, I feel the taste of freedom.
These memories are what came up for me at the Javits Center last week, as I arrived at the water table having received my second dose of the COVID19 vaccine. Moments earlier, Yvette asked permission to administer the Pfizer vaccine (apparently, earlier that week someone responded no! I was all too happy to say yes!) and Peter announced, She is cleared! Having offered Sheheheyanu, thanking the Holy One for escorting me to that moment in time, I expressed gratitude and blessings for good health to those extraordinary volunteers. Then, I headed towards the observation area. As I reached for a bottle of water, I noticed many branded with the message, I'M STICKING WITH YOU. A smiley faced bandage gazed happily at me from the wrapper. My #vax#2 water bottle has been sitting on the bookshelf in our entryway all week. Each time I see it, I am transported to the vaccine site, a place of order and hope. A place of independence and interdependence. A place working to pave the way towards freedom.
This is the potential for the experience of the Passover seder. Sitting down to tell the story of our ancestors throughout the ages, adding our interpretations through food, story, song, dance and more, we are independent and interdependent. Weaving the threads of the biblical exodus from slavery to freedom through a tapestry that expands from generation to generation, we travel back in time to the station - in our mind's eye - most fitting to tell our ever unfolding story, the one that holds up the pain of slavery and the potential for freedom.
Passover is called zman heiruteinu/זמן חרותינו - the time of our freedom. Like our ancestors, we stand at the sea and taste the freedom on our tongues. We, like they, still have a long way to go. And so, we call up visual reminders and narrative stories that remind us of our past, shoring up our strength and calling forward internal resilience. Project Kesher, which builds Jewish community and advances civil society by developing and empowering women leaders in the former Soviet Union and Israel, released a beautiful video this year in celebration of Passover. Honoring the memory of Debbie Friedman, the musical celebration recalls the Ma'yan Women's seders which I was fortunate to attend year after year. These gatherings catalyzed the Project Kesher Global Women's Seders, welcoming thousands of women in the US, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Israel. Enjoy this video celebrating independence and interdependence, and affirming the resilience of the human spirit.
As we sit down to seder tomorrow night and activate our muscle memory in body, mind, and spirit, I pray that each of us finds the memory within our individual and communal story that moves us to educating and fighting for freedom with energy, spirit, strength and love.
Shabbat Shalom and Hag Kasher v'Sameach!
rg
