Next year in Jerusalem

Nissan 13, 5769

“Lo this is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all those who are hungry come and eat with us. Let all who are needy share the hope of Passover.” (Haggadah, “Ha Lachma Anya”)


Michael,


At this season of yet another Passover, I’m deep in thought about these words. The Haggadah is asking which of two categories we fall under: Do we approach the Seder Table because we are hungry, or because we are needy?

What is it that I am hungry for? The warmth of friendship, the passing of the seasons, of love shared at your table for over nineteen years. How am I needy? I am separated from your friendship by a seemingly complex and intractable set of circumstances. How difficult is it to unwind these things – to be free of them? Does freedom from one kind of bondage impose bondage of another sort, the separation from beloved friends?

Freedom is not simply something we choose at an individual point in time. Often we cannot choose it for ourselves alone – we must confer it upon each other and upon our community. It is a continuous and conscious act of validation. So then, by whatever path we come to it, it is essential to our very being. As much as we need food to live, we need freedom to exist. Just as a person starving in the desert searches for even the slightest bit of food, should we not be striving for our own personal freedom?

Slavery is not just enforced by the pain of a whip. Even a life outside of prison can be a life of horrendous slavery. Not "knowing" who and what you are and what to do with one's life based upon that knowledge is as much slavery as not being "allowed" to be the human being that you’ve struggled to be after forty long years.

On the first night of Passover, when we open our doors and intone the invitation to the needy of our community do we expect them to answer our call?

Moreover, if in their want and their lack, they reach out to us?

How would we greet them?









The Seder is complete

An obligation fulfilled alone
far from the love of cherished family and warm friendships

The food and drink ashen to my tongue

ברך אותך, אלוהים, ושלנו, מלך של היקום, שהרשה לנו חיים, החזק אותנו,
ואפשר לנו להגיע לעונה הזאת

"Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of
the universe, who has granted us life,
sustained us, and enabled us to
reach this season . . . "

בשנה הבאה בירושלים

L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim



© 2009 Renée Thomas all rights reserved