Pesach 5772
Matt Rosenberg
Earlier this week friends in the Dallas area posted messages on their Facebook and Twitter accounts that they were hunkering down with students, coworkers, and strangers in a variety of strange places. I envisioned my friends, huddled in the safe rooms, closets, and hallways of their synagogues, schools, and homes, hoping to survive a series of tornadoes approaching the city. This made me think about freedom and what freedom really means to us today.
Passover is our holiday of freedom. For those in Dallas this week, freedom was not taken for granted as tornado alley decided to detour right through their community. Jews preparing for Passover by cleaning their homes, learning the traditions of the seder, shopping for brisket, romaine lettuce, and shankbones had their freedom interrupted by warnings from the National Weather Service. For several hours, thousands were crouched in less-than-ideal situations, waiting to see what would happen to themselves, to their loved ones, to their community. Parents were separated from children, husbands from wives.
I think that disaster and its dramatic proof of the power of our planet is one of the only modern aspects of our lives today that can call into question our freedoms. No matter what anyone in Dallas had scheduled in their calendars for Tuesday afternoon, the heavens had other plans for everyone. The sirens sounded, the Emergency Alert System was activated, and everyone took shelter. Thankfully there were few injuries but countless lives were temporarily lacking in freedom as we know it. Many were slaves to a turbulent storm.
The purpose of the Passover seder is to personally experience the transition from slavery to freedom, just as the ancient Israelites did as they were slaves for Pharaoh who followed Moses to freedom in the wilderness. Thinking about my friends in Dallas and others impacted by natural disaster, whether just through warnings or through actual damage, will allow me to better appreciate my own freedom this upcoming Passover.
From all of us at NECHAMA: Jewish Response to Disaster, may you have a joyous and liberating Passover! Hag Sameach!
Matt Rosenberg is a NECHAMA volunteer and rabbinical student in Los Angeles. He can be reached at [email protected].