From Bondage to Becoming: A Passover Reflection on Strength and Sisterhood |
Every year, as we gather around the Passover seder table, we retell a story that is both ancient and deeply personal. But if I’m honest, I have to admit that Passover has never been just a story to me. It feels like a mirror.
That’s because Passover is not just a remembrance of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. It is a call to look at our own lives and ask:
“Where am I still not free?” “Where am I still playing small?” “Where am I being called to rise?”
Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for Egypt, means “narrow place.” I suspect we each have our own version of existing in a narrow place. I know I do.
Sometimes it’s a retreat into fear. Sometimes it’s a retreat into silence. Sometimes it’s that voice inside that says, “Stay quiet, stay safe; Don’t take up too much space.”
Passover teaches us that liberation is possible. It doesn’t let us stay in that narrow space. It pushes us. Sometimes gently. Sometimes not. But always forward.
And here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: Freedom is not a single moment. It’s not the parting of the sea. It’s everything that comes before and everything that comes after. It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable. It requires courage. And, more than anything, it requires people to walk it with you. That’s where Hadassah comes........