Oppression and liberation

In recent weeks, the news has been filled with images of citizens around the world protesting in the streets against totalitarian governments and their policies of suppressing expression. Women and children have demanded the release of husbands, sons and brothers arrested and held without explanation. And while these events are taking place, the Jewish community is observing the holiday season of Passover, the season of our liberation millenia ago from oppression by Pharoah in ancient Egypt.

We often think that these ancient stories have little relevance in our day, but the images before our eyes belie that impression. The ancient Hebrew Biblical narrative imagines that the natural condition of human beings is to live in freedom. We are all children of the one God and we are equally entitled to certain human rights emanating from the Creator. How is it that some human beings arrogate to themselves the right to oppress or enslave others?  How is it that some human beings arrogantly assume they know what is best for their fellow human beings? The God who endowed us with freedom and human rights also gave us free will.

At the seder services held last week in Jewish homes throughout the world, we gave thanks to the One True God that our Jewish ancestors were liberated from Egypt. But, we also prayed for liberation of all mankind who may still be oppressed. We invoked the name of Elijah, the Prophet, the harbinger of the messianic era in which humanity will be free. We invited those who are hungry to come and observe the festival at our tables. We acknowledged that once we were slaves, but now we are free, at least many of us who live in the democratic societies of the contemporary world.

The message of Passover is not for the Jewish people alone, it is a universal message.  All of us who live in freedom have an obligation to assist our fellow human beings who are not free to obtain their freedom. May the day soon dawn when all humanity will live in freedom — freedom from oppression, freedom from hunger and freedom to live without fear.

Happy Passover!