Dear friends,
So much enslavement seems to have taken place over this past year.
To one degree or another we were all enslaved to our bodies. No one could escape from the increasing awareness of how frail we humans are. The daily toll of Covid touched all of us to one degree or another.
Here in Eretz Yisrael it feels (at least for now) that the clouds have parted. Over 7 million people have been vaccinated, and so far of those who have had both doses the number of people showing signs of infection has been about 2%, and of that number so far the cases have either been asymptomatic or with very light symptoms.
The question remains in many of our minds. How do we absorb the huge impact on our lives? I write ahead for Hamodia, so the Haftorah that I saw today will only be read by you folks in over a month. One of the images that left an impression upon me was that we choose slavery. The problem is that we are “imprinted” to be enslaved to Hashem, but instead we enslave ourselves to all sorts of other masters.
I was in Hadassah Har Tzofim yesterday. Thank G-d it was nothing really serious. I tripped and cracked a bone (actually the doctors remained unsure as to whether it was a small crack or a small break). The results are that I have to be relatively quiet for a few days, schlepping around with a walker in the house.
In order to leave the hospital I needed a release document for kupat cholim. A doctor had to sign the pre-printed paper. He was on the phone. So was everyone else I saw who was sitting.So were all the people on line. The hallways were close to silent.
We are enslaved. Humans need connection, achievement, and a sense of belonging. I guess that the rhetoric of the anti-media Rabbanim was somewhat overstated. No more.Freedom is so, so sweet! On Pesach night we were all really free. Free of external slavery, pain and estrangements. Most meaningful to me is that perhaps for the first time in our history, we were all free on the inside. Some of us were not. They didn’t want to leave Mitzraim. The darkness that choked them and blinded them was a physical manifestation of their inner reality. But there were those who wanted out!
When you go outside and see the renewal of life orchestrated by what we call nature, but is really Hashem wearing enough of a disguise to let us see Him, and feel His life force in everything that surrounds us, you can begin to feel free. There’s no need to open the phone in order to feel real, at least for a few moments.
Enjoy the freedom that you can feel at the seder,
Love,
Tziporah
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