Rabbi Tobie Weisman’s devotional given at the Vermont senate 4/10/24
By Rabbi Tobie Weisman 4.10.24
I hope you were able to see the eclipse of the sun in totality on Monday. I am still basking in the exhilaration of the experience of seeing the moon’s shadow moving across the sun until it was completely blacked out, the wind picking up, the stars coming out, all of nature become very still, leaving a bright white light circling the sun with a reddish pink jewel showing. And then the amazing return of the sun’s light and warmth. All of nature seemed to be in tune with the awesome moment. I hope that moment will be with me always. I’m looking forward to the next one in 2044!
Jewish tradition teaches us that within each of us resides a great Divine infinite light as spiritually powerful as the sun. This awesome light is given to each person when they are born and stays with us even after we leave the world. When we are born, we are connected strongly to this light, the light of our souls. However, like the eclipse of the sun, our Divine light often becomes blocked. We forget that we are beings of great awesome light. What can we do to become reconnected to our Divine light?
The Jewish tradition has a way for us to find our way back to shining our infinite light. In less than 2 weeks, the Jewish holiday of Passover will be celebrated.
At the Passover Seder, we hold the special meal where we tell the story of Passover with the help of the ancient text of the Haggadah, which means "telling". The central message in the Haggadah states, “In every generation, a person must see themselves as if they came out of slavery in Egypt.” Why are we encouraged to see ourselves as slaves? Aren’t we free people now? We don’t live in Egypt under a Pharoah. How does this ancient ritual speak to us today?
Rabbi Aron Moss says, “We are slaves. Slaves to our own inhibitions, fears, habits, cynicism and prejudices…that prevent us from expressing our true inner self, from reaching our spiritual potential. Our souls are incarcerated in selfishness, laziness and indifference.”
Rabbi Moss suggests, The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim meaning “limitations” and Pharoah, represents our own egos.
When we come to the place in the Haggadah that states, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt", read it as: "We are (TODAY) slaves to our egos, stuck in our own limitations."
How do we free ourselves from our inner Pharoah, our own egos, and find the way out of our limitations? For these next 10 days, many Jews all over the world will spend countless hours preparing for this spiritual liberation by cleaning our homes of Chametz, which translates as any leaven, even the smallest crumb. On a deeper level, Chametz represents anything that has become fermented or soured. While doing this intensive physical cleaning, we also focus on spiritually clearing out that which has embittered us, soured us on life and other people and prevented us from being closer to our true selves, our loved ones and those in our communities who need our help. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach teaches that when we get rid of our Chametz, we are more able to hear the voices and cries of others and the cries of our own souls.
May we have the courage to face those places where we are stuck emotionally, physically and spiritually, clear out that which has become embittered, soured and entrenched in order to move forward to a fuller life, freed of our internal limitations and constraints. May we do this so that we are able to listen and respond better to our own inner voice and to the many vulnerable voices in our families and communities.
