Prepping for Passover
Rabbi Corinne Copnick
Exodus 2:2
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (This verse begins the 10 commandments)
Exodus 12: 14-17: God declares Passover as a festival memorial day
“ And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your homes … you shall guard the unleavened bread, because on this very day I will take you out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree.”
Exodus 13: 3
“Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.”
Exodus 22: 20-23
“You shall not wrong a stranger, neither shall you oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt./ You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child./ If you afflict them in any way — for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely here their cry. My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”
Leviticus 26:13
“I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”
Amos 2:10
“I brought you up out of Egypt and led you for forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites.”
(Other cross-references include Ex. 6:6, 15:16, 15:26, 20:1 29:46, Deut 5:6, 7:8. Judges 2:1, Isaiah 43:3, Jeremiah 2:6, 16:14, 34:13, Ezekiel 20:7, 20:19, and Psalm 81:18.)
(Excerpted from The Whipping Boy by Matthew Lopez)
“John: I was scared, Simon. I had no choice.
Simon: No. You’re free now. For the first time in your life, you do have a choice. You have a choice, and you made a choice. When you were beating that man to death, you made a choice. When you hear from Freddy Cole, you made a choice. When you lied to me about my family, you made a choice. I see the choices you made. They tell me all I need to know about the man you are, about the free man you’re gonna be. You don’t get to be free, you work to be free. It’s what we have been praying for tonight. What you should have learned from all your reading. Were we Jews or were we slaves? I know what you are. You ain’t no Jew. You ain’t even a man. You just a Nigger, John. Nigger, Nigger, Nigger John.
(Silence)”
(Excerpted from Religion, Politics, and the Healing Potential of Dialogue with Difference, by Rabbi Mel Gottlieb in The Huffington Post)
“…[If] one defines religion as a force to elevate humanity with a vision of the future that is permeated with Peace and Justice, it is reasonable and correct to peer out into the world and chart its progress and regress toward this ideal….But a stronger impulse inherent in the tradition, expressed by the Prophets and sages of all generations, expresses the mandate to enter the world and imbue it with values of justice, forbearance and compassions as partners in the ongoing creation of this future of peace….[While particularism promotes strengthening of identity and commitment to core values, it must not be at the expense of neglecting the universal mandate of creating a just world for all humanity.
“Some contemplative and introverted, God intoxicated temperaments, impacted by the awe of serving God are more comfortable to reach this goal through a withdrawal that leads to holiness, while others feel more comfortable to go out into the world and elevate society. Conflict arises when the boundaries of each position are strengthened and little communication exists between these two distinctive temperaments.”
(Excerpted from Putting God Second by Rabbi Donniel Hartman)
“Together with the love of neighbor came the hatred of the other. Together with kindness to those in need came the murder of this who disagreed. Monotheism became a mixed blessing and a double-edged sword.”….
“Religion will be saved from itself when navigating this tension is an integral part of religious commitment and the life of faith. Religion will be saved from itself, its autoimmune diseases [God intoxication and God manipulation] cured once and for all, when we recognize that by putting God second, we put God’s will first.”