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All of us have memories of events that reach across time and continue to impact us. It can be a singular event that we participated in or witnessed, or it can be a communal event. Time will tell how the attack on October 7, 2023, continues to impact Jews around the world, but there is an older event that continues to impact us to this day: The Exodus from Egypt. This was the moment that began the transformation process from a group of slaves into a people. It remains so inspirational that people continue to cite it as a source of hope for themselves. 

We regularly refer to it every single morning in our liturgy, not once, but twice. Once when we recite the Song of Songs, the poem Moses composed at the crossing of the Reed Sea, and secondly when we recite one verse from that poem, beginning with the words Mi Chamocha, just before we begin the Amidah. We also recite the Mi Chamocha at every evening service. This tells us that the Exodus was so important that references to it remain, 3,300 years later, in our daily liturgy. We will be reading this portion this coming Shabbat.

It must be difficult for us, the current generation of inheritors of this rich tradition, to truly comprehend what it must have been like for the Israelites to gain their freedom and leave Egypt. Reading the portion in the Torah can only go so far, as well as watching Cecil B. DeMille’s epic “The Ten Commandments”. Can we truly experience what it means to become free after slavery? There are people in Israel right now experiencing the joys of freedom after a prolonged captivity. I cannot help but wonder about their trauma, how they are coping, are they receiving appropriate help, and can each of them truly recover. I’ve learned that part of recovery from trauma is, with help, that our bodies must integrate the experiences within our being. There is no timetable for that, as no two people are alike. I admire the bravery of the released hostages who are able to speak up about their experiences, and hope that this can be part of their healing process. I hope that they know that despite the responses of much of the world, that we never forgot about them, and continue to pray and hold vigils for the remaining 80 hostages, that they too may be returned to their families. 

We have been witnessing an incremental Exodus from captivity to freedom, and tragically there have been many times when Jews have experienced such. It is because we are Jews that we continue to have faith in God and remain one people concerned for the welfare of the remaining hostages as well as the healing of those released. While I was not alive to experience the release of Jewish prisoners from the concentration camps of WWII, the sadness of Jews once again being held captive mixes with the joy that there are ones who have been freed. I pray that God’s love and grace embrace all who live in this small parcel of land, to recognize that the path that they have been on has not led to a life of peace and joy, but rather war and misery. It has been untenable for far too long. May Divine inspiration settle over those who chose to lead, to find a path forward together. It is the only solution. And may it happen in my lifetime.