Fragments of Freedom by Reb Arthur

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Dear friends,

This year, after a hiatus forced by the Coronavirus Plague, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History resumed its practice of “Freedom Seder Revisited.” For ten years, the Museum had invited me to speak. This time, I was the last speaker. I was distressed that of about eight speakers before me, though all had spoken deeply and bravely about what freedom meant to them, not a single one had mentioned the crisis in the State of Israel and a linked one in Palestine about whether whether both societies are to become true democracies or both suffer under an ethnic autocracy ruled by men with a very strong streak of genocidal fury. Could the State we call “Jewish” become Pharaoh in our generation? God forbid! God did forbid! God does forbid! So — having planned a different talk — I went for broke. You can see and hear the results here:

Thanks to Dan Samuels and The Weitzman for making this available. Good yontif and blessings for a sweet, peppery, and liberating Passover to all peoples. Indeed, may we all celebrate in the Teaching of the Prophet Amos (9:7):

“Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Ethiopians?” declares YHWH, Breath of Life! “Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, and also the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?”

In that spirit, we send blessings also to our spiritual cousins who are observing Holy Week and Ramadan.

— Reb Arthur