Happy Passover and a Happy Easter - March 2013

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Child Protect Canada Blog   March 2013

Happy Passover and a Happy Easter

There is the telling and experiencing of the stories, at the Seders, of going out slavery, human trafficking.. and other forms of human bondage and human degradation to Freedom.  These are stories and experiences of all kinds of Slavery and all kinds of Freedoms that are told and shared and experienced together.

There are at the table 4 different kinds of sons and daughters who represent different kinds of the personalities of all Canadians.

The Four Children at the Seder Table: Which Child am I?

As we celebrate this Holiday of Freedom, the ending of Slavery, we ask,

“Who am I, when I hear of Human rights abuses?  Who will I choose to be when I know that others are suffering”?

Will I be one who does not ask?  Will I close the newspaper or turn off the television, the computer or the mobile device so that I do not hear or see?? 

Will I turn my head and heart away?

Will I ask only simple questions?  “What is this?”  Will I ask what, but never why?

Will I let the evil impulse, my yetzer hara ask:  “What has this to do with me?”  Will I let the problem belong only to the victims and the do-gooders?  Will I distance myself from those in need?

Or will I strive to act in wisdom, to ask:  “What are the underlying causes of the problem and what needs to be done to stop the abuse and free the oppressed?  What are the laws and what does Gd expect of me?”

May Gd open the eyes of those who do not see, the mouths of those who do not ask, and the hearts of those who do not care, and grant us the wisdom to open our hands to our fellow humans when they are in need – the hand of generosity, the hand of support, the hand of peace and friendship.

From:   Rabbis For Human Rights