LET MY PEOPLE GO

Passover never had as much relevance as it has this week. With people self-isolating within their homes, people dying all over the world, we are all looking to a microscopic virus and saying "let our people go." Let our Nation go. Let our State go. Let our cities and our towns and our communities and our neighborhoods go. 

And perhaps the lesson of this Passover is that freedom is precious. It is worth fighting for and dying for, and when necessary, like the Israelites in bondage, waiting for.  We are being asked to wait a few more weeks to return to our lives. Not a big sacrifice when compares to the peoples enslaved throughout history. 

The Story of Passover is contained in Exodus. Moses is on the wheel; gets a court appointment; goes with a bond motion several times before a judge with a hardened heart and askes "let my people go". Who amongst us has not been there before? Like every good court victory, afterwards you get to eat. 
Enjoy your Passover. Among those of the Jewish faith, it is common during major holidays to wish "next year in Jerusalem."  This year, those of you who celebrate Passover can have a different wish: "Next Year...Together." 


EXODUS:

And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

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 And G-d said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

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And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told the Pharoah, Thus saith the LORD G-d of Israel, Let My People Go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 

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And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.