Let ALL the People Go!

Parashat Bo

Torah: Exodus 10:1 - 13:16
Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13-28

8 Sh’vat 5773 / 18-19 January 2013

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Let ALL the People Go!

"... (Pharaoh) said to (Moses and Aaron), 'Go, worship the Lord your God! Who exactly is going?' And Moses said, 'With our young and old we will go; with our sons and daughters, with our flocks and herds we will go, for it is a festival to the Lord.'" Exodus 10:8-9.

In Chumash Etz Hayim, Rabbi Harold Kushner asks why Moses emphasizes "young and old." He cites several commentators as answering: "because no celebration is complete without children"; "a child without parents is an orphan, but a nation without children is an orphan people"; and, "We will go with our old people who feel rejuvenated at the prospect of living in freedom."

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day coming on Monday, we should pause to reflect on what this passage, and the entire Exodus story, must have meant to African-Americans during their 350-year struggle for freedom. It was less than 150 years ago when an entire people was enslaved in America. Individual slaves might from time to time be set free - without their spouses, children, parents or siblings.  This is exactly what Pharaoh would ultimately propose to Moses and Aaron - that only the adult men should go and worship God. What did "freedom" mean to those lucky few, in America or in Egypt, who were set free? What did it mean to those who remained in slavery? Dr. King knew, just as Moses did, just as we all know, that freedom means little, if anything, under those circumstances, because a person can not be free as long as others around him/her are slaves.

We may be fortunate, indeed, to live in a time and place when we have more freedom, religious and otherwise, than our ancestors could possibly have imagined. But from a spiritual standpoint, with that freedom comes an obligation - to bring our young and old, our sons and daughters, along with us. Everybody is invited to God's party - but the celebration simply can not be complete unless we bring everyone along with us.

Shabbat shalom. 

Rabbi Richard A. Flom - ZSRS '00
Blogging at: rav-rich.blogspot.com/
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"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still." Isaiah 62:1

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Lunch and Learn is an ongoing program of Bet Midrash Shalom that meets most Tuesdays to discuss Jewish texts and other topics of Jewish interest. It is open to all regardless of affiliation. Next meeting is Tuesday, January 22, 12:00 noon, at Congregation Beth Meier, 11725 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604. PLEASE DO NOT BRING ANY FOOD UNLESS IT IS IN ITS ORIGINAL SEALED CONTAINER AND BEARING A HEKHSHER AS DAIRY OR PAREVE.

In memory of Pearl Lipner, whose funeral was today. May her memory be a blessing.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is observed this Monday.

Refuah Shleimah: Connie Axelson, Selby Horowitz, Pamela Huddleston, Micah Kosche, Sara Lanxner, Emily Levin, Frank Markowitz, Yitzchak Simcha ben Bayla, Helen Reiter, Len Reiter, Rachel Robbins, Judith Sakurai and Helen Tomsky.