Cantor Lee: I had a interesting experience with a child recently. The girl, a sixth grader, was practicing the initial focusing techniques from our program, the Infinite Child Institute. As part of that process, any worries and feelings of stress are released. It has been quite an eye opener for me over the past few years of the amount of anxiety and fears children carry these days. This child told me that she worries quite a bit and gets herself all worked up.
The child was amazed with how she felt and kept repeating, “I feel so calm! I feel so peaceful!” Being sensitive to energy as many kids are, she felt the actual moment the worries released. We all know that feeling when a weight is taken off our shoulders! She described it as a force taking something from her.
But after a few moments I could see that she was uncomfortable. She said she had never felt that way before and it scared her! Her mother tried to convince her that this was a wonderful thing. G-d was taking her worries from her! But the child blurted out, “I want them back!”
This theme of returning to those places of worry and anxiety that confine us is one of the deeper teachings of the Passover story. The word Egypt, or "Mitzrayim" in Hebrew, means narrow or constricted places and refers to our states of mind.
Rabbi David continues: The story of Pesach has fascinated generations of Jews throughout our history. It is probably the first ever mass psychological experiment in leaving one's comfort zone.
We have always been taught to look at the exodus narrative as an amazing event in human history in which a defenseless nation breaks the slavery yoke imposed on it by a powerful empire. No doubt, the first night of leaving slavery behind, the night of freedom was an exhilarating time for all. But from the stories that follow we learn amazing things about the human mind, including that even the best of changes in our states of mind may not be that easy to maintain.
While the Israelites embraced their freedom after experiencing slavery, there was a low threshold in tolerating changes. They continually returned to the idea that the horrors of slavery did not seem so bad after all. Indeed, walking in the heat of the desert, relying on a trustworthy invisible G-D to provide water, food, and shelter was a new experience which called for courage and tolerance for change. As sweet as freedom was for the Israelites, fear got the best of them. Poor Moses had to listen to their complaints and mistrust every time a challenge presented itself such as a shortage of water and food. Facing any difficult situation they suddenly remembered how good they had it as slaves in Egypt. At one point they were even ready to march back to Egypt.
We are not so different than our ancestors walking in the desert towards the Promised Land. The most positive changes in our life often come with great hesitation and fear of the unknown. It does take courage to stay on course with the change and not to lapse back into an old not-so-good situation or an unhealthy state of mind.
As we sit around the Seder table this year and remember how precious freedom is, let us also remind ourselves that the road to freedom requires changes that we need to guard at all times with courage and commitment.
Cantor Lee and Rabbi David
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