Shemot
How do we recognize our freedom?
Reflection by Carrie Watkins, US Community Manager:
"The beginning of the book of Shemot takes a sharp turn from the Israelites’ successful and prolific life in Egypt to their enslavement. Despite harrowing descriptions of their oppression, it was not until `a long time passed,` after the Pharaoh died, that the Israelites cried out (2:23). The cry was so intense that the Torah uses four different words to describe it:
`The Israelites were groaning (yeanchu) under the bondage and cried out (yizaku), and their cry for help (shavatam) from the bondage rose up to God. God heard their moaning (naakatam)` (2:23-24).
This repetition communicates the severity of the suffering, and of the cry. Yet, if it had been so bad for so long, why did the Israelites only cry out after the Pharaoh died?
The 19th Century Lithuanian HaEmek Davar explains that the day the Pharaoh died was a national day of rest. Only in that pause did they realize the extent of their suffering and allow themselves the cry.
In her book The Particulars of Rapture, Dr Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg brings a stunning commentary by the Chassidic Master the Sfat Emet. He says,
`Before this, they were so deep in exile that they did not feel they were in exile. Now that they understood exile and groaned, a little redemption began` (33).
Indeed, God heard the Israelites’ cries and responded, in an empathetic mirroring of their four cries:
`God heard (vayishma) their moaning, and God remembered (vayizkor) the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God looked upon (vayar) the Israelites, and God took notice (vayeida) of them` (2:24-25).
We need to pause in order to notice our suffering, to see what in our lives is not serving us. Witnessing our own suffering and delusions can be very challenging. It can feel like making things worse. This may be why so many of us spend our lives running from one accomplishment and distraction and activity to another, why we feel afraid to meet our own minds. Meditation practice reminds us that we are not enslaved, and it asks us to exercise our own freedom long enough to pause. We find, in time, that the many kinds of crying out are not our suffering but the beginnings of our redemption. They are leaps of faith, prayer, bravery, and love. They are change."