Parshat Bo: We Choose, and our choice is to fight for freedom UNIQUELY!!!

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Parshat Bo: This week marks my four year anniversary since starting the Weekly Mission, thank you for reading, spread the love…

Thus, the verse states “It shall be for a sign upon your arm and between your eyes, for G-d took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (13:16)”

As the qualities of nature deteriorated before their very eyes, The Children of Israel began to prepare for the greatest salvation the Jewish people have experienced thus far. For 430 years our brothers and sisters remained in Egypt. We went from being second in command-Joseph, to slaves being demoralized and robbed of human rights. After generations of barbarity the national confidence and wholeness of the Jewish people was lost, what happened?

In our own individual lives we know the amount of pressure we can and cannot handle. If one is constantly called a failure by others, than eventually that victim of abuse will undoubtedly feel like a failure. If someone is born into a generation of martyrdom, lashes and enslavement, then with certainty the slave mentality will become a part of their consciousness. So we must ask ourselves, who chooses to be a slave, and who chooses to be a freedom fighter? If we are born into a generation of shame-faced survivors then who will be the survived, the proud and the living?

Let me relate the following paradigm…

Imagine a tree cut at the roots and replanted in a foreign soil. The soil may be rich, but there is no place like home. After years of trying to settle its roots in the foreign soil, it fails. The soil will not allow the roots to take ground, so the tree remains in the ground, but unable to receive any sort of energy. It remains the same height as the day it left. Only now, because it is weaker, the wind and harsh weather conditions crumble its confidence until finally, one day the farmer realized this tree is unable to get its foundations here. The Tree is moved back, only now, it’s too late. The tree no longer believes it can grow. Time goes by…and we wait on a miracle.

On a micro level, many of us feel as if we can’t get our life together. There is always something else getting in the way of what must get done, and finally when the confidence and energy is mustered, we remember Sudan, the fire in Israel and the nuclear threat and we turn back inward, disillusioned and uncertain.

The Egypt of yesterday told us “no matter how much you tried to be better, it is no use, because G-d is not listening, do you work, and you’ll get your bread- your G-d is dead.” The Egypt of today tells us “you have been chewed up and spit out by so many nations over the last 2,000 years. You’re a good for nothing, your G-d is dead, stop trying to be something that you’re not. Strip away your Judaism and throw in the towel, ‘it’s no use anyways!’” WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

The Jews lost confidence is because of the chaos of its society. But what if we believed not only we could heal individually, but rather nationally, and even more so worldly? Even with the greatest minds that have lived, they have only done so much. Einstein helped us, but there is still a need for Einsteins in every system of the world. There is so much to do, and we must believe with our essence that we can do it. Each of us has a power, each of us has something so massive that can be used and revealed, but we, as individuals must believe we are capable.

Why is the Shema the most incredible prayer? The two unique things that you have that no other person physically has, are your fingerprints and your eye retina (Shema). When we say G-d is one, we say G-d is One uniquely in the way that I make Him one. G-d is One through the specific doings that I accomplish in my life- not someone else’s.

Thus, the verse states “It shall be for a sign upon your arm and between your eyes, for G-d took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (13:16)”

Like the tree, we should be blessed during this new month of Shvat to feel our roots firmly take place in the place we are truly destined to be. When we believe in ourselves, when we recognize our uniqueness, when we say we can be better, when we say we can humble ourselves, and when we finally stop trying to make our diverse nation the same, THEN G-d will take us out once again from the trash heaps of Egypt, and we will be proud brothers and sisters walking hand and hand to the Temple Mount singing songs of praise once again.

This week I will try to: realize even though I am born into a generation of such confusion and uncertainty, I, in my true essence am uniquely important for G-d’s salvation. I will recognize that in 20 years from now, my contributions to the world will have made all the difference! We choose, and our choice is to fight for freedom, UNIQUELY!!!

Shabbat Shalom!



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