Steve Leder is the Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles.
Throughout Passover, our competition of freedom, we have a good time two sorts of freedom: Freedom from, and freedom to.
We remind ourselves that freedom from slavery is an crucial to make use of that freedom to liberate others who stay oppressed.
God granted us free will. Human struggling is subsequently a human downside, not a God downside. We can not solely pray for freedom and peace; we've got to work for them.
There are extra slaves on this planet now than every other time in historical past. Their anguish is within the garments we put on, our espresso, our telephones, and in lots of, even sadder methods. There are billions extra individuals shackled by poverty, habit, melancholy, nervousness, abuse, loneliness, and naturally, this merciless and mindless conflict in Ukraine.
The spiritual query, the religious query, the Easter and Passover query is: what lets, who're among the many freest and most lucky people who ever lived, do with our freedom and luck?
Let's not congratulate ourselves, till we use them to liberate our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and in all places from the Pharaohs of right now.
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- Rabbi Steve Leder, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles
Story produced by Julie Kracov and Amy Wall. Editor: Chad Cardin.