Haggadah: Lifting Our Feet From The Mud: From The Diary of a Former Slave
I never felt comfortable personally approaching Moshe; he’s scary. Aharon and he entered the meeting with glowing faces; excited to speak to us, so I raised my hand to catch his attention. I must say, that when Moshe acknowledged me before sharing his message, I saw him in a new light.
“Rebbi,” I said, “we are confused by all that is happening. Some of us died during darkness, and we wonder what changed and what is next. Why are we waiting for Pharaoh to send us out? Why doesn’t God just take us out? It’s as if we are simply standing and waiting for something to happen. We want to act. We want to participate in the process.”
“That’s wonderful, Reb Yid,” said Moshe, “you want to have some more control over what is happening. Would you like to control time itself?”
Everyone was silent. It seemed as if Moshe’s words, despite being spoken in respectful tones, were sarcastic. “No, Rebbi,” I am not asking to be in control of time,” I said, my face burning in embarrassment.
“Why not? Have you not lived your entire life as a slave with someone else controlling your time?”
“Yes, I do want to control my time.”
“Well, that is the first gift God wants to give you. He wants you to control time.”
I was shocked and confused: “Doesn’t God control time?”
“He wants to share that control with you.”
All of us were stunned. Aharon was standing behind Moshe, unable to hide his huge smile.
We just spent six months witnessing God’s awesome power and His first direct message is that He wants to share His power with us! We didn’t know what to say.
“My dear friends,” said our great Rebbi, “God will ask much of you, but always as a way of helping you become more independent and free. Is this a new way of looking at life?”
“Absolutely,” we all shouted in unison.
“Then all time will be counted from this moment; the moment you understood that all revolves around you. This is your time. We will not count from God’s creation of the world, but from your first peak at a new way of living.”
Moshe asked us to take a short coffee break to consider and reflect on what he had just taught us.
We all congregated in joy; something none of us have never experienced. Do we understand? Not really, but it doesn’t matter. The message got through: We are no longer stuck. We will be able to build lives of our own.
L’chaim!