wing October 7, when the scope and horror of the Shemini Atzeret massacre became clear, I felt my mother’s experiences during the Holocaust come to life before my eyes. I felt overcome with grief and fear. Yet, in the days that followed, something else became abundantly clear, and I was overwhelmed by its power. I saw and heard how, on that terrible day, people put their lives on the line—and indeed many gave their lives—for fellow Jews they had never met before; how a divided Israel and a fragmented Diaspora Jewry came together in love and unity. I saw a new Jewish consciousness emerge, a realization that Jews share an essential bond with Israel and with each other that transcends all our differences. To quote the Tanya , “ It is on account of this common root, shared by all the Jewish people in the One G-d, that all of Israel are called siblings—in the full sense of the word.” Like siblings, we can disagree but the unbreakable bond is always there. But this new consciousness has
But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. - Shemot /Exodus 1:12 All those, who throughout history sought power, wealth, and perceived security through the degradation, subjugation, and destruction of other humans have relied upon two key sets of premises: 1. Constant contempt and intrusive control over people’s lives and labor, causes them to lose a sense of agency. This then causes the oppressed to value their own selves less and internalize that contempt, so they no longer have the hopes, aspirations, and belief in their destiny flowing from a sense of self worth. 2. The oppressed become invisible: Part of the background, without influence. In the case of the Children of Israel in Egypt neither was the case. They had as many children as possible and brought them up with a sense of pride and identity – rejecting the values of Egyptian society. Though slaves, they didn't embrace