Musing on Mitzrayim #BlogExodus

Bang bang bang hold your hammer low
Bang bang bang give a heavy blow
for it's work work work
every day and every night
for it's work work work
when it's dark and when it's light.


Dig dig dig dig your shovel deep.
Dig dig dig there's no time to sleep.
for it's work work work
every day and every night
for it's work work work
when it's dark and when it's light.

This is the song that my children love to sing at the Pesach Seder. We weave it into the Maggid section, telling the story of the Exodus. What was it like to be a slave? I ask them.

It was hard work, they reply. It wasn't any fun.

And I know that for them, this is the ultimate in punishment - no fun.

And I imagine for myself what that slavery might have been like. It was hard work, of course. But we also know that it had a benign feeling for a long time. It crept up on the Israelites, they didn't quite realize what was coming, perhaps. Little by little, their freedom slipped away...until they were at the complete mercy of their masters.

We talk of Mitzrayim as a narrow place...the narrowness of being a slave. What it must have felt like to have only one choice, and to know that, ultimately, it wasn't really a choice at all. I try to imagine my life without choices, and I know how truly blessed I am.

That's perhaps why I love Passover.

Because for one week, even though I know we're celebrating freedom, I have the freedom to, just a little bit, understand slavery. My choices become limited. My options are held in check. I can't do what I might usually do. Is Passover slavery? Absolutely not. Does it help me to feel, just a teeny bit, what it's like to have limited choices in a world where, truly, I have unlimited ones? Yes.

And it all reminds me that I am ever so grateful for the blessing of that freedom.

Want to play along? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the next 2 weeks. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, a new idea to post photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and other miscellaneous Passover posts over at imabima.blogspot.com. It's going to be a busy fortnight!