It was not enough to take the Jews out of Egypt.  It was necessary to take Egypt out of the Jews.  - Hasidic Saying 

In Jewish mystical teachings, the Exodus is seen not just as a one time historical event or a story of national liberation but as a myth about the transformation of human consciousness and healing journey of the soul from the narrow confines of the ego to the Promised Land of the spirit.  According to the Hasidic masters, the Hebrew word for Egypt,  Mitzrayim, suggests  meitzrayim, narrow straits, or more colloquially, "a tight place."  Jewish mystics saw Mitzrayim not only as a geographical place but as a symbol of constricted consciousness.  Israel's exile and suffering in Mitzrayim are emblematic of the different forms of suffering we experience when we lose touch with our true nature and become stuck in narrow and constricted states of consciousness, or when we become enslaved by inflexible roles, behaviors, and mind-sets.  Anything that diminishes and restricts our awareness of the true nature of our being is a state of mitzrayim...Every aspect of tikun ha'nefesh is of great, if not cosmic, importance.  - Estelle Frankel,  Sacred Therapy

Passover provides us an opportunity to consider oppression, ancient and modern.  This is a humbling and challenging task.  As a wish to include every voice around the table tonight, I would like us to honor our personal mitzrayim.  May we understand the ways in which we feel constrained either by ourselves or others.  May we meet each other where we are, honoring and respecting one another's spaces.  It is my hope that we can create a safe space in which people can share their afflictions and ponder the struggles of others.  May this be a night where we release ourselves from our narrow places, individually and/or together.


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: Estelle Frankel,  Sacred Therapy