The First Cup: Liberation is real
The First Cup: Liberation Is Real
“Once we were slaves in Egypt.”
PASSOVER HAGGADAH
Do you believe liberation is possible, really possible? Because in this moment, in the third Passover of a pandemic, as a backlash against racial justice and equality and history washes over this country, are we really able to believe that all of us, no matter our race, class, or faith can be truly free?
It’s understandable if we’re tired. It’s understandable if our moral imaginations are constricted in a place of narrowness. But the Passover seder is an invitation to break out of those confines; it’s an invitation to believe. We can be free—and free from the white supremacy, antisemitism, and racism that shape the society we live in.
The ten plagues we read about weren’t simply ten horrible inflictions— they were a raw escalation of power in order to win the urgent demand of freedom.
In the seder, we are reminded over and over again that freedom from oppression isn’t just an abstract goal; it’s a huge, transformational, and winnable reality. It takes work and it takes power. But it’s possible, because we are here.
‘Once we were slaves.’ We were liberated. Liberation is real. Are we ready to believe it?
Source: Bend the Arc's Four Cups of Liberation Haggadah Supplement
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