This week we begin the second of the five books of Moses, Shemot or as it is referred to in English as Exodus. The centerpiece of this Torah portion is the enslavement of our people in Egypt. We are told that a new Pharaoh arises over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He becomes afraid at the sheer size our people had become while living in Egypt in order to control this large group of people Pharaoh decides enslaves them.
What is slavery? It is the loss of free well and autonomy over one’s life. What is the modern day version of slavery that affects the individual? Addiction. There are many forms of addiction: drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, and technology - to name a few. This form of slavery takes away our ability to be in control of our lives and to make the choices we would like to make. If our addiction is drugs or alcohol it often becomes a physical one that our bodies depend on and if we try to fight it our body fights back at us through withdrawal. If our addiction is to food it can affect us both physically and mentally. We need to eat to survive but food can also comfort us in times of pain and we can eat our emotions instead of dealing with them. We become addicted to this way of dealing with our emotional/mental issues and thus become slaves to food.
The biggest form of addiction I struggle with is technology. I find myself always on my phone, looking at sports scores or watching clips of my favorite movies on YouTube, or on Facebook, checking the weather, listening to my favorite musical artists etc. I feel powerless that this little piece of technology essentially owns me. I am a slave to it, it is hard to imagine not having it in my life. Technology, food, drugs, gambling…they are the modern day Egyptian taskmasters, enslaving us and taking away our freedom. How can we break free of them like our ancestors did? It is hard to say, it isn’t a simple quick answer and the answer is different for each person who struggles with their individual addiction.
I know that just by talking to you know about mine is freeing and helps make me feel more control by getting it out in the open. We must remember that we are here to help one another and not to hurt one another. It seems so simple when you say it like that but we haven’t been able to get it right for thousands of years. By talking about our addictions we are able to let the people in our lives know how we are enslaved and we can ask for help. If we continue to keep them to ourselves we then make the choice to keep the shackles of this slavery upon us. It isn’t easy to be this honest and open but if it were easy then would we really be slaves to it?
Shabbat Shalom, Cantor Kowitz
SERVICES
Friday, January 17 - Friday, January 24
Friday 6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Saturday 9:00 AM Nosh and D'rash 9:00 AM Shabbat Service - B'nei Mitzvah - Jake & Jolie Weiss - CBO Merrick Annex 9:45 AM Shabbat Service - CBO Bellmore
Sunday
9:00 AM Minyan 8:00 PM Shiva Minyan at the Kaufman Residence 2155 Seneca Drive North, Merrick Monday 8:00 AM Minyan 8:00 PM Minyan requested by Jackie Kirschman
Tuesday 8:00 PM Minyan requested by Les and Eileen Scherer
Thursday 8:00 AM Minyan
Friday 8:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Click on the links below to register for any of these programs
Our Alix Rubinger Kosher Food Pantry needs Increased membership contributions as well as ideas for other sources of income. We are now serving 15 to 20 families per week. While a lot of food is contributed to our pantry from supermarkets and other synagogues, it is still necessary to purchase needed food items.
Checks can be made out to the Alix Rubinger Kosher Food Pantry or made out to CBO with an indication that the funds go to the pantry account.
Please remember that this is OUR Pantry.
Thank you.
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