Helping with an Open Hand and an Open Heart

As we near the end of Passover, I have thought a lot about how often we were reminded that we were once slaves in the land of Egypt.  We are reminded twice in this week’s Torah portion and during the first and second night Seders.  The enslavement we endured was cruel, horrific and unjust; a system that no human being should ever have to endure.  Passover reminds us that we weren’t enslaved forever as God brought us out of Egypt.  We left at night bringing unleavened bread to eat, a flat, often flavorless, crisp bread.  A stark contrast to the soft, chewy Challah, sometimes made with honey or raisins, we enjoy every week during Shabbat.  About halfway through our observance of Passover, I often hear complaints about the food restrictions we have been adhering to and the endless crumbs from the matzah.  The other day I was walking around my kitchen muttering to myself that I had nothing to eat in the house.  I was longing for the non-Kosher for Passover food stored in the pantry that was forbidden to eat until Passover ended.  Ignoring the fact that I had a banana, blueberry matzah brei, a matzah lasagna, strawberries, vegetables, and Kosher for Passover sweets, I stared at the pantry door craving the food that sat on the shelves.  I wasn’t really hungry for them.  I was hungry for the choice of selecting anything I wanted to eat. 

After a few moments, I realized how lucky I was to have a choice and how selfish I was being for wanting something that in just a few days, I could eat as much as I wanted.  I mean, eight days isn’t that long to wait to eat movie theater butter flavored microwaveable popcorn.  And its not as if I eat popcorn everyday as it doesn’t have much nutritional value unless you can count the butter topping as a serving of dairy.  Even if I could count the butter topping as a serving of dairy, it certainly didn’t have the nutritional value of my matzah lasagna that had spinach, rainbow chard and mushrooms.  As I struggled between the feeling of can’t have, want, and enjoying what I do have, I realized how self-centered I was being when I wasn’t lacking in food options.  I was fortunate to have a choice of what to eat and when I could eat it, when, according to No Kid Hungry and Why Hunger, more than 12 million children in the United States live in “food insecure” homes, meaning, those homes don’t have enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life.  Children are either eating smaller portions, skipping meals, or eating non-nutritious food.  When children don’t get enough food to eat, especially in their first few years of life, they are more likely to experience health issues that affect both their physical and mental wellbeing.  Every year, 3.1 million children around the world under the age of 5 die, due to malnutrition because they didn’t have access to nutritious food.  The food either cost more than families could afford or the nutritious food wasn’t available where they lived.  There are approximately 821 million hungry people in the world.  That’s 1 in every 9 people.  An estimated 60% of hungry people are women and children.  For me to have a choice of what food to eat and when I want to eat it, is a privilege when others suffer every day. 

My food choices aren’t restricted to just food.  I’m able to choose the house that I live in, my clothes, furniture, pets, cars, vacations, when and where to exercise around town, and where to sleep.  Not everyone is as fortunate as I am.  Thousands of people around the Unites States are homeless every night, lacking access to food and shelter.  These individuals are often looked down upon, ignored, judged for their perceived laziness or that they did something to deserve being on the streets, such as drugs and / or alcohol.  I saw these misperceptions playout on social media as a homeless shelter for youth was being built in my neighborhood.  Without having met the youth, several people advocated against having troubled teens, who would bring drugs and theft into our neighborhood.  Ignoring the fact that they were youth who didn’t have stable adults in their lives, they were chastised for thinking they had a right to live near us.  The way some neighbors were talking, you would have thought we were going to see a barbed wire, seedy looking building, with drugged out teens milling around.  It was far from the truth.  In the State of Minnesota, homelessness is up 10% from 2015 according to a 2018 study by Wilder Research.  Children and youth under the age of 24 accounted for 46% of the homeless population.  While the number of families experiencing homelessness decreased by 5%, the number of adults experiencing homelessness increased, particularly among those aged 55 and older with an increase of up to 25%.  The number of people not in a formal shelter increased up to 62% because we don’t have enough affordable housing to support our community members who are forced, for whatever reason, to live on the streets and be subjected to our criticism.    

The judgement and criticism aren’t restricted to homeless people.  We see it happen against women, men and children who are trafficked for sex.  As a society, we often don’t look at sex trafficked workers as being forced into bed with a stranger for the stranger’s pleasure.  We don’t blame the men and women who use violence and drugs to control and exploit women, men and children and force them to sell their bodies for the perpetrator’s profit, about $100,000 annually for a woman according to the Daily Signal.  The fastest growing online business is child pornography with an estimated annual revenue over $3 billion dollars in the US alone.  Almost half of the child pornography websites worldwide are based in the US.  Even though human beings are being sex trafficked against their will, we place the blame on the victim for allegedly choosing the lifestyle instead of lending a hand to save them from a cruel and dangerous life. 

Every day people use disparaging remarks to try and turn us against asylum seekers by claiming they threaten our way of life, safety and security.  Asylum seekers are described by some as animals, rapists, drug dealers, gang members or murderers.  While there are efforts to dispel these myths and protect asylum seekers, the fear instilled in our society allows this fear mongering to continue.  An asylum seeker is met with suspicion and treated first as a suspect, a danger to our country, and not as a victim of a war torn, unstable or dangerous country seeking a better life for their family and themselves. 

The trauma people live with who were directly enslaved or who are living the effects of enslavement on their families are downplayed.  People turn their backs on them for not making the choices they believe they should have made and only see excuses for why they are not successful in life.  These beliefs disregard the fact that enslaved people have never been fully freed in the United States and were never given any form of compensation for their blood, sweat and tears for creating our economy.   

          We have put a shield over our eyes, heart and mind to avoid seeing, hearing and feeling their pain and suffering.  Perhaps it because we can’t handle all the anguish in the world.  Maybe we do this to avoid feeling helpless because we can’t see how we can make a difference in the lives of millions of people.  It is a daunting task to truly repair the world and it can seem like an unrealistic achievement in our lifetime.  Many of us do a lot to help those in need but it is not always a priority for everyone.  Too often we forget, until Passover reminds us, that God brought us out of slavery, and we are now free.  We couldn’t escape slavery on our own.  We needed help.  As we rejoice in our freedom from slavery, God tells us not to harden our hearts nor close our hands from our needy brothers and sisters.  Instead, we shall open our hands and lend them enough for their needs which they are lacking.  We have all been helped in someway by others opening their hands and providing for us.  There were the righteous during the Holocaust, the abolitionists who helped end the enslavement of black people, and people who changed laws to end discrimination.  Even with that help, there are those among us who continue to suffer and need our helping hand.

          As Passover comes to an end, let us not turn our backs on our brothers and sisters.  When you see a homeless person, give them a bag of supplies filled with items such as toiletries, a gift card for food or hand warmers in the winter time.  Advocate for affordable housing in all new multi-housing units in your neighborhood.  Hold food drives and donate the food to a local food shelf.  Purchase a prepackaged food donation bag, like those located at the checkout lane at Cub Foods, who will bring the donation to a food shelf on your behalf.  Find ways to support organizations in your community who help people who have been victims of sex trafficking by providing food and clothing.  Raise awareness of the sex trafficking and child pornography industry and how to combat its growing popularity in our community.  Stand up against negative stereotypes against all marginalized groups.  Get to know other people who have also been marginalized as we have.  Listen to their stories of their lived experiences without judgement.  Hear their pain and support efforts to dismantle systems that continue to oppress people.  Sit or kneel during the national anthem to protest the oppression of black people and the police brutality black people endure in our country.  Open your home to an asylum seeker.  Donate your time or help get others to donate their time to legally represent those in need.  Walk with those protesting oppression.  You may not agree with how people are protesting, and it may not feel comfortable, but living under oppressive conditions every day is worse than maintaining our own comfort.  They need our help to change their lives for the better. We must see their humanity and help them with an open heart and an open hand for we were once slaves in Egypt and are now free.  Let us help free other as God did when we were brought out of slavery in Egypt.   

Shabbat Shalom

Jessi Kingston

https://whyhunger.org/just-the-facts/

https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/04/sex-trafficking-is-a-pandemic-in-the-us-and-its-time-to-end-demand/

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