The Second Cup: Liberation Is Transformation

“We honor those who let go of everything but freedom,  who ran, who revolted, who fought, who became other  by saving themselves.”
- MARGE PIERCY, “MAGGID”

It only took a matter of days for our ancestors to leave Egypt in haste, with matzah on our backs. But it took them forty years in the wilderness to leave behind the narrow thinking and false ideologies of Egypt. They had left Egypt, but Egypt hadn’t yet left them.

Our liberation required a process of total transformation.

Our ancestors didn’t leave Egypt alone. They entered the desert with an erev rav by their side—a mixed multitude of Egyptians who followed the vision of our ancestors in rejection of an immoral society built on oppression. Over forty years in the desert, they became one people, moving toward the promised land.

In this precarious moment in the many places we live, it feels like we are lost in the wilderness. Just two years ago, over 15 million Americans marched in the streets in rejection of an immoral society built on oppression—both Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in this country and a mixed multitude following their vision of liberation in a society where all are free. Right now we’re all in the desert together. We’ve left Egypt, but has Egypt yet left us?

Liberation is an act of transformation. Are we ready to change to be free?

Source: Bend the Arc's Four Cups of Liberation Supplement


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
Source: Bend the Arc's Four Cups of Liberation Supplement