Emancipation...Obligation....and the Hamicksburg Trio

Parshat Bo relates a story that we recite every year on Pesach, the story of our liberation from bondage in Egypt.  After the final plague of the death of the first born of the Egyptians, we departed rapidly but not without expectations and instructions given by G-d.  In fact, it is only at the moment of our redemption from Egypt, that we learn what it means to be part of a sacred community.  We are instructed to observe the first month of the calendar by engaging in the ritual of eating a paschal lamb with matzah and bitter herbs in a shared setting, not only with our own family but with other families.  This very first mitzvah given to us as a nation in the book of Exodus teaches us that emancipation does not happen without obligation. 

It is important to also remember that the Exodus was not just an escape from bondage.  It was a redemption into freedom.  The difference implied by this latter phrase is that “Freedom implies the creative potential of choosing and forming one’s own life.”  Only a free human being is able to look at life as a series of challenges rather than problems to be solved.  Free human beings see the great potential they have been given for facing those challenges. (Frameworks by Matis Weinberg)

What a wonderful coincidence it is that we are here celebrating the 16^th birthday of three of our favorite teenagers in this congregation, Dahlia, Gilad, and Illyana Hamicksburg.  For those of us who have moved past our teen years, we know that it is replete with the desire for emancipation from our parental units.  Yet, we also know that such emancipation does not come without obligations; obligations to our families, our community, as well as to ourselves.  In Jewish terminology, such obligation is couched in terms of halacha.  There are behaviors which are prescribed and which we are expected to follow.  Some of those behaviors include doing acts of loving kindness, honoring our parents, studying Torah, and observing our holy times of Shabbat and holidays. 

Anyone who knows you, Dahlia, Gilad, and Illyana, knows full well that you have been instructed to understand your obligations to your family, the Jewish community, and to G-d.  It is usual to find at least one of you participating in the mitzvah of kavod ha-met, honoring the dead, by sitting with a body as a shomer prior to a funeral.  It is also quite common to find you lending your voices to our services as shalichei tzibbur who lead us in our davening and as balei kriyah, as Torah readers. When I leave town, you often step forward to help lead the congregation’s services with your excellent Hebraic skills. You often help us by being present on holidays and thus enabling us to have a quorum for our services.  When you were younger, you made the daily trek to Freidel Jewish Academy in Omaha, where you developed a love for studying Torah and learning about Jewish values.  The education you received there will always be in your back pocket no matter where you go in life.  And last but not least, you show great respect to your mother and father in ways that others may not know.  You help with cleaning up projects at home, help in the synagogue kitchen when your mother is making our Shabbat lunches, and have helped take care of your father as he has faced many medical challenges.  You have managed to enter this period of life with the understanding that freedom to become your own individual does not leave you without the obligations to your family and community.

May this celebration of your 16^th birthdays leave you with the feeling that we are so very excited to have you in our midst.  It has been a pleasure watching you grow and change over the years.  You started out your lives in the arms of congregants who sat in the last row in the sanctuary and now you are capable of standing in front of us as leaders in the service.  You may be known as the triplets or the troublets, but we have no doubt that each of you is your own unique person and we appreciate your diversity and your spunk! Face the challenges of life with the appreciation that you are each choosing and forming your own life because of the gift of freedom given to each of us by G-d.

Shabbat Shalom.