Page 22 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

Helping Others In Distress - Jeffrey Collins (11th Grade)
The Myanmar crisis is a genocide and mass migra on issue with Rohingya Muslims. These
people are being forced out of their homes into neighboring countries due to mass killings and
destruc on from the Myanmar government towards the Rohingya people. With this issue s ll
alive and well and Pesach just around the corner, a ques on comes up of how can the Pesach
story guide us in how we should react to this crisis?
Throughout history, the Jewish people have been vic ms of an semi sm and heinous
genocides. We had nobody to help us besides God. Through European genocides and conquest
of Jewish land, God was there to keep us alive. During the story of Pesach specifically, the Jews
were escorted out of Egypt through God’s might. The Jews were a People subjected to slavery
and death. God helped us escape it through this idea of “God’s might.” Rashi comments on “‫ְבָּי֥ד‬
‫( ” ָר ָֽמה‬Shemot 14:8) by saying that when the Jews were leaving, they le while “openly
displaying might” given to them through God’s power. Godly power during the mes of the
Torah was supplied by God himself. However, today this phenomena is not visibly existant.
Despite this, God’s interven on takes the form of the more fortunate in our world. Philanthropy
is described as “doing God’s work” as it is in fact the manifesta on of God’s support for his
children. Therefore, as Jews who were saved by God through miracles, so too should we
con nuously iden fy situa ons in which people are in dire need of help and supply it. Our

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