A Passover Message from Dr. Terry Segal

In prior years when I heard or spoke the phrase from the Passover Seder, “Let my people go,” I was reminded of Moses going down to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to free our oppressed people. Each year during the seder, we read from the Haggadah, which means “to tell,” as a way for each generation to remember the story and to tell it as if it happened to us, all of us, Jews. We are the wise children who recount in great detail, the trials and tribulations, as well as the victories, that happened so long ago.

But this year, much of the story is not a recounting of the past. The wounds from the October 7th massacre of our people are still fresh and the oppression, current.

At the time of this writing, we don’t know the ending to the story. With approximately 130 hostages still being held, with some believed to no longer be alive, we cry out to “Let our people go!”

Even in the midst of so much devastation and evidence of evil in our world, there also lives the same eternal hope that is the hallmark of our people.

This Passover is a time of recalling the past and taking action in the present. Whether you feel called to volunteer in Israel, donate money, write letters, or speak out, there is one action we can all take. It is to pray to G-d.

Let’s hold a strong image of our people being freed, of wickedness vanishing like smoke, and of peace prevailing everywhere. Replay this image often in your mind and may it be so, soon, soon, speedily in our days.

Terry Segal is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a Ph.D. in Energy Medicine, author and mixed media artist.