by Rabbi Sue Fendrick
If you leave behind no other aspect of mitzrayim – if you move out of the narrow places in no other way -join me in this one: Do not put off things because of your fear of how it will go – fear that the conversation won’t go the way you want, fear that you will find yourself uncomfortable, fear that you will get the answer you fear, fear that it will be too hard to do what you need to do, fear that you will be judged. There is fear that protects us, and there is fear that shackles us. The energy we spend not-doing things that scare us – sometimes the seemingly “stupidest” of things – sucks our life energy. Added up, that energy takes way more out of us than whatever the worst outcomes are of the collective things we avoid out of fear. Way more. Hold hands with your visible and invisible comrades-in-arms, sisters-in-struggle. Let’s walk into the Sea of Reeds. Nachshon parted the waters for us just by stepping in – into the water, into the unknown. The water is a little cold, but it is so refreshing. We can make it across together. Again and again.
When you are brave – when you want to be brave – know that you are not alone.
Rabbi Sue Fendrick is a teacher, editor, writer, and spiritual director. She has served as an adult educator and editor on a variety of Jewish educational projects, and is co-editor of the recently published Turn It and Turn It: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts. Her writing on Jewish texts and Jewish life appears in numerous books and publications, and she writes a biweekly parenting column for Boston’s Jewish Advocate. She lives with her husband and family (3 young adult stepdaughters, and 11-year-old twins) in Newton.