Do you sometimes find yourself dreaming of freely expressing your truth and contributing your unique mark in the world only to meet up with your inner critic that tells you you’d better have it perfect before you take your next step? The Passover theme of enslavement is a captivating one which has implications for freeing one’s mind and setting new life goals. How we respond to those inner voices can make the difference between living with a silent sense of inner slavery or courageously freeing them through compassion and acceptance of human imperfection. The prophetess Miriam, led the Hebrews in celebration upon their successful crossing of the Red Sea to freedom from slavery in Egypt. She was a highly regarded priestess in the Eygptian temple of Hathor. Since her baby brother Moses, whom she guarded in the bulrushes convinced the pharoah’s daughter to adopt him and ended up a prince, Miriam too was inside the court.
We have Miriam to thank for quietly leading behind the scenes and for saving the ancient powerful techniques of voice and rhythm for sound health and happiness. She was a powerful leader in her own right and used ancient techniques of voice and rhythm for sound health and happiness. During this Passover, we can use our own voices similarly to Miriam, to help break our cycle as Jewish women. This might mean rewriting our goals and finding out our own true values. We cannot lie to ourselves when we put the pen to paper. Becoming truer to ourselves helps us with our family and individual practices as Jewish women. This might mean becoming more involved in our Jewish community, study the Torah in a small intimate spiritual circle or spending an hour weekly on yoga. We are all slaves to our minds in one way or another. But there are ways to free our own inner critic. Try it! Happy Holiday of Freedom !