Instead of sharing my half-baked (unleavened?) thoughts on the holiday, here are two quotes I came across over the past two days.
I had the privilege of using Rabbi A.J. Twerski’s Haggadah, "From Bondage to Freedom", this year. He uses the analogy of addiction to bring the message of Pesach closer to home.
“Like our forefathers in Egypt, we should cry out to God to deliver us from enslavement to any self-destructive behavior.” (p. 10)
Yesterday, a friend of mine read me a short story titled Freedom from Bondage, about a woman who overcame alcoholism. Her definition of freedom is instructive.
"As another great man says, 'The only real freedom a human being can ever know is doing what you ought to do because you want to do it.'” (A.A. p. 552)
May we merit freedom from our unhealthy behaviors, and the freedom to view our actions as choices.
Shimmy Feintuch, LCSW CASAC-G maintains a private practice in Brooklyn, NY, and Washington Heights, NYC, with specialties in addictions and anxiety. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. Contact: (530) 334-6882 or shimmyfeintuch@gmail.com.
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