Lifestyle/Community
WIZO assists with many exoduses to Israel
A message from Prof Rivka Lazovsky, chairman World WIZO executive:
The story of the Exodus from Egypt, which we tell every Pesach, is one of the oldest and greatest stories in the world. It is a dramatic story of slavery to freedom.
“Since the Exodus”, says Heinrich Heine, a 19th century German poet, “freedom has always spoken with a Hebrew accent.”
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It is the story of how one people can inspire many, who are loyal to its faith, and are the guardians of its vision. Since the great Exodus the Jewish people have experienced other exoduses. In our time, the new State of Israel was established in the Land of Israel, as in the time of Moses and Joshua.
Exoduses
Later exoduses included the evacuation of the Ethiopian Jews and one million Jews who left the collapsed Soviet Bloc.
We, in WIZO, have played an integral role in absorbing the various exoduses that have come to Israel.
With the help of WIZO, the Jewish homeland was rebuilt. With the help of WIZO, hundreds of thousands of immigrants would become the core of the Jewish nation.
We, in WIZO, appreciate the role that we have taken upon ourselves throughout the last 95 years, in which we have helped to mould the many exoduses to the State of Israel, just as we appreciate the magnificence of the great Exodus from Egypt.
Much to be done
Yet this year, as in years past, we remember how much work there is still to do if we are all to be free – free from poverty, free from illnesses, free from hate, free from ignorance and free from fear.
Although the path ahead may be twisted, our goal is clear. So when we raise our first cup of wine at the Pesach seder, let it be for those who are still suffering, in the hope that they too, will soon enjoy freedom.
Let us give thanks for the freedom that is ours, for family, friends and our WIZO sisterhood. May we never take our freedom for granted.
I wish you, your family and your WIZO federation the anticipation, the joy, the urgency of hope, and the sweetness of a Happy and Kosher Pesach.