Susan’s take on the Passover Story and the Redemption

Nechama: “We’re on our way to our final Redemption!”

Susan Axelrod: [uncharacteristically timid] “Um, Nechama. I still sort of don’t really get that whole Redemption thing.”

Nechama: “Whaaaat? What do you mean? YOU taught ME about being free from my old worried and negative thoughts, and how to turn some sadness that I had into joy!”

Susan: “What does that have to do with that whole Redemption thing you keep talking about?”

Nechama: “That’s what Miriam was doing!”

Susan: “Whaaat? What do you mean?”

Nechama: “Miriam was just a single woman, but she was a woman who had a ‘Knowing’—that’s what you call it, right? She has a “Knowing” that G-d was there, in spite of their hardship as slaves in Egypt, in spite of difficulties that we can’t even imagine today.

The way you would say it is that she was ‘calm’ inside. She just knew. Her whole life, she Acted As If it was going to be ok. She helped women birth children in spite of the decree to kill the firstborn -and because she was so present- like your ‘Here and Now’ poem, because her desire to sustain the Jewish people was so burning, somehow miraculously, the Jewish boys she helped to birth lived.

As you’ve shared your Coaching Tools with me, I’ve always seen our Jewish Prophetesses in your work! Here’s another example of how you’re like Miriam: She helped others ‘Be Ready’. She coached and taught the women to love and support their husbands so that they would all Be Ready when Redemption from Egypt finally came. She told them to look in their mirrors and make themselves beautiful for their husbands so they would continue to populate and there would be people around when they would finally be freed from Egypt. Like you, she was a public speaker who told the Jews to ‘Go There and Look Back’. She told them that there would come a time that the they would be free people.  She encouraged them to Visualize That, to Believe It, to Process It and Focus on That……Remember? That’s what you taught me to do about Jewish Girls Retreat and what we did together as we created Jewish Girls Unite!….Miriam helped people understand the importance of keeping the traditions, of keeping the law so that when they were free people –when they were Redeemed–they would be strong, proud and sure of their Judaism.

You know how we teach our Jewish girls and the women in our Roses to Pearls class that when G-d is our partner we can BE more calm inside. We can have our own Knowing that things happen and things work out if we Go In & Go Deep and explore what we really want, what our deepest desires are and Do That? That’s exactly what Miriam did. She was just one person, but she was a woman with feminine traits and characteristics—nurturing, compassionate, lovingkindness, a deep yearning for soul comfort—she just believed, and she spoke about it.

Egypt represents our Limiting Beliefs and Negativity. At Passover we tell the story to remember what it felt like to be slaves in Egypt; today we liken it to being slaves to our limiting beliefs and negativity. Redemption means Freedom. We can use Passover to become the people we want to be- happy, calm, sure….Jewish souls who love G-d and love each other, regardless of movements or practices.  We’re all Jews and thank G-d today we’re free. And that’s ‘All There Is’!!

Being free today is like a fish in water…not knowing that you’re even in water…most of us living today don’t even know what it’s like to be enslaved. But working with you, I realized that I WAS enslaved, to my own sadness and negative thoughts. The tools you create and use are like Miriam’s tools…. you help people find FREEDOM, or Redemption, from slavery. You know that I’ve told you it WAS like the Red Sea parting when I had my breakthroughs. I have come to know such joy in my own Judaism, in my own role, with my family, and most importantly with myself. I’ve told you often that I learned these things from my father, but I think they got buried when he died when I was so young. You know that I sometimes think that it’s my father’s words coming out of your mouth.

Susan: “Wow, this is kind of weird and extremely humbling. What’s happening here?”

Nechama: “I saw this shortly after we started working together. I TOLD you that you had such a deep Jewish soul, that you’re here to help the Jewish people stay strong and feel joy like Miriam….”

Susan: “I thought you were just buttering me up to get free fundraising coaching!”

Nechama: “AHAHAHHAHAH, yes, that was a side benefit.”

Susan: “Ok, so I think I’m getting it. If we choose to Feel a Little Better, we can Firmly Implant a Thought In Our Mind while we’re doing all the WORK this holiday takes.  We can choose to visit with that thought, actually go up close to the limiting beliefs and negative thoughts while we’re cleaning and cooking and preparing and Look at Them and Reframe Them.  We can use the opportunity of deep cleaning, buying all the new Passover products and cooking special food in special ways – using old family recipes; also creating new traditions for our children and grandchildren to continue, while we SEE and Realize that each one of us is doing our part to help perpetuate Judaism.  We are also loving and supporting the Jewish people to become happier, healthier, more alive than ever before and more committed than ever before to staying on the road to Redemption.

Challenges will always confront us—may we never be slaves in Egypt again.  We can be brave and open our eyes, look at our challenges;, see them, choose a different thought, a different way of being, focus on a more positive feeling and find a happier way to be.

Just as the Jews left slavery behind, so we can also leave our limiting beliefs and negativity behind. And when they visit with us-as they surely will-we can remember the Passover cleaning out, the new products, the joy of the Seder, and use Miriam’s tools to help us get through that moment.  We can always remember that G-d is our Partner in all things and that we can be free.

Is that Redemption?

Nechama: “Well, that’s Personal Redemption and the Final Redemption or the Collective Redemption is so much greater than any one of us. It will be a time that there won’t be any evil in the world, that all the people who passed away will come back and be with us. When we say L’Shanah HaBa’ah B’Yerushalayim (Next Year in Jerusalem), we mean we will be forever out of Egypt celebrating Passover in the third Holy Temple. It will be a time when all people will live the way Miriam lived, and as you outlined—it’s about all of us working towards an amazing and important goal—each of us just doing our own part through our own Personal Redemption.

When that time arrives, it’s not as if everything will end then, but rather we will live in joy all the time. Until then, we strive to live that way as much as we can knowing that we are human beings. You actually talk to our girls about this online. You throw your hands towards the sky and say that G-d is there as our partner, ready and waiting and wanting to help them, that’s helping them move towards integrating G-d consciousness in their hearts. When we all live with that consciousness all the time, there will be ultimate peace.

Susan: “I wish I had known all of this when I was growing my Jewish daughters. Instead I just complained all the time and it was so much ‘work’ and such a hardship. There really wasn’t any joy at all. I created such negativity about it all. I feel sad about that.”

Nechama: “Oh, you mean you were ‘Human’? Not to worry, they are your and Howie’s daughters, they know exactly who they are; their pure Jewish souls are well intact.”

Susan: [crying a little] “Thank you for that. …..I believe this is when you would say ‘Baruch HaShem’ ?”

Nechama: “Yes, Susan. This is when we say ‘Baruch HaShem.’”