Walking towards Freedom - seeing voices

At the festival of freedom, many are increasingly trying to give voice to those suffering slavery today, helping to make the Pesach message hit home and become real for those of us retelling the ancient story of our enslavement and freedom. In these posts I've been trying to explore how close slavery is to our everyday lives, and it is an uncomfortable truth that slavery is still a big problem in Israel today, because of it's geographic and economic position.

Seder is all about telling stories and remembering that WE came out of Egypt. We can make this even more real for today by remembering those who still need to leave the slavery of their metaphorical Egypt, and helping to be God's outstretched arm by working to end their slavery, and make their voices louder by bringing them to our Seder tables.

A friend, Leila Segal, has been developing a moving and important project over the last year, which could help you do this: 'Voice of Freedom', a participatory photography project in Israel for formerly enslaved women. Giving these women a voice empowers them to tell their difficult story, and us to hear and to act. You could add extracts and readings from Leila's account of meeting and supporting these women to your Seder, or use these supplemental readings from Rene Cassin, (who are supporting Voice of Freedom) Tzedek and JCORE, and look out in the coming year for the Photos the women will use to convey their voices, you could contribute to make sure the project can happen, and educate yourself about the issues of slavery in the UK and Israel today.
However you bring the sad reality of slavery to life at your Seder, let us remember that it is not our duty to complete the work, but neither can we refrain from it (Pirkei Avot 2:16) and while it might seem like we cannot make a difference, many small acts create bigger change.