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At tonight's Passover seder, the ritual festival meal at which we share with family and friends our story of God's redemption of the Jewish people from slavery and violent oppression in ancient Egypt, we read the following:
"In each and every generation, each one of us is required to see ourselves as though we personally were redeemed from Egypt."
The seder meal is a sensory experience meant to stir such emotions: the sharp bite of the horseradish as a symbol of the bitter lives of our enslaved ancestors; the density of the "charoses," the mixed fruit-and-nut salad that reminds us of the mortar used to build Pharaoh's great memorial to himself; the salt water into which we dip our vegetables, signifying the tears of those who cried out to God for redemption.
We eat the bread of affliction (matza), warm our hearts with the glow of our festival candles, and open the door for the prophet Elijah, who will bring redemption to the world.
Matza is unleavened; it was baked quickly as the Jewish nation prepared to depart Egypt. In some cultures, seder participants dress in traveling clothes, a staff in their hands, as though they themselves are ready to flee Egypt on a moment's notice.
This year, such a re-enactment surely takes on added depth and emotion because we have witnessed millions of Ukrainians - including many Jews - packing their bags and waiting in shelters for the moment when the bombardment pauses and they can attempt to flee the murderous violence of the Russian army.
This week, more than two dozen of my rabbinic colleagues are in Krakow, Poland, delivering more than two tons worth of humanitarian aid. They join people of all faiths who have come to help the dispossessed and traumatized and to bear witness to their painful stories.
The horrors inflicted upon the people of Ukraine - a land of democratic promise and cultural diversity - are a reminder to us all that we never know when we will be the ones who must flee, abandoning everything we know and have held dear.
In our biblical story of redemption, God directed Moses, Miriam and Aaron to lead the people across a miraculously dry seabed to freedom. Today, God inspires and compels us to gather all the resources at our disposal to provide safe haven for those who have cried out for redemption.
We cannot wait for miracles. We must make the miracles happen for the unjustly dispossessed people of Ukraine.
Rabbi Audrey R. Korotkin, Ph.D., has been the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel in Altoona since 2010.