Year 10 Freedom & Responsibility Jewish Studies Elective
Jessica Turtledove – Year 10
Modern Slavery Campaigns at Your Pesach Seder Table
This term, I took part in the Freedom and Responsibility Elective in Jewish Studies. During the course, we connected the ideas of Pesach and the slavery that the Jews in the bible experienced with forms of modern day slavery and oppression.
I learnt all about different ways that people can be enslaved. Before I started this topic, I only though of slavery as physical. From learning about the different types of slavery, I was able to understand that slavery comes in all different forms, and that slavery can also be psychological, שִׁעֲבּוּד הַנֶפֶשׁ, as well as physical, שִׁעֲבּוּד הָגוּף. From my new understanding of slavery, I was inspired to do my Performance of Understanding on a psychological form of enslavement that I could relate to, and learn about, so I was able to educate myself and the class on a topic that I was dealing with myself.
The highlight from this term for me was definitely the Slavery and Freedom Awareness Campaign. I loved that we were able to present our findings and research to the class in a fun and different way, that also related to the topic that we were studying. We presented our findings at a Seder table setting, as the idea of the assignment is that we bring these campaigns and related items to our own Pesach Seders. This helped to reduce the nervous feelings that I had since I didn’t have to present in front of a class, but in front of my peers in a less “intimidating” way. The discussions that we had after each presentation were so interesting as we got to hear everyone’s opinions and were able to understand the topic better.
To me מִצְרַיִם“Mitzrayim” means a place where you feel unsafe, unwanted and not loved. Before starting this topic, I thought that מִצְרַיִם meant Egypt. Although, now I know that there is a much greater meaning to the word, a meaning that anyone in the world can relate to. Now I know that עַבדוּת “avdut” means slavery, and that חֵירוּת “cheirut” means freedom and that there are other words and concepts connected to these words in Hebrew. Because of this, I can now understand that there is a way for people to go from slavery to freedom. We can help by donating to organisations that support and help the families and victims suffering from the slavery, and sometimes, we can help the victim directly, depending on the type of slavery.
