In this week’s Torah portion, Moses demands that Pharaoh ‘let my people go.’ It is an iconic moment of bravery and conviction. He speaks truth to power, urging the tyrannical leader to denounce his hateful actions and finally release the Israelites from bondage. Pharaoh has brought havoc, pain and immeasurable trauma to the Jewish people. Moses, human in every way, with his own human eyes, and his own human heart, can no longer tolerate it. Among so much else – a leader, a teacher, an empathic soul – Moses is an advocate. He did what we must do today, use our voice for the good and join the cause of positive change.

This past week saw great harm for many of us. We are not slaves in Egypt, thank God. We are not burdened by the plagues of the Book of Exodus, such as locusts and boils. Rather, we are witnessing actions equally as egregious, maybe more so. This past week alone, we bore witness to executive orders that denigrated transgender Americans, weakened our commitment to safeguarding the natural world, and undid funding for programs the less fortunate rely on each day. These are not political actions; for this rabbi, they rise to the level of pastoral emergency. When trans Jews are told which gender they are and are not, I have grave concerns. When, days before Tu B’Shvat, drilling is green-lighted in massive swaths of otherwise protected places, I am deeply pained. When those who rely on school lunch programs and government paychecks are surreptitiously told, ‘no,’ I believe you will join me in expressing outrage.

This weekend, twenty of us from KI will, like Moses before us, speak truth to power. As we do each year, we are taking our Confirmation class to our nation’s capital to lend our voice to the cause of the underprivileged and underrepresented. The L’Taken Weekend is always an absolute highlight for the class (and for me). Our teens – bright, bold, brave, boisterous, brilliant and beloved – will each speak on the issues that matter most to them. We will raise the cause of antisemitism, standing with Israel, protecting those otherwise swept to the margins, healthcare, reproductive rights, undoing systemic racism and much more. We will join with Jewish teens from across the country, a giant display of hope in the face of such hopelessness.

Because hope is not lost, friends. We are each Moses, every one of us and must continue to use our voice for the sake of compassion and peace amid a world so totally in need of both.