This is the Bread of Affliction

This is the Bread of Affliction our foremothers baked as they fled the land of slavery. Gathering their children and their possessions, they embarked upon a journey in the wilderness, leading us to freedom. This is the Bread of Affliction eaten by Hannah, a courageous mother who gave faith and comfort to her seven sons as they were tortured by Antiochus, a mother martyred along with her children, a heroine of the Maccabbean revolt against oppressors. This is the Bread of Affliction baked by Bruriah, wife of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir, respected commentator in her own right. This is the Bread of Affliction coveted in secret by Beatrice de Luna, a secret Jew who fled the Portuguese Inquisition to become Dona Gracia Mendes, the greatest patron and savior of fugitive Conversos. This is the Bread of Affliction for which Regina Jonas lived and died, the first woman ordained as a rabbi in Germany in 1935, murdered by the Nazis in Theresienstadt. This is the Bread of Affliction that symbolized freedom for Ida Nudel and other prisoners of conscience; the symbol of our people’s journey to freedom forbidden by the Soviet oppressors, but never forgotten. This is the Bread of Affliction prepared in sorrow by today’s chained women…the agunot, trapped between ancient laws and modern realities, unable to sever past ties, unable to move forward. This is the Bread of Affliction shared by the Women of the Wall who give voice to women’s longing to celebrate the fullness of Jewish life in the face of belligerence and extremism that would prohibit their equal rights to worship freely. This is the Bread of Affliction partaken by working women who toil in low-wage jobs, facing employment discrimination and unequal pay while paving the way for future generations of women to succeed. This is the Bread of Affliction of impoverished women around the world who struggle daily to sustain their families despite terror and sexual violence, child marriages, barriers to education, and cultural norms that diminish their freedom. Though many remain unnamed or forgotten, when we partake of this Bread of Affliction, we remember the sacrifice of our foremothers and honor their memory.