By Zach "Peacock" Pekarsky

This week's parsha, Shmot, is full of different things to talk about when it comes to the foundations of the Jewish people and the personal journey Moses went through in Egypt and Midian. However I want to focus my thoughts on the short story of two Egyptian women: Shifra and Puah.

Shifra and Puah were the midwives who tended to Jewish women in Egypt. In his fear of the numerous Jews, Pharaoh instructed them to kill all the Jewish boys born, but let the girls live. However, the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and allowed the boys to live. When interrogated, they lied to Pharaoh's face, informing him that the Jewish women had already given birth by the time they arrived.

I would like us to examine how Shifra and Puah relate to Egyptian society. They see the inherent wrongness in the direction being chosen for their nation and choose to act to rectify the situation. #thewisdomtosee #thecouragetowant #thepowertoact. They tale responsibility for the direction of their nation, and (until Pharaoh takes matters into his own hands) orient the Egyptions toward a more just organization of their society.

We, as Habonim Dror, must be every bit as revolutionary as Shifra and Puah were. We must demand of each other to take responsibility for our local Jewish communities and for the wider Jewish community. We must not only recognize the fundamental issues with the North American Jewish community and be willing to reject the portions of today's reality we see as problematic, but re must also engage with that same North American Jewish community to provide alternatives to the reality we reject. If we reject the norms of North American Jewry without trying to offer any alternatives, then we would only be isolationist jackasses.

We cannot afford to neglect the machanot and kenim for the sake of involvement in our local Jewish communities; however, wherever possible, we must demand of each other to engage with our local Jewish communities, not just that Reconstructionist shul with a hip woman rabbi, but also the reform shul where 75% of the members don't engage with Judaism except for when they occasionally come to shul, the conservative shul where Judaism is perceived exclusively as a religion and no one expresses political views left-of-center, and even the modern Orthodox shul that always separates men and women for prayer.

NOTE: Those were all sweeping generalizations. I know that there are many synagogues that do not fit the above molds, but in today's North American Jewish community, these caricatures are often very accurate.