Zikaron and the Filibuster: The Memory of Slavery and Dreaming God’s Dream for America

Parashah Bo repeatedly connects the memory of slavery to the establishment of Jewish rituals for all time, from the main features of the Passover seder to the First Fruit offerings in the Temple to ones we forget to associate with the memory of slavery like tefillin.  (Later, even Shabbat will be firmly connected to the memory of slavery.)  We in America have done the opposite by divorcing our institutions from the memory of slavery:  case in point, the Filibuster which was not a patriotic institution of the founding fathers but rather an attempt to preserve slavery by Southern senators, and then to preserve Jim Crow laws.  So should we destroy our American institutions because of these connections?  Are we to be anarchists?  No, the Torah tells us to connect the memory of slavery to taking action in this world to make God's dream for us come true.  That's our imperative.  Reconnect our institutions to their roots so we can be open to what it is God is dreaming for us, what God is dreaming for America.