Tikkun America RESTORE Magazine Nisan | April 2024 | Page 6

Remember You Were a Slave

BENJAMIN JUSTER

Passover commemorates the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage , which has contributed more to shaping the Jewish story than perhaps any other event in history .
Those who know me , often think of me as socially confident and self-assured .
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Yet , I remember the shame and humiliation of bursting into tears during my 9th grade history class following a particular caustic bout of jeering from one of my classmates . Being bullied by a few schoolmates in my early teens were traumatic experiences . It caused real anguish and insecurity , taking me years to heal and recover my prior care-free personality . I really don ’ t like to think about those times , but they did teach me some valuable lessons — especially about how I wanted to treat people that were different from me .