Once there was a country that selected its rulers with a special bird. Whenever it was time to choose a ruler the bird would be released from its cage and allowed to fly around the room. The fortunate (or unfortunate) individual upon whose head the bird landed became the monarch.
Once, the bird landed on the head of the palace jester—in those days she was a slave. All gasped, but the bird was never wrong. The jester didn’t skip a beat and accepted the role. However, she had a small, simple shack constructed next to the palace and in that shack she placed the simple trappings she had as a slave. Her straw bed, the court jester’s outfit she was once forced to wear, her one wooden chair. Once a day she’d enter the shack, sit in the chair, and take in the simple surroundings. She’d also take off her robes and wear the simple cotton rags of a slave.
She was a virtuous ruler, unlike any seen before in this land. She was kind and just, compassionate and caring. Finally, one of the ministers mustered the courage to ask the monarch why she engaged in such strange behavior. She answered: “I can never forget that I was once a slave and a clown…so that I never grow proud and arrogant and take any person who appears before me for granted. I must always remember to honor every soul.”
So it is with us. We can never forget that we tell the story of slavery to remind us from whence we came so that we too will not grow proud and arrogant and always remember to treat every soul with dignity and honor.
— Rabbi Ron Stern