This week when I asked a child to take his feet that were resting on another person's chair and place them on the floor, I received the response, "It's a free country isn't it? I can do whatever I want." After seeing red, I felt like saying to the child, " Hey, kid, don't talk to me about freedom. I am in the midst of observing one of mankind's greatest tributes to freedom...Pesach. I'm part of a people, that insists on celebrating not only physical freedom but spiritual freedom, and honey, believe me, freedom is not something we Jews treat lightly, now put your feet down."
You'll be happy to know that I didn't launch into that rationale...but the fact of the matter is that Pesach does remind us of the value of freedom. Our belief in freedom is rooted in our tradition that states we have freedom of choice. We are born neither good nor bad, but have the ability to choose the course of our actions. We are in control of our decisions and accountable for our actions. Our concept of freedom, unlike the child who confronted me in the lunchroom, does not mean we believe we have the choice to do whatever we wish, but we believe we have the choice to be either good or evil.
Pesach is not just a story from the past. It is a story about the human condition. Our ancestors faced physical enslavement. They were enslaved to their Egyptian taskmasters who held them in bondage and demanded their time be spent in servitude. We,on the other hand, face greater liberty but are still enslaved in other ways. We are often prisoners to ourselves, stuck within the confines of our own natures. We forget that we have the choice to determine how we will react to our lot in life. We often react to our inner urges and let them control us whether they are healthy or not.
Mitzrayim, the narrow straits that confine us, can be viewed as the part of human nature that limits us from responding in ways that open up our souls to holiness. When we are incarcerated by our own natures, we give in to selfishness and stubborness, and forget our lofty goals of how we should treat one another. We let our childhood baggage or our recent experiences color our present interactions with others. We forget about the ways that Torah reminds us to approach others, by not bearing grudges, speaking kindly, and pursuing justice. We forget that it might be natural to be jealous of others who have more than we have, that it might be understandable to want to lash out at others who make us angry, but true liberation comes when we learn to control our impulses and act in ways that are not dictated by our natures but by our ability to be good and righteous.
I know I've spoken of my encounter with Victor Frankl more than once from the bimah, but that encounter as a teen impacted my world view. He taught me that although the Nazis robbed him of his family, his work, and his physical freedom, they could not rob him of his human dignity, nor of his ability to choose how he would react to his horrors. He chose to be moral and good even in the face of great evil. The Nazis could not control how he would react to his "humiliations and horrors." (Boteach)
When our ancestors came out of mitzrayim, where they were strangers who were treated harshly, they took on a moral code that came from Sinai...one that told them that in order to be truly free that had to go beyond themselves and think about others. Freedom was not about doing whatever they wanted, but adhering to a moral code that allows all human beings to become good and righteous individuals. It is rooted in sensitivity to others, and an appreciation that G-d gave us the ability to choose what we are to become, not the right to do whatever we wish.
Tonight we will finish eating matzah which has dominated our diet for 8 days. Sometimes we call it the bread of affliction, yet we use it as a symbol of welcoming all those who are needy to come share with us. The bottom line is that we are all needy in different ways. We are all confined in our own ways by our own natures. Let's use the lessons of Passover to help us understand how to rise beyond those confines..how to free ourselves from our spiritual deficiencies and h ow to exercise our freedom to choose what we will be when we act as partners with G-d in perfecting this world.
(This blog was inspired by the work of Rabbi Shmueley Boteach.)
Shabbat Shalom.
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