Passover the freedom, please

By DOVID BEN-MEIR
Pesach – Passover – is coming up soon, so let's talk about it. I mean let's leave politics and the elections, the economy, Iranium and other trivial matters (seriously) in favor of the essence, things that last forever: the times that we can meet up with Holiness in our lives. We live in a world defined by place and time, so Holiness manifests in places and times.
The prayers we say state that Pesach is the "time of our freedom". There are many modern definitions of freedom: what you want to do, what you ought to do and possibly the state of mind where you want to do what you ought to do. But what leads you to what you [think] you want to do? Is your will really free? Or has the ad-man caught you? What ought you to do? How do you know? Who or what decides?
In Jewish thought one explanation of freedom is the quality and the reality of being true to one's inner self, to the soul. I guess most people could agree with that – the only question to be studied for is: what is my inner self? How do I get know my soul?
Let's say I was standing in a public place, with many other people near me, but I found myself to be the only one that had raindrops falling on my head. How could that be? To answer this I would have to know where I stood in the world. Maybe then I would notice that I was standing under an air conditioning unit, exactly under the spot from where condensed water was dripping. Everything, including myself, must be seen in context. So – if I wish to know who I really am, what I should be, what do I really want – I ought to find out where I stand in the world. That is: where am I in the world and what am I part of, because whatever pertains to that whole that I am part of pertains to me, too.
I am part of the human race, so it stands to reason that the more I know about humanity, especially about the positive potential that is the "image of God" that all humans are created in – the more I'll know about myself, and about my inner self.
Going on: I personally belong to a particular part of humanity: the Jewish people. It is safe to assume that the more I know about the Jewish people – the more I'll know about myself. How can I learn about Jews in such a manner as to learn about my inner self? The best thing would be to analyze that thing that if it didn't exist – the Jewish people wouldn't exist. That "thing" is Judaism, the particular way of life of the Jewish nation and individual, especially as revealed, discussed and recorded in authentic inner Jewish sources, meaning the Torah, written and oral. This includes the works of all the great Jewish thinkers and jurists who were and are committed to the life of the Jewish people, are part of the intrinsic stream of Jewish consciousness, standing inside the House of Israel and taking in things or ideas from outside only after careful election.
The next thing is that I live in a time when we Jews have been reconstituted as a living nation in our homeland: reviving our language to become once again not only a written language but a living speaking language, reviving our homeland from being basically desolate to being fruitful in every sense and reviving our state in our land after a long exile from being sovereign. The more I learn about this process of rejuvenation of Israel – the more I'll be able to know about the responsibilities and the potential of my own, personal inner self, because if I am Jewish and alive today then I'm essentially part of this rejuvenation.
The goal of the "seder night", the eve of Passover, is not just to relate a story that happened millennia ago, but through this story to live and build in ourselves the capability to bring our potential – as Jews living in the time of "geulah", the redemption and rejuvenation – to fulfillment in our everyday lives. So when you tell the story to your children - remember to Passover the Freedom to them, to continue on.


Related Tags
matza