Freedom of Mind. Pesach 2 5784

 Pesach is the “Festival of our Freedom.”  A basic interpretation is that we were freed from slavery in Egypt. This week we sat at the Seder table for two nights, eating Matzah and drinking wine while reclining, to celebrate that freedom. 

But the truth is that the “Festival of Freedom” is much more than a celebration of this great event, as monumental as it was. Pesach brought not just physical freedom from slavery and oppression but also freedom as a state of mind and a state of being. 

The Talmud talks about the fact that the Jews rushed to get out of Egypt. They were in such a rush that they didn’t even allow their dough to rise and instead baked Matzah. Now this is a little strange. Pharaoh had been subdued and was begging them to leave. They could have taken as much time as they wanted. Yet they “rushed out of Egypt.”  In addition, how long does it take to let dough rise?  Could they not have taken another half an hour to bake some regular bread?  

The answer is that they needed to “escape” the slave mentality and get themselves into a completely new mindset. Someone who is trapped in a certain way of thinking and acting is often not able to change, because they are stuck in the old ways, the old thinking and the old habits. 

There was once an elderly beggar who had spent many years begging from door to door. He was a very good man, and one day an angel appeared to him and told him that he could ask for anything he wanted. He responded: I’m getting old and it’s hard for me to climb up to second and third floor apartments. My request is that I make enough money begging at first floor homes so that I don’t have to climb any stairs. 

Sometimes the only way to achieve a real change and put ourselves in a completely different state of mind is to run away and make a clean break from the old life. This is what happened when the Jews left Egypt. It’s not just that they didn’t have to work for Pharaoh or be stuck in Egypt anymore. They became a free and independent nation whose focus was to build. To build a country in freedom, to build a world of goodness and holiness, and to build a home for Hashem in the physical world. 

This is the attitude that has kept us going and thriving despite all the horrors we have faced. We don’t identify ourselves as perpetual victims, as refugees or children of refugees, or as children of slaves. We know that we have a mission and nothing will ever stop us from fulfilling it, as long as we keep focused on our true identity as spiritually and emotionally free. We always pick ourselves up and focus on building the future.  

Perhaps this message is one reason that the Seder is so popular, and an overwhelming majority of Jews celebrate it in one way or another. It is also why we mention the Exodus every day in our prayers. As the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneerson said as he was being sent to a labor camp in the Soviet Union: Only our bodies can be exiled, not our souls. 

While the first days of Pesach celebrate the past Exodus, our Sages taught that the last days focus primarily on the future redemption. A great pillar of our faith is that the exile we are suffering is leading to a new tomorrow, a time of true freedom and tranquility. This faith contributes greatly to our sense of freedom rather than succumbing to whatever oppressor this generation brings. 

On the last day of Pesach we celebrate the “Feast of Moshiach” when we eat Matzah and drink four cups of wine in anticipation of Moshiach’s imminent arrival and our ultimate freedom. I encourage you to join us or your local Chabad House. It’s a very meaningful way to conclude this beautiful holiday.