Four Questions to Freedom - Pesach 5786

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We celebrate the Exodus as if we were there. We say this in the Haggadah and it is codified in Jewish law. “In every generation everyone must see themselves as if they actually left Egypt.” It goes beyond the Seder. Every day we are obligated to mention the Exodus from Egypt in our prayers. 


Another striking example of the centrality of the Exodus to our people: One time in the entire history of the world, Hashem revealed Himself to human beings, at Mount Sinai. How did he introduce Himself to us?  Not as the Creator, not as the one Who constantly sustains the universe, but as the one Who took us out of Egypt. In the Shabbat Kiddush we say: A remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, and this is also the content of the last verse of the Shema. 


There is something about this event that happened 3,338 years ago that seems to be ingrained in our psyche and a central theme of Judaism. The Rebbe spoke on this on several occasions. This is not just a celebration of an event. It is celebrating a new state of being that happened at the Exodus: we became free. Free from slavery and bindage certainly, but also free from the limitations of the natural order of the world. That means that while we are in the world, we are connected to something higher, and do not allow the constrictions of the world to interfere with those connections. 


The world says that the strong prevail. Moshe told the Jewish people: “you are the smallest of all the nations.” The world also says that we need to change with the times, and rules should reflect the current thinking. Moshe told us: these laws that I am giving you, do not add to them nor detract from them. The world says that we need to conform and blend into the majority, yet we stand out in the way we dress, what we eat, when we do and don’t work, and so much more. 


Against all odds it is precisely this freedom from being pulled into whatever the popular culture may be, and the recognition that we have a higher purpose, that has kept the Jewish nation alive. When we recognize that the entire creation is for the purpose of revealing Hashem’s light to the world, we realize that nothing can stand in the way of Torah observance. Any challenges we face are there for us to overcome. 


I read a very interesting commentary from my friend Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, founder of the great organization Jews for Judaism. One of the most important components of the Seder is the child asking questions, and the Haggadah’s teachings about the Exodus and freedom are all framed as answers to those questions. This is, he wrote, because asking questions is a very important part of freedom. 


In fact, this connection can be seen in the very names of the four sons. In recounting the questions that each child asks (or doesn’t), the Haggadah refers to them as chacham - wise, rasha - wicked, tam - simple, veshe’eino yodea lishol - and doesn’t know [how or what] to ask. The first letters of these adjectives are chet, reish, taf and vav. (Veshe’eino is written in the Haggadah with a vav). With a little rearrangement, these four letters spell “cheirut” which means freedom. 


This is a message that is especially important in our times. There is so much disinformation being spread, and so many of our own people are totally oblivious to the truth. They get caught up in the slander and the false narratives about our history and who we are, and become slaves to what’s going on around us. Many young people just go with the trend, exhibiting a frightening ignorance of the truth. 


The message of the Seder is that we must teach our children to ask. To investigate the truth of who we are as a people, what our connection is to the Torah and the Holy Land, and what our purpose on Earth is. It is the parents’ responsibility to teach their children to be curious, and it is our responsibility to provide clear, unbending answers based on Torah. 


The Talmud says that we were redeemed from Egypt in the month of Nissan and we will be redeemed again from the current exile in this month. May we celebrate this Pesachwith the lamb offering in the Holy Temple, rebuilt peacefully by Moshiach. May you have a Kosher and Happy Pesach and may we celebrate true freedom together. 


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