Dear Members and Friends,

“Pesach (Passover) is SO EARLY this year!” Of course, according to our Jewish calendar, Pesach is never early, it’s always right on time, the 15th of Nisan. Nonetheless, it will no doubt “throw us off” a bit because

the first Seder falls on Monday evening, the 29th of March!

So…get ready! Here comes Passover! Look in our Koleynu for details about our Community Second Seder (Tuesday, the 30th at 6PM) and some

helpful hints for a meaningful celebration/commemoration.

The major theme of Pesach is freedom. Specifically, of course, the freedom to which we refer is that of our people from four centuries of slavery in ancient Egypt. It is crucial for us to be aware that through the ensuing centuries we have expanded that notion of freedom, creating with it a layered set of values that underpin how we use the Exodus experience to fuel our purposeful living. 

Intertwining our freedom with our mitzvot, our mandated actions of justice and righteousness, we, as a people, have never lost the feeling of being “newly free.” It buoys us and it also sobers us. The joy of freedom is precious and always calls for celebration.  Yet, our history has taught us that there is a yoke of responsibility that comes, must come, with freedom. Freedom gives us eyes that act like a specific kind of clairvoyance that forces us to see, sometimes with excruciating transparency, the many and varied “slaveries” to which people all around us are subjected and the injustices that far too many suffer.

In that sense we “wield” our freedom like an Excalibur, breaking the chains of oppression, unfairness, inequality and bigotry wherever we see them. We do this in the name of our own freedom experience, always aware that we could easily fall subject to inappropriate condescension and/or pity of those whom we deem “worthy” or “needy” of our rescue efforts. On the other hand, we feel ourselves required to move boldly, quickly and unwaveringly to undo others’ servitude and subjugation. Further, because Judaism is a civilization and only partially a “religion”, we apply our concept of the need for freedom into all arenas of life. Whether a business operates fairly and  transparently is, for us, a matter of the responsibilities of freedom. Whether a building is built with all required safety components and is “kosher” in that it is constructed to ensure minimal environmental impact is, for us, a matter of the responsibilities of freedom. How a given society treats people of different backgrounds and spiritual approaches is, for us, a matter of freedom. And it all started with the Exodus from Egypt. “You shall not wrong a stranger, nor oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”   (Exodus 22:20).

© Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels
March 2010