Freedom is a huge issue in America today. Indeed, some maintain that we are currently fighting a war to preserve our freedoms. But how many of us actually appreciate what this freedom means? How many of us ensure that we use this privilege to the best of our ability?
Passover, which is observed on April 12, is a festival that celebrates freedom. It commemorates the emancipation of the Children of Israel from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago. Each year Jews celebrate this by having a special meal called the Seder. During this meal, we retell the story of slavery and emancipation. We also enact the story in a sensory fashion by eating horseradish to remind us of the bitter slavery and by eating a large meal and drinking four cups of wine to reminisce about the freedom that God granted the Children of Israel all those years ago.
This contrast between freedom and slavery is seen as vital. Often those of us who are fortunate enough to be brought up in a free country do not fully appreciate our freedom because, never having lived in an oppressive and restrictive society, we have nothing to contrast it with. This often causes us to become apathetic about our political system and leads some of us to ignore our democratic right.
Passover is designed to force us to relive slavery at least once a year, ensuring that we do not become complacent about our freedoms and that they are fully appreciated. I have no doubt that if the Passover modal was adopted in this country and Americans were able to experience, at least in part, what life under an oppressive regime was like, there would be little or no political apathy here at all.
Passover is an appropriate time for all people to think about our freedom and what it means to us. It is a time to reassess whether we really appreciate the freedom granted to us and to explore whether we are using that freedom in the best and most constructive way possible.
Freedom really is as much a state of mind as it is a state of being. In America, we are fortunate that the government, on the whole, does not interfere with our ability to achieve our potential, and we must cherish that. However, many of us allow other constraints to impede our freedom — we become enslaved to our jobs, to outside influences, to habit or to fear.
Fear is a major one. I often hear fellow writers say they will not submit their work to be published because they fear it will be rejected. Fear of rejection, or fear of change, often holds us back from doing new things and making necessary changes that will help us to achieve our potential.
True freedom is the ability to become what we really know we are able to become, it is the ability to express ourselves in a truly unique manner.
Passover celebrates the emancipation from boundaries and limits both personal and societal. In fact, Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, which means boundaries.
Although we thankfully live in a free society, the message of Passover is still incredibly relevant to modern life — it challenges us to throw off the personal constraints that impede us from reaching our God-given potential. Passover lets us know that each and every one of us has something special and unique to contribute to humanity. All we need to do is emancipate ourselves from our personal constraints, and the rest will happen on its own.