Freedom from Self to Self
Freedom from Self to Self

 

Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein www.naaleh.com

            Our Sages have given each of our festivals an additional designation to complement its biblical name. In this vein, Pesach is called z’man cheiruteinu, The Time of our Freedom. The Netivot Shalom asks a basic question: If this is the time of our freedom, how come we still find ourselves in galut, in the long and protracted exile of Edom, Rome? Since the Sages of the Great Assembly did not give these designations lightly, notes the Netivot Shalom, there must be an element about our redemption from the enslavement of Egypt and our journey to freedom that is still relevant today. Further, the Netivot Shalom citing the Shelah Hakodosh, asks why it was necessary for Hashem Himself, rather than an angel or other emissary, to be the actual agent through Whom we were redeemed?

            To answer these questions, the Netivot Shalom explores the nature of our enslavement in Egypt. He argues that this enslavement was not a typical slavery tied exclusively to work and its conditions. This slavery was a total enslavement of body and soul, both a physical and a spiritual enslavement. As an embryo is “enslaved” and surrounded within the womb, totally dependent on its surroundings not only for its physical health but also for the cultural influences it will absorb within its surroundings, (Studies have shown that loud or soft music, for example, affects the fetus.) so were we completely surrounded by both the physical and cultural bonds of Egypt. Therefore Hashem Himself needed to redeem us from beis avodim, the actual house of slaves, for we were not only physical slaves, but we were also totally immersed spiritually in the depraved culture of Egypt.

            This explains why the Hagaddah uses so many terms to describe our enslavement and our redemption.  While most of Bnei Yisroel were released from avdut to cherut, from physical enslavement to freedom, the tribe of Levi who, according to tradition, did not suffer physical labor were also redeemed, but on a different level, from yogon to simcha, from mourning to festivity, and from afeilah leor gadol, and from darkness to great light. Their enslavement was the same enslavement of the spirit and the mind and the heart that all Bnei Yisroel suffered, that kept us immersed in a culture that had descended to the forty ninth level of impurity. Redemption from this latter type of enslavement required the direct intervention of Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself.

            We are still subject to this latter form of enslavement. Each generation has its own challenges. In Egypt, idol worship was embodied in the worship of the lamb, the subsequent Pascal sacrifice. Today, our “idol worship” centers on consumerism, the “must haves” of our generation reasons the Netivot Shalom. We require Hashem’s help to free us from enslavement to our materialistic and physical desires.

This tendency is a natural condition, explains Rav Itamar Schwartz in Bilvovi Mishkan Evneh. Man, after all, is a composite of an earthly body with a Divine soul. From the moment of birth, man’s physicality is much more evident than his spirituality. These are our meitzorim, our constraints (our Mitzraim, “Egypt”) today. Our work in life is to reveal our spiritual essence and use our physical bodies and material means to achieve a spiritual end. Our mitzvoth must be performed with the joy of finding a path to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and not merely as a necessity based on His command, done reluctantly. Even the laborious Pesach cleaning should be focused toward this spiritual goal. When we clean our house of chametz, of the extraneous leaven, we should seek to deflate our physical selves that seek comfort in owning so many unnecessary materialistic things. We can free ourselves from our acquisitive selves. Perhaps someone else can benefit from many of the things we have but don’t need. Perhaps we can live a simpler “matzo” life and help others in the process.

We can gain even greater insight into reaching our goal of freeing ourselves from our selves by exploring one of the rituals of the Seder. Rabbi Spero in Touched by a Seder discusses the four cups of wine we drink at the Seder and the requirement to recline when we drink them. Rabbi Spero cites Rav Avrohom Schorr in explaining that man possesses five senses. All but one are centered in the head, but the sense of touch incorporates the entire body. The four cups of wine counter the enslavement of the senses of sight, smell taste and hearing, but to counter the enslavement of the sense of touch requires the involvement of the entire body. Rabbi Spero cites the Sefas Emes in explaining why it is necessary to recline rather than add a fifth cup of wine to counteract the influence of the sense of touch. Rabbi Spero now cites the Sefas Emes who explains the maxim “There is nothing better for the body than silence” in a novel manner. He posits that the best thing for the body is to silence the body’s demands. Ultimate freedom can be achieved only when one can disentangle oneself from the desires of the body, put them to sleep, so to speak, and focus on a higher goal, on becoming kings and rulers over ourselves and free ourselves from self-worship to following Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

The Chasam Sofer offers a wonderful insight into how one achieves royalty by using the Hebrew acronym for a king, Me-Le-Ch. The “Mem” refers to the Moach, the brain; the Lamed refers to the Lev, the heart; finally, the Ch(K)of refers to Kaved, the liver, the seat of the blood and our physical existence. When we eat the food of the Seder, and indeed all our food at any time, with the priorities of maintaining our strength in each of these areas in this order, then we have truly achieved royalty, for we maintain dominion and control over our physical selves. On the other hand, if we reverse the order and gorge ourselves by putting our physical needs first, thekaved, followed by thelev, and putting the moach last, we become insignificant, nothing, K(=Ch)LuM. We must face our cravings and turn away from them if we are to free ourselves from enslavement to our physical whims and turn to the higher calling of serving Hashem. (The root of both Hebrew words “reclining” and “turning away” are the same.)

By deflating our ego, by living a “matzo” life, we truly free ourselves and achieve freedom. The word of God is chorut al haluchot, chiseled on the Tablets of the Law. But our Sages teach us to read the phrase, “cherut al haluchot,”freedom is on the Tablets. Rabbi Bunim, in Ethics from Sinai, explains that it is our approach and perspective that determines whether we consider Torah and mitzvoth onerous and burdensome, chiseling away and piercing our hearts, chorut, or the path to true freedom, cherut. Are the laws of Shabbat restricting me, or are they freeing me from the chains and incessant demands of the material world and allowing me to embrace my spiritual essence?

Real freedom is achieved only when I can escape the walls that limit me to myself so that I can become part of the greater whole. When I can see myself as part of the whole nation of Israel in the present, connected to its past and having hopes for its glorious future, my freedom transcends self. I can achieve this only by maintaining and strengthening the thread that binds this all together, Hashem’s Torah and mitzvah observance.

We begin our Seder at the Festival of Freedom by verbalizing this theme. “This is the bread of affliction (the matzo) that our forefathers ate… Let all who are hungry come and eat.” We join with all in our nation. We care for you, not just for ourselves, while we connect to our forefathers who were slaves in Egypt. For it is only in this way that we can hope that “next year we will celebrate in Jerusalem, that next year we will be free men.”

 

 

Shira Teaches in Poland  - May 2 -5

Shira in USA – Tenative Schedule
May 10 arrives
May 11 at 11am at Bais SHvidler -244 Rt 306 in Monsey for  Chani Juravel
May 11 at Night in Passaic NJ with Emunah Women
May 13 and May 14 ( Shabas Kodesh ) at Torah U Mesorah In Pennsylvania
May 15th - Special Live in Person Class in Hillcrest NY at Torah Center of Hillcrest, 171-05 Jewel Ave Hillcrest NY 11365 at 10 am .
May 15th at Night at 8 pm at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel
147-02 73rd Avenue ,Kew Gardens Hills, NY 11367
May 16th at Night 8:45 " Sefirat HaOmer – Inner Count " at Congregation Beth Abraham in Teaneck
May 17th  at Night Tuesday at 8:30pm OZ at 118 West 95th Street NY 10025 (212) 749-5150