Pesach is
zman cheirateinu
, the time of our freedom. Why then, asks the Netivot Shalom, are we still in
galut
? Further, asks the Shelah Hakadosh, why was it necessary for Hashem Himself to redeem us rather than an emissary?
The Netivot Shalom explains that Egypt enslaved us both physically and spiritually. An embryo is "enslaved" and surrounded within the womb of its mother, totally dependent on its surroundings for its physical health. A baby also has no choice regarding the cultural influences it absorbs. The Jewish people were completely surrounded by the bonds of Egypt, both physical and cultural. Hashem Himself needed to redeem us, for we were not only physical slaves, but totally immersed spiritually in the depraved culture of Egypt.
This explains why the
Hagadah
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, according to tradition, did not suffer physical labor. They though were also redeemed although on a different level, from
yagon
to
simcha
, from mourning to festivity, and from
afeilah le'or gadol
, from darkness to great light. Their experienced the same enslavement of the spirit that all
Bnei Yisroel
suffered, until Hashem Himself directly intervened.
We are still subject to this latter form of enslavement. Each generation has its own challenges. In Egypt, idol worship focused on the worship of the lamb. Today, our "idol worship" centers on consumerism, the "must haves" of our generation. We require Hashem's help to free us from enslavement to our materialistic desires. This tendency is a natural condition, explains the
Bilvavi Mishkan
Evneh
. From the moment of birth, man's physicality is much more evident than his spirituality. These are our
meitzorim
, our constraints (and symbolically our
Mitzraim
, "Egypt") of today. Our work in life is to reveal our spiritual essence, to use our physical bodies and material means to achieve a spiritual end. We must perform our mitzvot with the joy of finding a path to Hashem and not merely to fulfill Hashem's command. We can even focus on this spiritual goal during the laborious Pesach cleaning. 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 "
matzah
" style life and help others in the process.
The
Chatam Sofer
explains the word
M
e-
L
e-
Ch
(king). The "
Mem
" refers to the
M
oach
, the brain; the
L
amed
refers to the
L
ev
, the heart; finally, the
Ch(K)
of
refers to
K
aved
, the liver, the seat of the blood and our physical existence. When we eat the food of the
Seder
, or any other time we eat,
with the priorities of maintaining our strength in each of these areas in this order, then we can achieve royalty. For we maintain dominion and control over our physical selves. On the other hand, if we put our physical needs first, the
k
aved
, followed by the
l
ev
, and the
m
oach
, we become nothing,
K
(=Ch)
L
u
M
. 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 word of God is
ch
o
rut
al haluchot
, chiseled on the Tablets of the Law. But our Sages teach us to read the phrase, "
ch
e
rut
al haluchot
,"
freedom
is on the Tablets. We choose how we view the Torah. Some choose to consider Torah and mitzvot onerous and burdensome, chiseling away at our hearts,
chorut
. Alternatively, we can choose to view Torah as the path to true freedom,
cherut
. Do the laws of Shabbat restrict me, or do they free me from the chains of the material world and allow 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 while holding 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 connect to our forefathers who were slaves in Egypt. In this way we can hope that "next year we will celebrate in Jerusalem, that next year we will be free men."
