Pesach- Freedom

For this year’s Parsha Lesson I will be focusing on a chinuch (parenting/ educational) lesson that can be derived from the Dvar Torah.

Background

One of the names of the holiday of Pesach is  זמן חירותנו or the ‘time of our freedom’. This is quite appropriate and proper being that the upcoming period of time, stretching from Pesach and going through the holiday of Shavuot 7 weeks later, is the period of time many years ago that our nation was fully freed from the servitude in the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt).

The 4 cups of wine that we will drink at the Pesach seder, on Wednesday night and then again on Thursday night, correspond with the 4 different terminologies of redemption or freedom that Hashem did for us. These were:

1. והוצאתי- And I will take them out
2. והצלתי- And I will save them
3. וגאלתי- And I will free them
4. ולקחתי- And I will take them

The Seforno explains that these 4 languages each refer to a different part of the process of the emancipation of the Jewish nation, our people, from slavery. The first one, ‘I will take them out’, refers to, according to the Seforno, when the plagues began against the Egyptians. At that time, the active enslavement, the Egyptians forcing the Jewish people to work, ceased. 

‘I will save them’ refers to when the Jewish people were actually taken out of the confines of the Land of Mitzrayim. ‘I will free them’ refers to when the Jewish people saw the dead Egyptian soldiers wash up onto the shore- after the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptian army. ‘And I will take them’ refers to when Hashem took us as His chosen nation, when He gave us the Torah on Mt. Sinai.

In totality, having gone through all of these different experiences of being freed, or redeemed, the Jewish nation were now חירותים or ‘free people’.

Question

Why were we, the Jewish people, not considered to be ‘free’ until we received the Torah from Hashem on Har Sinai? The first 3 levels of freedom makes sense: they stopped having to work, they actually were able to leave the land of Egypt, and then finally they saw their masters dead- they were completely free of even the fear of their masters coming after them. But receiving the Torah? What does that have to do with being free?

Answer

In order to answer this question we need to take a step back and understand the human being a bit better. As our sages explain, and as we see and sense in ourselves, the human being is made up of a physical body and spiritual soul. As such there exist within a person two corresponding drives- one for wisdom and spiritual accomplishment which stems from the neshama or G-dly soul of a person. And another drive for physical pleasures and wants and rest and ease- which stems from the physical, animalistic body of a person.

A famous analogy which can be used to understand this, as the Orchos Tzaddikim (of unknown authorship, emanating from Germany in the 15th century) puts it- man is a fusion of a ‘horse and rider.’ The animalistic body can either be steered and directed by the neshama, or the brain of a person. Or, the ‘horse’ can run wild with the ‘rider’ being co-opted to fix the horse’s errors and come up with an ever evolving list of excuses and justifications to get the horse out of trouble that it gets into from following after its instincts. These drives within the person are constantly butting heads- the neshama finds pleasure in discussing and exploring wisdom and uncovering ever new truths and understanding. The animal wants nothing more than to indulge and rest.

In the 6th perek (chapter) of Pirkei Avos (Ethics of our Fathers), in the second Mishna, R’ Yehoshua b. Levi says that “there is no such thing as a ‘free person’ but one who is involved in the study of Torah.”

The Tiferes Yisroel (R’ Yisroel Lifschitz, Germany, 1782-1860) in his commentary on Mishna called ‘Yachin U’boaz’, explains that the reason this is so is because the study of Torah and adhering to the precepts of the Torah, is the ONLY way for man to free his soul from the bondage of the animalistic spirit. The Torah contains the ‘playbook’, or instructions, for how one can both establish the leadership of their neshama, and also how to ‘train’ and bring along the animalistic body in a way in which both body and soul will be serving Hashem- with the soul providing direction and stewardship. 

With this we can now understand why it is that the 4th step in Hashem’s freeing the Jewish people, our nation, from Mitzrayim was so crucial. Slaves are, as our sages teach us (see Tosfos Yom Tov Gittin 1:6), interested only in the absence of structure and order. Perhaps they crave this because their masters provide a structure and order for them that they constantly ‘chafe’ at. Or, they might be naturally people who more abhor structure and order and end up being relegated to being slaves. But whichever way it might be, slaves are particularly beholden to, and enslaved by, their own want and desire for physical pleasure and rest.

In order for the Jewish nation to be fully freed from their slavery, all types of slavery, it was necessary for Hashem to give us a comprehensive guidebook and rule book which would guide us onto the proper path towards true freedom and liberation: the freedom of our souls which want to soar into the world of wisdom and spiritual accomplishment.

Chinuch Lesson

Structure, rules and order are necessary prerequisites for the higher elements and potential of a person to soar and be successful. By adhering to this, a person is able to accomplish extraordinary things. In the absence of such guardrails and focus and in an environment of wild ‘anarchy’ a person is not able to proceed and progress.

One need only to examine the training regimes of any elite athlete, musician or performer of any kind: structure, order and discipline are THE necessary ingredients for success. For someone to be successful, a person needs the ‘freedom’ afforded by structure and rules in order to focus their efforts on progress and success. If someone was ‘trapped’ and ‘enslaved’ by the constant “needs” or wants that they have, which they were powerless to deny or control, and which pull them in every direction- away from what they need to focus on- this is someone who will be unable to make much productive progress, if at all.

Wishing you and your family a chag kosher v'sameach!

A happy and healthy Pesach!

Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer

What's happening...

Matzah Baking!

Our students had the wonderful opportunity, once again, to experience Matzah Baking- hands on and being involved in the whole process! Our Middle School boys went on a trip to Brooklyn to the Kehilla of R' Mordechai Twersky to bake matzahs! They had an incredible time and experienced the entire process of baking matzahs- even putting the Matzahs in the oven!

Our Pre-School, Elementary School and Middle School girls, students, had a matzah factory come to them! R' Bernstein of Chabad of Freehold came and set up an entire matzah factory in our gym! The children had a great time as they got to make their own matzahs and learned about the entire process of making matzahs.

Burning Chometz!

This Monday, April 3rd, was the last day of school before Pesach and therefore our "Erev Pesach". As such, the children needed to check their classrooms for chometz and make sure that their desks and lockers were chometz-free. They set out on a chometz hunt with their teachers and tracked down all of the chometz that was hidden. After gathering it together, they brought it outside where we had our very own fire to burn chometz!

R' Kramer and R' Scharf spoke to the children about the process of searching for and then disposing of chometz and then the children each had the opporunity to put chometz into the fire.   

Model Seder!

After the children got rid of all of their chometz they proceeded to experience the actual seder! The Pre-School classes all had the model seder in their classrooms with their Morah. The children got to sing their songs and practice partaking in all of the parts of the seder. Ask your child the 'Ma Nishtana' (4 questions), we bet they know it!

The Elementary school and Middle School girls students went to the gym where R' Kramer led a seder. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to share the knowledge they have worked so hard to learn and for R' Kramer to push them to think just a bit more deeply into what they knew. It was a wonderful, bonding experience and a memorable way for the children to experience Pesach.

The Middle School boys enjoyed a thought provoking seder with their Rebbeim. This was a chance for their Rebbeim to take the boys through an authentic seder experience, complete with divrei Torah, singing and hearing stories from their Rebbeim.

All of the children enjoyed a scrumptious Yom Tov seuda (meal) with matzah, chicken soup, and delicious chicken and vegetables prepared by our very own chef!

These were yet more examples of how the traditions and 'life' of Judaism is not just learned at Shalom Torah Academy, but it is experienced!

Enjoy the most recent Middle School Boys

'Shmuz' that was said in the school and applicable to Pesach!