Passover thoughts

When we clean and cook for Passover it is a tremendous amount of work! I am sure many of you are hosting large Seders with days of preparation involved! As we enter the holiday of Passover, the most widely observed Jewish holiday, we are reminded why we go through the trouble. We celebrate Passover not only to remember our past but also to act as if we ourselves were freed from Egypt.
In every generation, all are obligated to view themselves as having personally left Egypt, since it is said, "And you shall explain to your child on that day, 'It is because of what Adonai did for me when I went free from Egypt'." Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise...and bless the One who performed all these miracles for our ancestors and for us, for bringing us from slavery to freedom, anguish to joy, mourning to festival, darkness to great light, and subjugation to redemption.
--Mishnah, P'sahim. Also in the Haggadah
We are reminded to look at the world through the eyes of slaves and not as free people. Freedom, with all of its rights and responsibilities, is what we are encouraged to celebrate. It begins simply with the name for "Egypt" in Hebrew, "Mitzrayim," from the Hebrew word "metzar" meaning "narrow" or "constricted.." Egypt was the ultimate place of constriction. No single slave had ever escaped from there, let alone an entire nation of slaves. Once we crossed the Red Sea, we left the narrow places of Egypt and new worlds opened.
When the Torah talks about freedom, it always connects it to a clear idea of the purpose of that freedom. Freedom without a purpose is slavery. Freedom without thinking of others who suffer, we are reminded, is pointless. The Exodus is, religiously speaking, not an event of history, dead and buried. It is now. It is the struggle of Jewish people in the world who are not able to celebrate because of poverty or oppression. It is the story of the people of Darfur who, even as we will celebrate the time of redemption, still only know suffering. It is the stories in recent weeks of those who are suffering from lack of food and resources. Passover is a reminder that we must continue to fight for social justice. As we celebrate, who is not yet able to do the same?
Joining a rich historical awareness to contemporary concerns for freedom and self-expression, enjoying the warmth of people you love while sharing delicious food, this is a time to renew our own commitments--to our own growth, to our relationships, and to our Judaism. As we celebrate our past and our values, I wish you all a joyous and healthy holiday!