To
My Dear Students,
Passover
speaks of the age-old quest for freedom.
-It is not the freedom that
encourages us to do whatever we
want, but the freedom that
commands us to do what we must;
-It is not the freedom that
allows us to say: "Nobody can tell
me what
to do," but the freedom that obligates us
to do G-d's
will;
-It is not the freedom that
throws off constraints, but the
freedom that accepts restraints.
Being
free from something without being free for something
is not freedom -- it is anarchy. As author
Andre Gide said: "To know how to free oneself
is nothing; the hard thing is knowing what to
do with one's freedom."
What
our ancestors did with their freedom was to exchange
slavery to Pharaoh for service to G-d.
The
opposite of Egyptian bondage is not a free-for-all,
not individualism, not autonomy. The goal
of the Exodus was to accept the Torah with its
rules and regulations, its commandments and authority.
Each
of us at every moment is either enslaved to the
voice of Pharaoh or liberated by the voice of
G-d. We are either back in Egypt or we have
arrived at Mt. Sinai. We are either slaves
to something that degrades our lives or freed
by something that elevates our lives.
The
choice is ours to make every day.
Chag
Sameach!
Your
Rabbi
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