בס''ד
If there is one word that could epitomise and encapsulate Pesach, it would perhaps be Freedom. Hundreds of years cruelly enslaved by a tyrannical despot, the Jewish people are finally granted their freedom amid a devastating onslaught of plagues and miracles. But to what were they freed? To the Torah and all the demands placed on them by G-d. We are told that this was in fact the sole purpose of the Exodus. To bring them to Sinai to accept the yolk of the Torah. Is this truly liberty or just another form of servitude? Added to this is the way in which we commemorate this event, in a manner incredibly restrictive, bound by laws that direct every minutia of our lives during the festivities, seemingly the antithesis of the cause of our celebration: freedom.
The
answer, as is the case to so many of the questions that perplex us, lies in
re-educating ourselves as to what is meant by those concepts we think we
understand. Although observance of the
Torah brings with it constraints in what we should and should not do, it in
truth allows us the opportunity to break free from those limits that our
physical existence would suggest we must abide by. A human being as a corporeal entity can only
achieve as much as their finite body allows.
But the Torah frees us from these confines and teaches us of the spirit
that is what we truly are and that is only limited by the limitations that we
choose for it, dependent solely on the choices we make, even when they seem to
demand that we restrict our freedom.
This is surely the greatest emancipation that a person can be given, to
allow for boundless growth and an opportunity to connect with the infinite,
beyond anything that the secular world’s definite limit of potential would
allow.
The
power of Pesach is in the energy it brings for rebirth and renewal. Just as the Jewish people were born as a
nation at this time, we all have the opportunity to tap into the influence of
these days to motivate us to begin anew and revitalise our lives. As we sit this year at our Seder and immerse
ourselves in its beauty and inspiration, let us try to focus on this awareness
of our unlimited potential for growth.
It is a night bursting with possibilities to initiate our first steps up
the ladder to greatness, with the first rung a realisation of how elevated we
have the ability to become. Let us do all we can to allow its power to find its
way to our souls and raise us beyond anything we could ever have imagined we
could be.
*May the inspiration of Pesach lift
us to new heights*
לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם
לרפואה שלימה: שרה יעל בת
ברכה אסתר
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