From Slavery to...Freedom?

Tonight, April 6th, the 15th of Nissan, Jews worldwide will be celebrating Pesach (Passover). 3 Matzahs, 4 cups of wine, bitter herbs and sweet charoset, we will recall the events that led to the leaving of Egypt by our people years ago. But for what purpose did G-d take us out all those years ago? And He (G-d) said (to Moshe),
"For I will be with you, and this is the sign for you that it was I Who sent you. When you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship G-d on this mountain." (Exodus 3:12)

The ultimate purpose of leaving the shackles of Egyptian slavery, was to receive the Torah from G-d at Mount Sinai, accepting upon ourselves the various laws and instructions - the Mitzvot - contained inside. An obvious question arises: How come we make such a big deal over our freedom from Egypt and our servitude there, if we were only freed in order to become slaves to another master!? With all of these rules & regulations, where's our freedom!? And if so, what are we even celebrating? The answer to this is a profound one - touching on the essence of who we are and what it means to truly feel free.

Who are we? Judaism teaches that we are lofty souls, that have descended & been clothed into coarse bodies that are constantly distracted by any and every lust & desire that passes before our eyes. Especially today in 2012, with the dominant role electronic devices play in our lives - with its constant barrage of messages and visuals, as well as the rise in our standard of living, much time has been devoted to our bodies, while less and less time & opportunity has been afforded our souls.

In the books of Jewish Mysticism, it is often described how painful for the soul it is to have to descend from its lofty home in the spiritual worlds to an earth full of lies and falsehood. Where the outer shell is emphasized as truth and the inner dimension invisible. And that's where Torah & Mitzvot come in. Far from limiting us, when one learns Torah or performs a Mitzvah, one's soul is able to finally express itself - to free itself from the shackles of shallowness, shining through the coarseness of physicality.

By way of example, let's take a look at the mitzvah of observing Shabbat. We know that a major theme of Shabbat is that it's a day of rest. But so much we do that day seems to be the opposite of rest! From walking to synagogue to avoiding computers & television to exerting ourselves in prayer and learning, Shabbat seems to be more strenuous than restful! But that's if one is looking at the resting of the body. Avoiding the numerous every day distractions of life, for one day, opens up a door for one's soul to express itself. Prayer, learning, a time for contemplation and reflection, gives a person a chance to express his true essence. And that is the true "rest" the soul desires all week long.

May this Passover, and its continuation to the holiday of Shavuot, inspire us to get more in touch with our souls, through connecting with our Torah & Mitzvot.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

True Freedom

Regardless of one's level of Jewish observance, Passover (Pesach) holds a special significance in the life of every Jew. It's actually amazing to see how long Jews, from various backgrounds worldwide, have observed this holiday. I remember once as a teenager in high school, attending a party, that happened to be during Passover. While everyone was consuming beer, I saw out of the corner of my eye a group of Jewish teens drinking bottled wine, kosher for Passover. While it warmed my heart (not that I advocate underage drinking ;), it drives home this amazing power of Passover for every Jew, even those that don't observe very many Jewish practices during the rest of the year. What is this spiritual energy of Passover? And how come we are so obsessed with it, enough that we mention the leaving of Egypt throughout our daily prayers?

The spirtual theme of Passover is freedom. Of course we commemorate the freedom of leaving Egypt and its slavery over us. But what does that mean for us today, free to do as we please? What does it mean to truly be free?

The mistake comes in our way of thinking. We think that freedom is when all constraints on a person are taken away. Meaning, we assume that freedom is the natural state of a person - that if one is liberated from external forces that limit him, we have a "free" human being. The message of Passover is that a much greater and truer freedom can be attained. When G-d took us out of Egypt, this was but the 1st step toward Mount Sinai and the giving of the Torah. When we left Egypt, we were free in the conventional sense - no one ruled over us. But then, as we proceeded through the desert, we began to rid ourselves of the depraved culture and Pagan habits we had developed during hundreds of years in Egypt. So too, today, we can free ourselves in so many ways. TV, phones, social media and the materialistic culture that surrounds us - all trap us into thinking a certain way. Is that freedom? On a deeper level, there is ego, anger, impatience, depression - each of us has our own personal trigger reactions to our surroundings, buttons that when pressed, don't exactly elicit the finer elements of our inner selves. We have to work to free ourselves and not be subservient to our habits. Through hard work (represented by the 49 days between Passover & Shavuot when the Torah was given), we can help free ourselves from the shackles of our evil inclination, revealing the massive amount of good within.

But then we received the Torah. Then we were empowered to achieve a yet greater freedom: The ability to transcend even our good inclination. Meaning, to always improve and reach greater heights. The Torah and its divine wisdom are sometimes looked at as the opposite of freedom - limiting us with rules and regulations. But if we take a deeper look, we can see that at the end of the day, no matter how hard we work, we can't really be free. Because no matter how "great" we improve, it will always be "me." Defined by the boundaries of self. Torah & Judaism came to raise us beyond self, to a G-dly plane, an infinite one. It draws out the divine within each of us, the infinite potential we have to constantly "Pass-over" the level we were on yesterday.

May this year's Passover (Night of April 6th - 14) unleash the divine, infinite potential within each of us, infusing us with spiritual power to break all of our boundaries; to leave our personal Egypts.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Finding Freedom in Estonia

B"H

-David from Narva, Estonia

Happy Passover to you and yours!

We are now amidst the 3,323rd anniversary celebration (1313 BCE) of our Exodus from Egypt!

Can you feel the freedom?

Of course I don't just mean physical freedom.

Freedom takes on many forms.

Freedom from addiction. Freedom from our fears. Freedom from sadness.

In general a Spiritual freedom from the shackles of this materialistic world...

As I've been traveling through Estonia ("Esto-what??"); from the capital Tallinn, to the outskirts of Kohle-Jarve and Narva (on the border with Russia),

I've been meeting face to face with the everlasting Jewish spirit that never dies. I've been witnessing true spiritual freedom at its best.

It's cold here about 10 months of the year. Snow & ice cover every inch of terrain. The trees bear no leaves.

The apartment buildings look gross and smell worse. The country's history with the Jews isn't one to fondly remember.

There is one synagogue in the entire country. Most cities (like Kohle-Jarve where we made our Seders ) boast 100 Jews at most (compare that to 100,000 in San Diego alone :)

And yet Jews flocked to our Seders; young and old. We probably met over 60% of the community!

They were interested and excited. My friend and I spoke to them about the exodus from Egypt, both then and what it means today in our lives.

Stories were woven in, along with singing and dancing.

And you had the feeling that you were part of something special.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, far from the comforts of warm, sweet home on the other side of the world;

5 miles from a once major concentration-camp, in the freezing cold, we were joining with our fellow Jews and experiencing the freedom of the Jewish soul.

A soul that is "literally a piece of G-d Above." (Tanya, Ch. 2)

Throughout history the Jewish body was beaten and imprisoned.

But our Jewish soul was always free. That could never be imprisoned by any force.

A few hours before the 1st night of Passover, we met up with David from Narva, one of the city's only Jews. We put up a mezuza on his office door in his auto shop,

and danced together to celebrate. When he saw us praying with Tefillin on, he asked us if he could pray with us, even though he had already prayed that morning.

I gently told him that he needn't pray with Tefillin twice in 1 day, all the while marveling at the fact that I have to beg many to put Tefillin on once a day!

David, it so happens, had his circumcision done earlier that year, at the age of 48, in St. Petersburg. He practically begged the Rabbi to have it done.

He has a prayer booklet in Russian, and listens to the prayers and songs online to learn the tunes of the melodies.

As we enter the last days of Passover, with the spiritual energy of freedom it contains,

let's try and hone in on something we'd like to improve on, to feel more freedom from.

Our physical surroundings and social setting may feel cramping and imprisoning at times.

But our powerful souls inside can transcend any obstacle or situation we find ourselves in.

For as I witnessed here in Estonia, true freedom lays not in location or situation, but in ones mindset.

A Joyful demeanor and more sensitive, spiritual outlook can

be attained by one and all - wherever & however we find ourselves in.

This Passover let's choose freedom.

Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Passover!

Daniel

Tallinn, Estonia