Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El

The Shackles We Share 

The call of Passover is insistent ... get the gefilte fish, make sure there's enough matzah, insure that you have enough haggadot (even if they are all different) ... the list is long, but there is always the sense of excitement and anticipation in the air.  Passover is, after all, one of our most loved and most widely celebrated of all our holidays.  There may be a bittersweet quality, seeing the empty chair with a memory of a loved one who is no longer with us sitting there;  there may be a new infant,  soon to be trained in the fine art of looking for the afikomen.  To be sure, in large measure the hold that Passover has on many of us revolves around the personal element ... friends and family, engaging everyone in the Seder discussion, acting out the story of the four children, deciding who chants the Four Questions.  For many, all this takes top billing. 

At the same time, our Pesach holiday, the Festival of Freedom, is replete with meaning.  The most frequent verse in our Torah is "remember the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."  We were strangers; we were slaves; and that historical experience has made an indelible impression upon our Jewish psyche throughout the ages.   

The oppression or servitude of any group is an affront to humanity everywhere.  Our Jewish ethos dictates that we stand up in the face of any injustice, anywhere.  Our historical narrative that speaks of nationhood was born in the fiery crucible of slavery.  Social action and advocacy is at the heart of Passover, as we begin our Seder with the words that truly speak of our sense of justice: "Let all who are hungry come and eat." 

And it is not just physical shackles of which our Passover holiday speaks.  Our minds, with all our psychological baggage, can be in bondage as well.  Think of our ancestors who left Egypt.  Repeatedly they complained to Moses, afraid of their unknown future and skeptical of Moses and the God with whom he spoke.  It was difficult for them to psychologically free themselves of a life of bondage, where their basic needs were being met.  The unknown that beckoned to them was not easily embraced.  The safe and secure past of slavery, even though challenging and even distasteful and cruel, might yet be more comforting than the uncertain future that lay ahead for them. 

So, too, with us.  It is difficult to free ourselves from our old psychic shackles, that bind us to hurts unresolved, relationships torn asunder, and habits we cannot break.  This, too, is a slavery we must move beyond.  And we usually do, though often it becomes circuitous, as we create new shackles to shatter.  Working on ourselves, striving for that inner sense of freedom and redemption, is never easy.  And circumstances may have released most of us from the fetters of a crass materialism, but in doing so, many have lost an optimism that is so important to help make our lives more meaningful, and have resigned themselves to a status quo. 

As we strive to release ourselves from the shackles that bind all of us in one way or another, let us endeavor to truly live the words we will read in the Haggadah, so that all of us may truly go forth to a life of freedom. 

May we all have a zissen Pesach!

B'Shalom