Parashah for Pesach

When Israel was in Egypt’s land,
Let my people go,
oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
tell old Pharaoh: Let my people go

 

Understandably, working under the scorching sun in the cotton fields of the South and lifted by the story of a God who frees a people from slavery, the composers of the spiritual elided the second part of the verse.  But we must reckon with the second part of the verse. The Hebrew shoresh or root word, ע. ב. ד (avad), meaning “to serve” or “to work,” appears five times in the verse that describes the forced labor imposed on the Israelites by the Egyptians:

“They embittered their lives with hard servitude in loam and in bricks and with all kinds of servitude in the field—all their service in which they made them subservient with crushing servitude” (Exodus 1: 13-14).

 

And yet, this same root word, ע. ב. ד, to serve, describes the raison d’être of our freedom: to become servants of God. Indeed, the arc of the Exodus narrative describes the Israelites being released from slavery to Pharaoh in order to serve God.

In closely reading the biblical text and absorbing the Torah’s complete expression, high school students take exception:“What kind of freedom is this? God freed us in order to be God’s slaves?” This goes against the grain of what many adolescents dream of: freedom with no restrictions. Yet, freedom with restrictions is what we signed onto at Sinai. Indeed our rabbinic tradition speaks of submission to “the yoke of heaven.” Thus, we Jews are challenged with the question: are the commandments of the Torah just another type of servitude? Resoundingly no, according to Pirkei Avot. When Moses receives the ten commandments, we are told that  “the tablets were God’s handiwork and the writing was God’s writing, incised — חָרוּת (charut) —upon the tablets. But the mishna tells us, “Do not read חָרוּת (charut)—incised—but instead, change the vowels to read חֵרוּת (cheirut) meaning, freedom, “for you can have no freer man than one who is engaged in the study of the Torah” (Pirkei Avot,  6:2) This is the rabbis’ way of saying that God’s law is liberating. The 19th century hasidic master, the Sefat Emet, states plainly that “The purpose of the commandments is to ensure that every person of Israel be free.” 

Even before leaving Egypt, the Israelites receive two laws, the first being the creation of a new calendar (free people are in charge of their own time!):

 הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃

Let this month be for you the beginning of months,

the beginning-one let it be for you of the months of the year. (Exodus 12:2) 

And the second, the law of the Passover sacrifice and communal meal. Noteworthy in the language of these laws is the leitwort (leading or repeating word),   לָכֶ֔ם– “for you.” We are not commanded by the whims of an egotistical despot whose laws and decrees are in the service of his power and control, but rather by the God who gifted us with the blessings of the Torah for us! In return for serving God, we are delivered into the promise of an orderly society that fosters values and offers an ethical and meaningful structure for building a life. Complete autonomy and an existence without rules is more than human beings can handle. Service to God gives us a framework for living and a path for growing towards freedom. In the words of a tenth-grade student: “God brought us out of Egypt to be free from slavery but also to be free to worship God and have a purpose. These laws are some of the first laws that we get as a free nation, and that is why it’s so emphasized that the laws are ‘for us’.  These laws give Bnei Yisrael a purpose, God brought us out of Egypt so that we can follow these laws and live a better life. These laws bring the Jewish people together and unites them. The laws benefit us by providing structure, a common sense of community, a connection between us and our ancestors, and limits that are loving.”

As we gather at our seder tables to celebrate the festival of freedom, we might probe the meaning of freedom. The philosopher and poet, Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (11th century, Spain) poses the same question:  “Are the commandments of Torah just another type of servitude?” HaLevi frames his answer this way: “I only seek freedom from the service of those numerous people whose favor I do not care for, and shall never obtain, though I worked for it all my life. Even if I could obtain it, it would not profit me–I mean serving men and courting their favor. I would rather seek the service of the One whose favor is obtained with the smallest effort, yet it profits in this world and the next…This is the favor of God, His service spells freedom, and humility before Him is true honor.”

In essence, service to God frees us from the bondage of all Pharaohs and offers the freedom to develop the best in our humanity and allow it to thrive.

Happy Passover! Chag Kasher v’Sameach!