Getting Personal

Pesach is the holiday that celebrates our freedom from Egyptian bondage. We are taught in the Haggadah that if not for the redemption from Egypt, we would still be slaves there. This helps us understand the significance of the holiday and the concept of freedom on a national scale.

However, for many of us, in today’s day and age, we are still waiting for our personal redemption from the circumstances that the ups and downs of life present to us. This can have many faces, whether it is a financial redemption, fertility, marriage, mental health, physical health, or whatever it is that we are praying for. How do we celebrate the holiday of national freedom when we can feel so chained and unfree on a personal level?

I think the answer is that freedom is a mindset; when we choose to let go of our preconceived notions, expectations, and ideals, we become freer. To quote Rav Johnny Solomon “Pesach also allows us to consider the ways in which we experience liberation from other difficulties and challenges that we encounter.” Instead of wallowing in the despair of our reality, we need to accept it, give ourselves the space to grow with it, and we will then become freer people.

Rav Elimelech Biderman shares that Mordechai & Esther declared a fast on seder night because of its great power to request redemption. This is the time to let go by reaching out to G-d. Perhaps, once we embark on the journey of freedom on a personal level, we can spring forward to the ultimate redemption on a national scale.