I wanted to give a little thought before heading off for a few days. It’s not a very obscure thought or one that any rabbi or yeshiva boy won’t tell you. But it has always struck me as profound.

Passover is coming up. It’s the holiday that commemorates the exodus from Egypt. One of the observances of the holiday is to rid one’s home of chametz (leavened bread and related foods, the exact definition is flour from certain grains like wheat, that has been allowed to be wet as a dough for more than 18 minutes). The name for Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzraim.

My thought is about the imagery of both.

My ancestors left slavery in Egypt. When they left, they were broken spiritually. They had a slave mentality. They could barely imagine what it meant to be free men and women or, that they could possibly stand on their own or do for themselves. Personal growth was not in the equation. They were always told what to do. They never had the responsibility of thinking for their own lives or striving for their own goals. Everything was because of the demands of some other person.

Another observance of Passover is to imagine what it was to be a slave and to imagine what it was to be suddenly free - to see oneself as part of the Exodus - and to ask what freedom means today, for you, just as our ancestors had to then. It is so easy to take for granted.

The name for Egypt is Mitzraim. It means the narrow place. It’s descriptive of the geography of a river based civilization in the desert. It is also a reference to the mentality of a slave where possibilities are not even considered and one is constrained to a narrow place internally.

To be free, really free, one must with dignity and pride be able to stand and say, I planned this and I did that, judge me for who I am. One must be able to stand with shame and remorse and be able to say, I planned this and I did that, judge me for who I am. One can not say how the constraint of this master or that master prevented me from doing what was right, or what I should have done. One can not say should have, could have, would have, but, I had to toil for something material or, I was too vain or, too proud or, too frightened to. The irony of freedom is that it is the freedom to take responsibility for oneself. The irony of freedom is that it is the ability to stand before God as oneself, with one’s own name and one’s own hopes, fears and deeds upon oneself. Freedom is choosing to live for purpose rather than to simply exist.

Passover is about the individual and the irony that real freedom is service as an individual to a higher cause - not the service of transient things, not the service of materialism, not the service of base instincts, not the service of all the chains we put on ourselves, and certainly not the service of the vanity of others. Freedom is the ability to fight evil rather than acquiesce to it, or shrug and think I can do nothing. Freedom is the ability to master oneself, rather than let others master you.

Freedom is ironically, the ability to choose to fulfill one’s actual role. Freedom ironically is the ability to strive for justice and make sacrifices for it. Freedom is the ability to be just and compassionate and to be judged for failing to be so. Freedom is the ability to be scared out of one’s mind, but to master oneself and find the strength to say “not on my watch.”

Chametz is something that puffs up and gives creature comforts. It is one of the best ways to be in Mitzraim internally. It may be a trite example, but if you really can’t control your waistline, who are you a slave to? Worse, if you really think that getting that raise or working those extra hours is more important than raising the kids, who are you a slave to? If you think that you must follow a party line for fear of exclusion, who are you a slave to?

Chametz represents the substitutes for dignity and the vanity we cling to in order to comfort our wounded egos. Chametz in this context, keeps you in Mitzraim and consoles you that it isn’t so bad to be there. Chametz is the soft seductive stuff that makes us give up and acts as a substitute for what will actually fulfill us. Chametz is thinking that you may be a slave, but have a cookie… Everything is better with cookies. It is not at all different from killing yourself for goals that are not your own, or serve no greater purpose, but consoling yourself with a new purchase, or flattery, or status in some meaningless group.

So…

I hope everyone has an amazing year of growth, action and desire to take responsibility - myself included. Free people can change the world. So said my ancestors at Sinai.