I am about to get ready for Seder.

If I may bend a few ears (eyes) briefly, I would like to share a few thoughts. I don’t mean this to be a religious screed per se, however, my thoughts about the holiday reflect on the news.

Pesach, is about Freedom. We commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. However, it is not just a simple story of slaves yearning for freedom, the wrath of G-d, or the escape of people into a new life. It is a reflection that with freedom comes sober responsibility. The promised land was not “just delivered” with a bow on it. The people had to accept the Law first. They had to struggle and rise up and break the mental state of slavery before entering the Land.

In Hebrew, the word for Egypt is Mitzrayim - it literally means “the narrow place.” Being in Mitzrayim is a mental and a spiritual state as much as a physical one. The great paradox of Pesach is that Freedom is never free. That to be free mentally and spiritually, one must accept a certain discipline.

The real world is hard - in some ways it is harder for free men to bear then it is for slaves. The slave is dehumanized, but he is housed and fed and most importantly he has no choices to think for himself. Many find that comfortable.

This is where I wish to make a point about the news.

There will always be fools who spout foolishness. The world of fantasy where one’s own un-earned grandiosity reigns supreme is always more attractive than the world of toil. It is always easier to believe that nothing your fault, that your nonsense is brilliant and that you are the master of all things without earning it.

What I see again and again in the world, the press, the blogsphere is the horrible realization that people are killing themselves every day through following those comfortable illusions. It is easier to believe that the Iranis are somehow deep down nice guys who don’t really want atomics. It is easier to believe in frothing conspiracy theories because if every thing is really run by shadow cabals, then one is absolved of the responsibility of doing anything about it. It is easier to spout off about science than it is to actually learn it. It is easier to simply call Obama names than it is to reflect on the failures of one’s own party or the bigger picture - I mean really how in bed was Bush (and all previous presidents in the last half century) with the Saudis? It is easier to just not think. It is easier to vent anger than it is to reflect. It is easier to tear down others than it is to build up oneself.

All of these things are forms of Mitzrayim.

I am mostly writing this to say how profoundly grateful I am to have friends here, rabble that we are, who try to see the world as it is and to not be in Mitzrayim.

I wish everyone here the absolute best.