As human beings, freedom is our most cherished attribute.
March 29, 2010 · 0 Comments
As human beings, freedom is our most cherished attribute. Free choice is the essence of being human. To attain our full measure of freedom, we must avoid shackling ourselves with “artificial” needs. The less our needs, the greater our freedom to act upon the principle and do what which is right.
And when we have attained that total freedom, then the wealth and bounty that God has bestowed upon us become tools for growth and accomplishments, rather than chains of needs that must be serviced.
As we eat the simple, unadorned matzah on Seder night, let us reflect that we are ‘resetting’ our base level of subsistence to its most elementary of levels. We look around and observe the table, the meal, the wine, and learn to partake of them not as enslaved hedonists, but as free men.
Spiritually, our community today is starving. Jews today thirst for connections to G-d and to our Jewish heritage, yet the path to these riches so often eludes us. How many of us truly have the level of Jewish knowledge that we would like? Yet, here too, we find inspiring rabbis and teachers who labor to spread Jewish knowledge.
This Passover, amid all the singing, the visiting, and the eating of Passover, I will remember the cruelties and degradation slavery meant for our ancestors. I will remember how Moses was able to look at a fellow Jew, a slave, and say “my brother.”
And I will remember that each of those Jews held true to their Jewish faith, so that I, too, could one day sit around a table of opulence and recall those days of slavery in Egypt.
If you have always wanted to learn how to read Hebrew, now is the time to sign up for a new 5 part “Crash Course in Hebrew Reading” Just imagine staring the course in May and by June you will be able to read Hebrew!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Josh Broide
Outreach Director Boca Raton Synagogue Hahn Judaic Campus