The holiday of Passover is about freedom. The Israeli slaves were freed from their bondage. The purpose of this redemption was to allow and encourage freedom of choice to do the right thing. The “right thing” meant that they would follow God.
The Bible describes the event as God taking the Children of Israel out of Egypt. The Hebrew word for “Egypt” in the scripture is ‘Mitzrayim,’ which means “limitations.” This is the clue to the definition of freedom. Being free is overcoming and going beyond limitations. A slave is limited by the demands and rules of the slave owner.
In the Bible story, the Land of Egypt itself is confining. For that matter, any society, culture, or political entity is by nature restrictive. Groups of people develop laws and regulations that define their reason for being.
But life itself is an experience with borders. The physical world in which we dwell is characterized by natural boundaries: there is only so much time (once gone it cannot be reclaimed); we cannot go beyond some level of ability (no one will ever run a 10 second mile); we can only become so big (there will never be 30-foot-tall people). Even with our sophisticated inventiveness, our material world limits us. (If we are indeed limited to never attain the speed of light, well, there it is.)
The human race will test its limits. But there are absolute boundaries governing the universe. Describing something that exists is listing the restrictions that define it. No experience, object, observation, creature, explanation, or knowledge makes any sense unless it has its definable characteristics.
Though people may speak about eternal truths, an infinite universe, boundless love, the everlasting God, these concepts are truly beyond our experience. Without personal familiarity, we can theorize absolutes, but cannot assuredly and confidently comprehend them. Truth changes like fashion. The universe is supposedly expanding, so it must have an edge. The love for another certainly has the potential to fade, as many will attest. The beginnings and endings that mark all mortal affairs are themselves boundaries.
Borders and limitations: these are the fundamental characteristics of the physical universe. In this context, every encounter in our lives determines who we are and how we think and react. Each person’s unique genetic, biological, cultural, nutritional, learned, and experienced influences mold him or her. These are only some of the many formative factors contributing to an individual’s totality.
The sum of these elements determines our next step. Many components interact within the limitations of our bodies and minds to produce choices that flow from all that precedes. Our seemingly unfettered choices are actually determined by the comprehensive input that makes a person. Thus, freedom of choice does not really exist in a material world.
There is, however, an infinite and eternal spiritual world that begins within us. We can make the choice to transcend the limitations of the earthly. We can choose to be like God. We can choose to activate and nourish our heavenly nature. This is freedom from the boundaries of a physical existence.
Deciding to strengthen a spiritual connection involves suppressing the power of the material and withstanding the allure of the senses. It is possible to be aware of perceptions without being distracted by them. This concentration takes practice. Rejecting intruding thoughts while focusing the mind is the path to spiritual awareness and the accompanying freedom it allows.
These introductory comments lead me to consider the three major components of the Passover Seder (service):
- The Passover Offering
- The Matzah
- The Bitter Herbs
We concentrate on these elements as we strive along the path of transcending earthly limitations.
These factors are of great significance when understood in the context of the Holiday’s goal of seeking spiritual enhancement.
The Passover Offering refers to the lamb that was slaughtered for the meal to be eaten during the Plague of the Killing of the FIrst Born (also known as the tenth and last Plague). This animal was revered by the Egyptians as a god. Killing their deity was inviting reprisal. The punishment would likely be the death penalty. Willingness to take this risk means placing one’s faith in Heavenly Powers. Thus, the Offering is a demonstration of the attempt to move beyond the material realm. The earthly powers distract us from connecting with an infinite and eternal mindset.
Matzah is about suppressing that little voice that reflects the false ego. The nature of this food is that it was cooked before the wheat could rise. SImilarly, neither should we entertain or indulge an inflated self-opinion. Achieving freedom is the opposite of reveling in oneself. Overcoming the flaws and imperfections of our physical world requires suppressing those thoughts that whisper into the mind. This constant brain activity is the engine that fuels our worldly accomplishments. But it interferes with efforts to focus on ultimate mindfulness. Random thoughts hinder celestial connections. Creating mental silence inclines toward the otherworldly. The path to transcendence subdues the nagging voices of aggrandizement, jealousy, anger, and regret. Shutting out moods and imaginings is the challenge when seeking an ethereal state of mind.
Bitter herbs exemplify the distress and anxiety associated with material pursuits. Changing the environment or working to achieve success invites discord. This necessarily elicits discomfort in some form. We are willing and even eager to suffer as we work to attain and create. The bitter herbs attest to the inevitable outcome of the struggle that characterizes a mortal life. The process of adding the spiritual dimension requires quieting the importance of these goals and their attendant frustrations and rewards.
Remembering the Exodus from Egypt during Passover is best understood as using these tools to reach beyond the boundaries of our existence by putting material influences and concerns on hold. Great mental effort must be exerted to silence the mind and the emotions.
When God produced a physical counterpart to stand alongside the Heavenly realm, our world came into being. WIthin the context of the earthly universe, restricting rules to maintain consistency had to be incorporated. These regulations are the much-discussed limitations of the material cosmos. They are intrinsic to everything, and direct our every choice.
The quests and challenges of earthly Creation are to be augmented by its missing ingredient: the unbound world of the soul. Only human beings, among all living creatures, can reach into this ethereal realm of the spirit. The Creator imbues us with a binding link to the Heavenly that can be exploited to make the world complete. We have to make the effort and expend the energy and the time building and preserving this bridge.
The Exodus from Egypt is a tale of reaching spiritual acceptance without abandoning material reality. Sustaining the material attachment anchors the spiritual bridge. Each world is enhanced by the contribution of the other. God created humans to bridge the Earthly and Heavenly powers. This connection supplements and sustains each.
This path does not leave us in a God-like state, which is particular to the Deity. It combines the growth, interactions, and joys of the earthly with the expansiveness and freedoms of the heavenly. We remain human. We become more at peace with our struggles and accepting of the reality in which we live. This is both the burden and the reward of Passover.
Health and Spirit by Dr. Jack Zoldan 