This is the season of freedom. Next week, the Jewish people celebrate Passover, a holiday commemorating the exodus from Egypt.

The Commandments serve to teach our youth about “our” exodus from Egypt and—dare I say— our exodus from self, which is the basis of freedom.

I say “our” in quotes to specify the idea that we must see ourselves as though we were the ones who exited Egypt under the miracles of God, not that it was someone else. If these miracles hadn’t happened 2000 years ago, we too would still be slaves in Egypt.

The slavery/ freedom to which I’m speaking is a mindset. We have this illusion of control and a deeply held belief that we somehow control our safety and our destiny. The truth is, just as Jews in Egypt could have never escaped slavery without obvious miraculous, divine intervention, so too our daily survival is a gift of the divine. A loving gesture of the divine.

We don’t have a choice of what happens to us, we have a choice in how we respond. Freedom is knowing that we aren’t in charge and awareness that the almighty is running the world. The illusion of being in charge comes with suffering and pain, and when we turn it over and understand that it all comes from the divine, we have the freedom of acceptance and reliance on God.

When we sacrifice for our children or our significant others, we don’t feel as though we are giving something up, we feel as though we are giving to our loved ones so we all get closer. It’s an act of freedom; the act of knowing that when I give to you, I receive.

Sacrifice in Hebrew literally means to bring close.

This week, let’s choose to be kind. Let’s choose to understand that whatever we have is truly for our best and comes from the divine, and the divine loves us more than we can ever imagine.

Accountability, Community, Unconditional Love

Asher

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