HilleL Day School
spirit
torah portion
32200 Middlebelt Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334
³§¯«¦¢³¢
Israel Independence
Day Carnival
& Kosher Rib Burn-off
sponsored by chemical bank
Thursday, APRIL 19, 2018
inflatables, carnival games, Ribs, sweet treats and more
CARNIVAL
3:00 p.m.-5:45 p.m.
$20.00 wristbands in advance
($25.00 at the door)
for unlimited inflATABLES, tattoos, and games
rib judging
5:15 p.m.
holy band
5:45 p.m.
no charge - brought to you by Jewish federation of metropolitan detroit
community members can purchase food and wristbands in advance at
http://bit.ly/2pqJnQY
Food will be served until 6:00 p.m. on a first come basis
RIB BURN-OFF PARTICIPANTS
HILLEL’S KOSHER
CATERING BY
FLIK
$5.00 per rib or 5 for $20.00
Sweet Treats sponsored by
Mira and Leopoldo
Eisenberg
1958-2018
event sponsor
COME ONE COME ALL
questions? contact melanie weber at mweber@hillelday.org
38
April 5 • 2018
jn
A Meaningful Freedom
T
his period of the Jewish cal-
endar is referred to as Zman
Cheiriteinu — the time of our
freedom. It is when we celebrate our
independence and commemorate
God’s salvation of the Bnei Yisrael,
Israelites, from their Egyptian ser-
vitude.
Year after year, we speak of our
freedom, but what precisely are we
celebrating when we spotlight free-
dom? Is it the ability to make
practices and ethics that are
choices, our power to express
restricting. Even when they
agency or our opportunity for
enter the land of Canaan,
self-actualization? Consider,
promised to their fore-
in fact, that any notion of
fathers, are they truly free?
freedom may be an illusion.
There are four Hebrew
If you reflect on our lives, it
expressions of salvation the
would seem we are never
Torah emphasizes, each
truly “free.”
represented by a cup of wine
While the notion of abso- Rabbi Azaryah
at the seder: I will bring you
lute freedom may be appeal- Cohen
out; I will save you; I will
ing, is it at all healthy? If free-
redeem you; I will take you.
dom is the ability to make
These verbs describe God’s
unhindered choices, we
commitment to redeem the
have only to read the works
Israelites and make us His own.
of psychologist Barry Schwartz and
The exodus from Egypt contained
similar thinkers who ascribe anxiety
two elements, freedom from slavery
and depression as consequences of
and redemption by God who gave
unrestrained choice.
Even at the dawn of our ancestors’ us the framework to guide our lives.
new freedom, the Israelites were still Our freedom cannot be uncoupled
from redemption — the two are
under the spell of their captors. In
intertwined. Freedom in and of itself
the Torah portion read on the sev-
is not a virtue unless accompanied
enth day of Pesach, we commemo-
by salvation.
rate the escape from Egypt and
Anarchy and nihilism do not
Egypt’s demise in the Reed Sea. The
provide humans with a healthy
narrative describes the Israelites,
framework by which we can live our
led by Moses and guided by God,
lives, nor does absolute freedom. It
as dependent and vulnerable. They
is no coincidence that the holiday of
are protected from the heat of the
desert day by a cloud and the chill of Pesach is ritually linked to Shavuot.
What we celebrate on Pesach is the
the night by fire. These phenomena
freedom to practice as Jews within
also act as GPS, leading them away
the framework of our rich heritage
from their pursuers. The Israelites
and meaningful traditions. The time
are anything but free and must take
of our freedom is bound to Shavuot,
a circuitous route to avoid any ele-
the time of receiving the Torah. On
ment of conflict that could lead to
Pesach, it is not absolute freedom we
fear and a desire to return to Egypt.
celebrate; rather, it is freedom with
And when, at Mount Sinai, they
purpose. The greatest expression of
receive the Torah and its precepts,
our freedom is not to act as we see fit
haven’t they merely swapped the
but to act as God’s chosen. •
slavery of Egypt for the tethers that
bind them to their faith and prac-
Rabbi Azaryah Cohen is head of school at
tice? They will receive laws that
Frankel Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield.
will confine them to a way of life, to
Parshat Pesach 8:
Deuteronomy 14:22-
16:17; Numbers
28:10-25; Isaiah
10:32-12:6.