HilleL Day School spirit torah portion 32200 Middlebelt Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 ³ž™§¯«¦ž¢³ž›¢› 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.