SPIRIT
A Pesach Message
T
he story of Pesach, of
the Exodus from Egypt,
is one of the oldest and
greatest in the world. It tells
of how one people, long ago,
experienced
oppression and
were led to lib-
erty through a
long and arduous
journey across
the desert. It is
the most dra-
matic story of
slavery to freedom ever told,
one that has become the West’s
most influential sourcebook
of liberty. “Since the Exodus,”
said Heinrich Heine, the 19th
century German poet, “free-
dom has always spoken with a
Hebrew accent.”
We read in the maggid
section of the Haggadah of
Rabbi Gamliel who said that
one who did not discuss the
Pesach lamb, the matzah and
the bitter herbs had not ful-
filled their obligation of the
seder. Why these three things
is clear: The Pesach lamb, a
food of luxury, symbolizes
freedom. The bitter herbs
represent slavery due to their
sharp taste. The matzah com-
bines both. It was the bread
the Israelites ate in Egypt as
slaves. It was also the bread
they left when leaving Egypt
as free people.
It is not just the symbol-
ism, but also the order these
items are spoken about in the
Haggadah that is interesting.
First, we speak of the Pesach
lamb, then the matzah and
finally the bitter herbs. But this
seems strange. Why do the
symbols of freedom precede
those of slavery? Surely slavery
preceded freedom so it would
be more logical to talk of the
bitter herbs first? The answer,
according to the Chassidic
teachers, is that only to a free
human people does slavery
taste bitter. Had the Israelites
forgotten freedom they would
have grown used to slavery.
The worst exile is to forget that
you are in exile.
To truly be free, we must
understand what it means
to not be free. Yet “freedom”
itself has different dimensions,
a point reflected in the two
Hebrew words used to describe
it, chofesh and cherut. Chofesh
is “freedom from,” cherut is
“freedom to.” Chofesh is what
a slave acquires when released
from slavery. He or she is free
from being subject to someone
else’s will. But this kind of lib-
erty is not enough to create a
free society. A world in which
everyone is free to do what
they like begins in anarchy and
ends in tyranny. That is why
chofesh is only the beginning
of freedom, not its ultimate
destination.
Cherut is collective free-
dom, a society in which my
freedom respects yours. A
free society is always a moral
achievement. It rests on
self-restraint and regard for
others. The ultimate aim of
Torah is to fashion a society
on the foundations of justice
and compassion, both of
which depend on recognizing
the sovereignty of God and
the integrity of creation. Thus,
we say, “Next year may we
all be bnei chorin,” invoking
cherut not chofesh. It means,
“May we be free in a way that
honors the freedom of all.”
The Pesach story, more than
any other, remains the inex-
haustible source of inspiration
to all those who long for free-
dom. It taught that right was
sovereign over might; that free-
dom and justice must belong
to all, not some; that, under
God, all human beings are
equal; and that over all earthly
power, the King of Kings, who
hears the cry of the oppressed,
intervenes in history to liberate
slaves.
It took many centuries for
this vision to become the
shared property of liberal
democracies of the West and
beyond; and there is no guar-
antee that it will remain so.
Freedom is a moral achieve-
ment, and without a constant
effort of education it atro-
phies and must be fought for
again. Nowhere more than
on Pesach, though, do we see
how the story of one people
can become the inspiration of
many; how, loyal to its faith
across the centuries, the Jewish
people became the guardians
of a vision through which, ulti-
mately, “all the peoples of the
Earth will be blessed.”
The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
served as the chief rabbi of the
United Hebrew Congregations of the
Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His
teachings have been made available
to all at rabbisacks.org.
A WORD OF TORAH
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
50 | APRIL 21 • 2022
“FREEDOM IS A MORAL
ACHIEVEMENT, AND WITHOUT A
CONSTANT EFFORT OF EDUCATION
IT ATROPHIES AND MUST BE
FOUGHT FOR AGAIN.”