The Shofar, Temple Beth El’s monthly publication, keeps community and temple members up to date on what’s going on. Take a look at this month’s Shofar to see what’s coming up or browse through the archives to see all that we’ve done!
| LETTER FROM |
| THE RABBI |
Contemplating Freedom this Month of Liberation
Passover, deemed “The Season of our Liberation” ( זמן חרותינו ) by the Rabbis, typically falls in April, mere days after the Spring Equinox, which makes sense since Passover is the 15th of the Hebrew month Nisan, deemed “Spring” ( אביב ) in the Bible. We know this holiday to celebrate our freedom from enslavement under the persecution of the Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph.” In no time at all—some traditions (Talmud, Sotah 11a) suggest that it’s the same Pharaoh who both named Joseph second in command and then turned his back on him as if he didn’t know him—our ancestors went from regal status to persecuted minority. The same is said of the sudden reversal of fortune under King Ahasuerus in the Purim story: Despite living peacefully as loyal subjects in Shushan, evil Haman convinces the king to murder all Jews in the kingdom; yet, soon after that reversal of fortune, Esther yet again reverses the edict and the Jewish people are saved.
Children typically are taught that Pesach is about physical freedom, reflecting on the liberation from slavery. The rabbis offer a clue to a bigger story when during the Seder we acknowledge moving “from slavery to freedom” ( מעבדות לחרות ) not only physically but spiritually as well: “My father was a wandering Aramean” ( ארמי אובד אבי ), remembering that Abraham was the first to discover our God. We were idolators, our Haggadah teaches, who then discovered God. This spiritualization of the move from slavery to freedom makes the story of Passover more relevant to our current blessed generation of American Jews who do not face the wrath of a moody, unstable dictator whose whimsical disdain toward Jews could be murderous.
However, there is a next level of discussion about freedom, one that we barely touch (although Counting the Omer can be spiritualized to capture this deeper meaning), namely, the ongoing question of just how free we are? How much of our lives are controlled by commercial forces that have integrated themselves into our social media as advertising algorithms? To what extent can we really claim freedom when we are surveilled physically and digitally 24/7? Was
Jeremy Bentham’s 18th Century Panopticon a societal advancement as it had been touted, or was it the harbinger of the end of privacy, of free will, of complete independence? Are any of us truly free?I want to explore the question of our “freedom,” free will, and t’shuvah (repentance, return) during our High Holy Days this year. If you have studied Jeremy Bentham, Michel Foucault, or others who have written on these matters, please let me know, I’d love to speak with you.
Meanwhile, as we celebrate Pesach together (have you signed up yet for our communal seder?), I hope you will not only recognize the good fortune of the Israelites 3000+ years ago, but also will fully embrace that “In each and every generation, one is obligated to see themselves as if they left Egypt” and were liberated from enslavement. Why? Because none of us are truly free unless we imagine something greater than the shackles that hold us back from all of our dreams, visions of self and of the world. May this Pesach mark the commencement of your complete and utter freedom!
Chag Sameiach, I love you all!
Rabbi Jonathan Klein
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