What does it mean, to be free?
Beginning at sundown on Saturday, April 12, Jewish communities around the world will gather around our Passover seder tables to remember the ancient Israelites’ redemption from Egyptian slavery, as recounted in the biblical book of Exodus. The festive seder meal is thoughtfully and intentionally designed to draw our attention toward the ongoing ways in which enslavement and oppressionstill manifest within our modern world.
In the biblical narrative, freedom was a multi-step process. After 10 miraculous “signs and wonders,” the Egyptian Pharaoh released the Israelite slaves, who quickly packed their meager belongings and began their arduous trek out of Egypt. Focusing on the distant horizon, the Israelites knew that a land of promise, and possibility, awaited them. Liberation felt imminent, and palpable … until they reached the raging waters of the Red Sea. Their hearts and their hopes quickly sunk at the sight of those vast ocean waters, suddenly obstructing their path.
The biblical text suggests that Moses, the formidable leader of the Israelites, stood at the foot of the sea as a conductor stands before an orchestra — arms lifted, staff in hand — and directed the waves to triumphantly rise and then divide. Through Moses’ leadership, and God’s divine intervention, the waters parted and the Israelites crossed on dry land.
Our rabbis, in the post-biblical period, were weavers of tales upon tales. In the Talmud, our compendium of ancient rabbinic commentary, one rabbi proposes another explanation for the waters’ wonderous divide. Rav Judah points to a simple, ordinary Israelite, named Nachshon, who descended into the sea before it even parted, before Moses even rose his staff. Guided by his conviction that a miracle would occur, Nachshon took initiative, rose to the occasion, and sprung forth while the rest of the Israelites lingered behind. According to Rav Judah’s retelling, it was Nachshon’s faith, courage, and perseverance that ultimately convinced God to make those waters part.
In this interpretation of the story, the Israelites were just as enslaved as they had been, back in Egypt. Still relying on Moses and God for protection and salvation, the Israelites had not yet discovered a sense of agency, or control, over their own destiny. God would not split the sea until at least one of them walked forward and said: “We are not stuck. We are not helpless. We can control what comes next.”
Slavery often involves a taskmaster and a whip, a cruel oppressor and a persecuted victim. But slavery can also mean accepting and internalizing a narrative of helplessness, and paralysis.
Thousands of years later, and it is still so easy to convince ourselves that we are helpless, that we are stuck, that we have no control and no way out of the personal or societal chaos that continues to manifest before our very eyes. Maybe our chaos surges when our self-destructive tendencies bring us down and hold us back and we can’t seem to get out of our own way. Maybe, for others, the chaos is connected to broader societal events that cause our lives to unravel or threaten our basic human rights.
But no matter how vast, how ominous, or how overwhelming that sea or that situation in front of us may be, Jewish tradition reminds us that we often have a choice. At every moment, at every sea, we can choose to remain frozen, trapped by our own slave mentality, convincing ourselves that nothing can possibly be done. Or, at every moment, and at every sea, we can choose to step forward with relentless determination, declaring to ourselves and to the broader world that it is in our power, to be free.
This Passover season and beyond, may we discover our ability to transform our lives, and the world around us.
Wishing a joyful, redemptive, and inspirational Passover season to all who celebrate.
Rabbi Sarah Marion is Assistant/Associate Rabbi at Congregation B’nai Israel, https://cbibpt.org/, 2710 Park Ave. in Bridgeport.
