Identifying Slavery and Finding Our Freedom
Today
At the Seder we will
declare that the Exodus from Egypt is relevant to us today; for had Yetziat
Mitzrayim not occurred we would still suffer from a slave mentality (regardless
of whether we still lived in Egypt or not). Rav Soloveitchik taught that there
are three characteristics of a slave mentality:
A slave is Pasul L’Edut; his
testimony cannot be accepted in a court of law. A slave cannot make his own
decisions. His ability to distinguish between truth and lies, between right and
wrong is never sufficiently developed. Furthermore, truthful testimony can only
be offered by a person who will not be coerced or punished due to what he says.
Slaves live in a constant state of fear, and we are concerned that the slave
will testify based on what his master wants to hear.
Secondly, a slave is exempt from
time-bound commandments. A slave’s time belongs to his master. He does not have
the freedom to set his own schedule or calendar. Therefore, the slave develops
an attitude of indifference or even antagonism toward time, as it is a reminder
of his restrained predicament.
Lastly, a slave is unable to get
married. Marriage is not merely a utilitarian institution for the fulfillment
of certain personal and social needs. Rather marriage encapsulates a spiritual
relationship, one in which spouses depend on each other, while at the same time
being obligated one to the other. Since the slave has a human master, he is
unable to obligate himself to anyone else nor depend on and develop that
spiritual relationship with anyone else.
None of us are technically
slaves according to Halacha. However, many of us struggle with traits intrinsic
to a slave’s mentality.
We may be kosher witnesses, but
many of us struggle with discerning between right and wrong, especially when
the difference between the two is not black and white. Even when the right
choice is clear, we may still struggle. We may not be coerced by a slave
master, but we are often enslaved by peer pressure or our own self-doubt, which
can lead us to act in ways contrary to what we know is right.
Each of us has a connection to
time-bound Mitzvot. Unlike slaves, we have the capacity for time awareness,
time-management and even time-mastery. And yet many of us are enslaved by time.
Sometimes time crawls by slowly, but more often time flies by. The great
increase in technology over the past decades was supposed to save us time.
Instead it has created the desire for multi-tasking: the attempt to cram more
activities into the same amount of time or less (an impossibility). These new
technologies have also given us countless new ways to waste time as well.
Unlike slaves, every free person
has the capacity to get married. And yet many people struggle with the
commitments necessary to get married or to make a marriage work. Some are enslaved by the notion of
self-sufficiency. They find the idea of being obligated to someone as unimaginable
and being dependent on someone else as a sign of weakness.
Marriage, and any
quality interpersonal relationship, requires vulnerability. When you ask
someone out on a date or propose marriage, you are vulnerable to rejection,
because the other person can say no. If you express your feelings or share your
thoughts with someone you also become vulnerable because they may not agree or
feel the same way. Whether it’s a first date or after years and decades of
marriage- relationships require a degree of vulnerability and commitment and
effort that some people find uncomfortable.
At the Seder and over Pesach,
let us reflect and discuss with our family ways in which we are prone to modern
forms of slavery. And let this Festival of Freedom inspire us to find our
personal freedom.
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