Freedom As Process
Exodus Rabbah 20:14
砖诪讜转 专讘讛 (讜讬诇谞讗) 驻专砖讛 讻, 讬讚
讚”讗 讜讬讛讬 讘砖诇讞 驻专注讛 讗”诇 讛拽讘”讛 讗谞讬 讻转讘转讬 讘转讜专讛 (讚讘专讬诐 讻讘) 砖诇讞 转砖诇讞 讗转 讛讗诐 讜讗转 讛讘谞讬诐 转拽讞 诇讱 讜讗转讛 砖诇讞转 讗转 讛讗讘讜转 讜讘谞讬诐 讛砖诇讻转 诇讬讗讜专 讗祝 讗谞讬 诪砖诇讞 讗讜转讱 诇讬诐 讜诪讗讘讚 讗讜转讱 砖谞讗诪专 (转讛诇讬诐 拽诇讜) 讜谞注专 驻专注讛 讜讞讬诇讜 讘讬诐 住讜祝 讜讗拽讞 讗转 讘转讱 讜讗讜专讬砖 诇讛 讙谉 注讚谉
“God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer” (Exod. 13:17). God taking Israel on a roundabout path can be understood through the following parable. There once was a king who had a son whom the king wanted to give an inheritance. The king said to himself, “If I give my son the inheritance now when he is still young he will not know how to look after it. Rather, once my son has studied and learned, only then will I give him his inheritance. And this is what The Holy One Blessed Be He said, “If I bring them into the Land of Israel now, they will still not observe the commandments, and they will not know about tithing of their crops, rather, I will give them the Torah, and then I will bring them into the land.
The last days of Passover take on a relaxed feel for me. With the cleaning done, the four cups of wine, Hillel sandwiches, and bitter herbs a distant memory, I tend to focus on the remaining festival days and the visions of fully leavened bread that are inclined to pop into my head. The midrash above, based on the Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover, creates a sharp contrast to this feeling of relaxation and matzah saturation. It seeks to answer the question of why God did not take the Children of Israel directly to the Promised Land. The answer provided is that the Children of Israel were not ready to enter the Promised Land, that the transition from slavery to freedom is a process and not an instantaneous transformation.
This process of freedom is as relevant to the modern Jew as it was to the Children of Israel. On the first nights of Passover, the weighty topics of tradition, freedom, and suffering are discussed around the seder table with the ultimate goal of enacting the lessons and ideals of the Passover holiday in our daily lives. But this integration of Passover into everyday life鈥攄efined by the struggle to keep Judaism lively and relevant, and by our obligation to fight against slavery and oppression鈥攊s not a one-time event. Rather, like the Children of Israel in the desert, it is a long process of slow and continual change and transformation.
