As we follow our Chavurah‘s Haggadah at the Seder table, it clearly says several times that we celebrate Pesach “because of what God did for me when I came out of Egypt”. Egypt, “Mitzrayim” is a metaphor for our own lives.
Does each one of us have his or her own Egypt?
What is the personal bondage we each feel in real life ?
Can we be delivered from it ?
The Passover story describes three kinds of slavery:
- Physical slavery, actual physical captivity and the suffering caused by oppressors.
- Second is psychological slavery. The Israelites were made dependant upon the whims of others causing fear and desire.
- The third is spiritual slavery which is ignorance of our status as human beings because of self-deception and self-forgetfulness.
How many of us are still in Mitzrayim ?
How many of us are still in Egypt ?
How many of us are addicted to behaviors we do not control but control us?
How many of us would like to stop smoking or drinking or over eating or living too sedentary a life?
Aren’t these forms of slavery?
How many of us are emotional or spiritual slaves dominated by thoughts, desires and will power which are imposed by someone else in our lives?
The ultimate significance of the Passover Seder is to encourage the liberation of all of us philosophically, psychologically and spiritually in every generation.
Rabbi Nat Benjamin 
You must be logged in to post a comment.