Tag: Freedom

Thoughts for the 4th of July

I listened this morning as the announcers on NPR read the Declaration of Independence aloud.

I noticed something I’d never noticed before: Passover and the Fourth of July have a lot in common. Both celebrate the moment when a small group of people made the decision to take an enormous risk. In both cases, the leaders went out on a dangerous limb and miraculously, the people went with them. In both cases, they defied a government with overwhelming power and resources.

Moses had defied Pharaoh repeatedly and to his face, but while that was going on, the average Hebrew was still making straw bricks to build Pharaoh’s monuments. Only on the first night of Passover did that average man and woman throw down their burdens and walk away. Surely there were skeptics who grumbled over the first Passover meal that Moses was crazy and the whole bunch of them were doomed. Not until the reception of the Torah and the forty years in the wilderness did Israel become a nation, and even then, a work in progress.

And so it was on July 4, 1776: not everyone thought that it was a great idea to defy the British Parliament and Crown. But eventually  the cruelties of the War of Independence forged a new nation, a nation that continues, fitfully, to pursue the ideals articulated in the Declaration.

Both acts, while daring, were incomplete. Freedom alone is not enough to sustain a nation. Passover’s liberation requires Shavuot’s Torah to sustain and propel the nation forward. The Declaration of Independence similarly requires the Constitution with its Bill of Rights. Otherwise “freedom” would have disintegrated into chaos and there would be nothing to celebrate – in fact, nothing to remember.

The Declaration of Independence is a soaring document written by a flawed man, signed by similarly flawed men. The Hebrews who downed tools and followed Moses into the desert were imperfect, too. In both cases, the journey begun in daring led later to the acceptance of responsibility, and continues in an ongoing pursuit of the ideals articulated by limited human beings.

So as we grill our Hebrew National hot dogs, as we watch the fireworks, let us remember that 0ur work is incomplete. Until we build societies that live up to our fine words, we are not done.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Tired of Matzah?

Matzah, Matzah, Matzah!
Matzah, Matzah, Matzah!

And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Zin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.”  –Exodus 16: 1-4

Yes, I’m tired of matzah too on the 7th evening of Passover. We’ve been eating this stuff for a solid week.

As I said in an earlier post, the only matzah that’s required is at the seder. After that, it’s up to us how much to eat. But for most of us, completely eliminating bread-ish products is unthinkable, so we eat sandwiches made with matzah, pizza made with matzah, fried matzah, matzah puddings, and various things made with matzah meal.

At first it’s a novelty, and even a treat, and for some it remains a treat, but for others it gets pretty boring. And that, my friends, is the point. If you read the passage above from Exodus, you will see that our ancestors were still eating matzah after weeks and weeks. Then, when they finally complained about it, God immediately sent them manna, which was also repetitive but at least tasted good.

So our boredom with matzah is actually a continuation of that “just out of Egypt” experience. Until they got to the wilderness, God did most of the work of redemption for the Israelites, sending plagues, guiding them with the cloud and the pillar of fire, parting the Reed Sea. God told Moses what to do, and held up God’s end of the deal. But once out in the wilderness, it was time for the Israelites to begin to leave the mindset of slaves. They needed to learn to ask for what they needed, instead of passively waiting, like slaves.

So now it might be time to ask ourselves: is there some part of my life in which I am partially free, but I have yet to take the next step? Is there some part of my life in which I am just waiting for miracles? What options are open to me, to move myself towards freedom? What do I need to move forward?

May we all find our way towards freedom and dignity, and may we have the courage to take the steps to get there.

Image: by Ari Moore, some rights reserved.