BackPreparing for Freedom
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
This coming Shabbat morning we read a special Torah portion heralding the upcoming new month of Nisan during which Passover falls. We are officially in the season of preparing for our Seders and the holiday.
It is a time my grandmother would call “spring cleaning,” and indeed it is. We turn over our residences to search for any piece of leavened food, from crumbs to loaves of bread. We bring out holiday dishes, and our homes become fresher and more festive. All of this work has a spiritual meaning. We are refreshing our spirits as well, and that is manifested by beautifying the physical world we inhabit with our closest loved ones.
Preparing for freedom means looking at our world with renewed eyes. What will we do with our talents? How will we choose to best put them to use? How will we strengthen our relationships? All of these questions ask how to make the most of our humanity.
Freedom means the ability to make choices. This is the time for us to begin to think about how to follow through on all the aspirations we hold as human beings seeking to better our world.