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Each year as we sit down at the seder table we read in the Hagaddah,
“In every generation every person is obliged to see himself as if he came out of Egypt.”
Each year we need to celebrate the Pesach story, to see the hand of God Himself delivering us from our bondage, not just in the past but as an on-going process in our present.
As Pesach approaches, we get busy cleaning our houses of chametz, all possible forms of leaven.
Why?
The Zohar, which deals with the reasons for the mitzvot, informs us that the leaven, the chometz is the yetzer hara, the will to receive for ourselves alone, our selfish egoistical love, whereas the matzah is the yetzer ha tov, the will to give unconditionally, the bread of freedom. When we look deeply into this concept , we can see how our egoism really is a bondage. We feel we must have this material good or that emotional set of circumstances to feel good, such that if these circumstances are not met we feel upset or emotionally disturbed in one way of another. This is definitely a bondage, an inner bondage. Equally if we give but don’t get the appreciation or other reward we feel we are owed, again we are enslaved to our expectations.
Whereas the ability to give unconditionally, without looking to see what, if anything we get for it, is definitely a freedom. This is what the matzah symbolizes; this willingness to extend ourselves without receiving anything back for it at all. But the moment we wish to start doing something like this, even though we can see intellectually that that is the right way, we find our innate will to receive for ourselves alone stepping in and causing havoc. It simply won’t let us do the work of giving unconditionally that will bring us into affinity of form with the Creator. It stops us coming into our freedom. It is the Pharaoh within us, our own inner enslaver, who is holding us in bondage and won’t let us go free.
Like the Children of Israel of old, the only way out is through prayer to the Almighty. Only He can deliver us.
On Seder night, just as we celebrate the freedom of the Children fo Israel from their bondage then so may we celebrate the freedom from our own inner bondage with joy now.
This podcast is dedicated for a perfect healing for Michael Andrew the son of Jennifer.
Taken from the Haggadah Zot LeYedudah with the Be’er Shalom of Rabbi Ashlag
Other podcasts for Pesach
The inner meaning of Seder night, the night of redemption
Who knows One? From Exile to Redemption
The Four Cups of Wine: Their Inner Meaning
God keeps his promises: A talk for the last days of Pesach
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