Not so easy —- Freedom
Ten shiny silver candle sticks , their bright flames flickering with familiar joy, lined our celebratory table. Along with 25 sterling goblets waiting to be filled with the relaxing affect of cabernet, chardonnay, and grape juice, and with two rows of pink, violet, and spring-white flowers proudly displayed in crystal vases, they announced the importance of the event. Guests arrive at 6:30 pm with anticipatory beaming faces. My nephew, Adam, arrives in casual clothes so that his fine suit will not be in danger of spilled red wine when I recklessly throw at our guests and across the formally set tables, symbolic representations of the Plagues in the Old Testament in the form of ping pong balls of “hail” and plastic frogs, locusts, and wild animals . Sometimes a guest catches them with the joy of a baseball spectator catching the ball in the stands. Sometimes it indeed hits a crystal glass with a quick ringing, tipping the contents onto the fresh white tablecloth and spilling guiltlessly on a giggling guest. It is the Passover Seder, a tradition handed down from parent to child for generations, always telling the story of the Exodus, every year, for 3500 years.
Each family develops their small and unique customs and recipes, but all tell the story of the Exodus. My family celebrates our freedom as American citizens and wishes for the eventual freedom of all peoples in all countries. Our speech is free. We say whatever we like without fear of consequence. In contrast, our dear Moscow friend, Victor, grew up under Lenin, while his mother hid her private and hidden Friday night lighting of candles in silence without any words nor comment.
The Passover holiday is, importantly, an invitation to consider the ways we imprison ourselves with false ideas and habits that constrain us from being the best we can be. In this same season, on Easter Sunday, our Christian friends celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. At this time, they review their actions through the previous year and in fact resurrect themselves to become better people in the future, another way to become free from the negative behaviors that imprison us.
Freedom is elusive, difficult to understand and define, and historically a rare and brief phenomenon. The only true freedom, lives within the spirit of the individual’s heart and mind. When we are free from internal conflict and see the events of today, whether personal or political, as part of life cycles and trends, impermanent, and accept that without undue stress, then we can be free.
When we see ourselves defined by our similarities and see our differences as merely varied cultural evolutions, then we can be free from prejudice and judgmentalism. When some of our human race intentionally instigate the destruction of others, they are building their own ideological prisons and lose all hope of their own freedom.
The Passover Seder is a celebration of Freedom. Freedom from physical slavery. Freedom of will and spirit. When Jesus presided over the Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder, his physical being was already in jeopardy, but his spiritual being was free. At this meal, we eat matzo, an unleavened cracker made simply of water and flour, and speak of it symbolizing humility, not being puffed up with our egos and recognizing gratefulness for the simplest of gifts.
We retell the history of the Exodus when the Israelites were freed from Egyptian enslavement. The book of Exodus begins with the sentence: “and there came to Egypt a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” Joseph became the vizier/prime minister for the kind Pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty that we place about 400 years before the Exodus most likely during the time of Thutmose II [1479 – 1425 BC], though there are arguments for the Pharaoh Ramesses II [200 years later]..
In the United States we are raised to believe that freedom is a right to be enjoyed equally by all peoples. We assume it is protected under our laws. We see this as a permanent, not temporal state. But it is only just over 200 years since we separated from England and declared our independence, our freedom. And so we must constantly be alert to the possibility that there will come to our land a ruler that knows not the intent of the Declaration of Independence.
At our seder, Anna Reiss, a delightful, intelligent and beautiful 6th grader, discussed the current proposed Indiana law that protects the rights of a merchant to refuse service to someone where it supports a lifestyle that is contrary to the merchant’s religious beliefs, saying it denies the merchant the right to exercise freedom of religion. We debate, in open and free conversation —- IS that a right of a people who uphold the freedom of the individual? Or is that a restriction of the free right of the customer to be served equally at an establishment?
The precipitating case is the bakery that refused to provide a wedding cake for a gay couple saying that gay marriage is against their religious principles and they should not be required to go against their principles. But then what of the restaurants that “once upon a time not so long ago” refused to serve “negroes” because it was against their principles and rights?
Anna presently intends to be an attorney. Perhaps, she will be taking cases that have to tether out the concepts of freedom.
There are more questions than answers. Just one more example — Was Edward Snowden defending our individual rights for freedom of speech without government interference or was he attacking the NSA’s ability to protect our country from any powers that might undermine our national security and thereby our entire system of democracy?
I recollect vividly sitting on our porch in chairs that turned on their base with our young son, David, and informing him that he could not watch certain television shows, to which he spun his chair in circles, proclaiming that we could not deny him his swivel rights.
The great news, is that we actually have the freedom without fear of consequence to have such conversations, that we celebrate the Passover seder in our home, next door to neighbors who are celebrating Easter, next to neighbors who celebrate neither, while the male rabbits in our yard are freely chasing the females without fear of being shot for their food nor their “lucky” foot.
Joan Ellyn Silber, April 5, 2015