Daphna Levin-Kahn – Acting Head of Jewish Life and Head of Jewish Studies (7-12)

Preparing for Pesach: Freedom Week – שבוע חירות
Freedom and Responsibility – Cheirut V’Achrayut חירות ואחראיות 

In the Orthodox tradition, one of the first of the morning blessings realises the importance “שלא עשני עבד” – blessed is God or blessed are we, that we were not born a slave. That we are not controlled by others so that we can live our lives as we choose in the service of God and humanity. The Progressive and Masorti traditions put a different spin on this blessing, choosing “שעשני בן/בת חורין” – it is a blessed and sacred thing that we are born free, looking towards the positive action of how we live our freedom. To be “free from” and “free to do”.

Every day we are faced with countless choices that are the actualisation of that freedom.

In the lead up to the Pesach story, one dramatic scene demonstrates such a choice – and a decision to use חירות (cheirut) – our freedom – to live באחראיות (b’achrayut) – with responsibility, even if the consequences may be harsh.

In the book of Shemot, Exodus, Moshe is being brought up in the Pharaoh’s palace, a free and privileged young man, with everything he could wish for. At the same time, unbeknownst to him, the Jewish people are suffering under the heavy burden of oppressive slave labour.

One incident changes his life forever…(Shemot / Exodus 2:11-12)

וַיְהִי  בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל־אֶחָיו וַיַּרְא בְּסִבְלֹתָם וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי מַכֶּה אִישׁ־עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו׃

Sometime after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brethren and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ וַיַּךְ אֶת־הַמִּצְרִי וֽיִּטְמְנֵהוּ בַּחוֹל׃

He turned this way and that and, seeing no “ISH”, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

We can understand this in two ways:
1. If a person is about to commit a crime, they check both ways to make sure there are no witnesses.
2. Here, however the Torah uses the word אִישׁ “Ish” for “man”. In the Jewish tradition, the word “Ish” means a man of importance, a man of stature, an upstander, such as we read only recently in the story of Esther, when we hear of Mordechai ISH Yehudi – which we can understand to mean Mordechai the Jewish upstander. Here we have Moshe – he sees an injustice, a slave master beating a slave past the point of necessary force, an oppressive bully, and he looks around for the Ish, the Upstander who will put a stop to this obvious injustice. But he doesn’t see one, אֵין אִישׁ  “Ein Ish”, and so he goes from the privilege of his own חירות, his own freedom, to step into the action of אחראיות, taking responsibility for his actions that come with his freedom and stopping the injustice before him.

Judaism has always been a religion of action, not just of faith and ritual. This Freedom Week, this Pesach, what action will you take to utilise the gift of your freedom to help guarantee the Freedom of others and live up to the Achrayut that comes with your Cheirut?

A step in the right direction could be to explore and support The Freedom Hub, which is our chosen Tzedakah for Freedom Week.   

Shabbat Shalom