Pesach: Finding Inner Freedom Even in Mitzrayim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Pesach is a lesson in cheirus and emunah. What does that mean? You know, we were avadim in Mitzrayim, yes, and it was physical labor. But there's more to the avdus. There's more to the avdus than a physical avdus. What was the avdus in Mitzrayim? We start the Haggadah, Avadim hayinu l'Pharaoh b'Mitzrayim. We were avadim in Mitzrayim. Chazal say that this format that we begin with Avadim hayinu is because you have to be maschil b'gnus u'mesayem b'shvach. We start with something which is not pretty. It's a gnus. It's something which is not flattering for Klal Yisrael. Now, the question is, why is that not flattering? Avadim hayinu. We were avadim. It's not our fault we were avadim. How does that portray a default in Klal Yisrael that should be called a gnus? So maybe we could say that we earned the avdus. We deserved it. It's somewhat of a punishment, and therefore it's a gnus. I saw a meyudik pshat. In the drashes of Reb Yosef Nechemya Kornitzer, krok verov, he said a marvelous pshat. He says a person could be in Mitzrayim and yet still be free. A person could be afflicted. A person could be mishubed, yet still be free, because he's with the Ribono Shel Olam, and there's nothing in his surrounding, and there's nothing around him that captures and takes hold of him. A person could have cheirus in the depth of Mitzrayim. We think cheirus means free, that we could do what we want, and avdus means we're forced to do what we don't want. Cheirus is something very deep. It's something very, very essential from within, and that is a person has emunah in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and he knows that there is nothing around him that could take hold of him. He lives with the Ribono Shel Olam. He is not mishubed to the difficulties, to the daily things that drag him down. So avadim hayinu. We actually fell into the avdus. If we would have been avadim, yet be free in Mitzrayim. To learn, to daven, to be a perfect Yid in Mitzrayim, then this wouldn't be called avdus. And therefore it's maschil b'gnus that the avdus took hold of us. It is us who let avdus take hold of us. We are able to be free, not to be chained to avdus. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.