Rabbi Guzik is on sabbatical. Please enjoy A Bisl Torah from our Rabbinic Intern, Moe Howard.
It鈥檚 never too early to start preparing for Passover. While the cleaning can wait, the claim at the heart of the seder is timely: 鈥淚n each and every generation we must see ourselves as if we personally went out from Egypt.鈥�
Slavery, we鈥檙e meant to understand, is not only a state of body but of mind. Pharaoh knew as much when he burdened the Israelites with ever harder labor:
鈥淟et heavier work be laid upon the people; let them keep at it and not pay attention聽to deceitful promises.鈥� (Exodus 5:9)
It鈥檚 the confinement of their attention to nothing else than their work that defines their enslavement. So too, says Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, of our own confined attention:
鈥淭his is one of the cunning strategies of the evil inclination鈥攖o relentlessly burden our minds and hearts with its service so as to leave us no leisure to observe and reflect upon the kind of life we are leading.鈥� (Mesilat Yesharim听2:31)
We are enslaved today by the Egypts of overfull schedules, twenty-four-hour news cycles, and addictive social media. Our attention is divided and diverted from where it most belongs: our relationships with ourselves, others, and God.
Moses was our redeemer then as he is now, not for splitting the sea but for sparing a second: 鈥淟et me turn aside,鈥� he says on seeing the burning bush, 鈥渢o look at this marvelous sight.鈥� One moment of attention was enough to liberate our people. Perhaps it鈥檚 enough to liberate ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom.
