On April 4, Jews around the world begin to celebrate Pesach. In addition to historical aspects and a gift to our ancestors, Pesach also has great significance for every Jew. After all, he personifies the exit from slavery not only in the literal sense, but also figuratively - getting rid of old habits, liberating the mind and consciousness. They talk about it at traditional seders. Let's take a moment to recall history and think about the future.
Pesach is a step across the abyss
The Passover holiday reminds us not only of the past, but also of the future.
The Passover dinner has been gathering Jewish families around the festive table since time immemorial. The meal is "prescribed" down to the smallest detail, but alien to formalism, and in its unhurried "ceremony" the exodus from Egyptian slavery comes to life anew.
But if we left Egypt, then why do we repeat every time: "this year - slaves, in the next year - free people"?
Our sources say that behind the well-known events and vicissitudes there is another layer of information - not so much about history, but about relationships between people. More precisely, about the unity and mutual understanding that the Jewish people have achieved, and which are so necessary not only for the Jews, but also for all of humanity, especially today.
Brothers in spirit
The basis of the Jewish people is not an ethnic community, but an ideological kinship.
You will have to start from afar. Long ago, when humanity was concentrated in Ancient Babylon, people lived simply, but in harmony. However, time passed and friction began: yesterday's good neighbors began to look askance at each other and gradually turned into strangers.
Imagine this situation in the prism of our time: the neighbor's grass seems greener to me, he has a luxurious Cadillac, he has a washing machine of the latest brand, and yesterday I saw a new refrigerator being brought to him. His wife makes my eyes hard, she changes her clothes every day, his children behave defiantly, and he also has two terribly thoroughbred dogs that look at me with open contempt...
In a word, egoism grew in Ancient Babylon, and people stopped feeling like a single people. They seemed to speak in different languages.
It was then that Abraham declared himself - a sage who revealed the inner essence of what was happening and the true solution to the conflict. In order to maintain a warm, friendly relationship, it was necessary to overcome this increased egoism.
However, the majority did not agree with this approach, and the case ended with a general separation - tribes and peoples were dispersed throughout the Earth.
Only a few followed Abraham. They laid the foundation of the Jewish people - they created a society that, despite the ever-increasing egoism, retained a sense of closeness to each other, warm, family relations.
Under the power of separation
The good Pharaoh always gives way to the tyrant.
Abraham's group moved to Canaan. Generations changed, each person's ego grew, and the main thing was to preserve the common bond, spiritual brotherhood.
And then the conflicts intensified to such an extent that even the brothers - the sons of Jacob - could not overcome them. In the Torah, this process is described as the onset of hunger. The brothers sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt (Mitzraim) - which means "center of evil" (mitz ra). Having fallen from the level of brotherly love, they found themselves in the power of selfishness - Pharaoh.
At first, this power was good: Pharaoh exalted Joseph, life abounded with various benefits. But then the situation changed, and people felt that material goods are not everything in this life. They lacked the spiritual connection that Pharaoh was against. Now all the efforts seemed to sink into the sand, became selfishness and did not allow to preserve even a grain of inner unity.
It seemed that there was no way out. However, it is desperation that creates a force that attracts unity - Moshe. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh-egoism, and therefore he is ready to face the king of Egypt. In each of us lives this spark that has preserved the essence of the Jewish soul, a universal view of a unified world in which there is no place for division.
The Night of Exodus
True unity is forged in the struggle against egoism.
The maturation of Moshe's character in a person and in a nation leads to a direct confrontation with Pharaoh. The Torah describes these states as "ten Egyptian plagues", ten blows to selfishness with the demand "Let my people go". They unfold against the background of impotence and at the same time a desperate need to be freed.
This is what the Paschal Haggadah tells about this inner "night": "How is this night different from all other nights?..." In Egypt, we need to get out of the swamp of self-love, and we are rushing to the top, not yet having the strength for unity, but having the strength to escape. All together, in mutual guaranty, we try to get away from persecution, from internal strife - and the further we find ourselves from Egypt, until we come to Mount Sinai to finish what we started.
So Pharaoh, egoism, pushes us to a new level of love. In the end, all of humanity will have to climb it, but we are the first to do it. Egypt is the forge of the Jewish people, a necessary stage of its formation.
A step across the abyss
There is always one way out - in unity between us.
This is what Pesach tells us - a holiday that symbolizes the birth of the people of Israel from unity in spite of rejection. As long as there is discord between us, we are not a people, we are in exile. And only good unity creates from us that community, which is rightly called "Israel".
Preparing for this rise, we are cleaning the house - we are getting rid of the differences between us. The Passover Seder means the renewal of our broken relationships. Having gotten rid of this selfish "leaven", we eat matzah for seven days - as a symbol of ascending to the level of mutual giving, which in Egypt seemed "fresh" to us. We begin this path as slaves of division, slaves of our own nature, and we will finish it as free people, a united nation.
And it is not at all surprising that every time we have to renounce the worship of those values that divide us, wherever we live. Each such rush becomes a stage of the exit from Egypt - after all, "Passover" means that we step (passover) through differences to the level of love.
An example for everyone
Peace will not leave us alone until we do this.
We have in our hands a tool capable of helping the whole world. By uniting, people will get out of "Egypt", from mutual enmity, and will see that genuine human connection solves any problems. This discovery will change everyone.
And therefore Abraham's method is needed everywhere today. She is the order of time. If we, the people of Israel, do not implement and offer it to humanity, the pressure on us will increase. After all, the world subconsciously feels that we hide the keys to happiness from it.
Conversely, if we do our part and set a good example, the world will accept it with gratitude and respect. In fact, this is exactly what he is waiting for us.
Happy union holiday, friends!
Editorial office of the media project "Open TV channel" opentv.tv
