Choice and Service - A Passover Reflection:
As we prepare for Passover, a phrase said by Moses numerous times in the text keeps coming up for me. Moses says in Exodus 7:16 / 7:26 / 8:16 and others, “the Lord said: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’”
I am constantly struck by the apparent paradox of this statement. Let my people go, let them be free, so that they shall worship me, so that they will be in servitude to me.
The Hebrew word Avodah can mean worship, service, work, and even prayer, depending on the context.
Is the Avodah that we ask Pharoah to be freed from the same Avodah that we later choose when we worship the Divine?
I believe that we use this same energy of service to pray and to fully immerse ourselves into the depth of our longing for Divine Connection.
As Passover approaches, I wonder if we are celebrating Freedom as we usually think about it, or are we celebrating the freedom to choose to be in Service to the Divine?
I have come to realize that in life we are faced with important choices all of the time. Every time we say “yes” to something, we say “no” to something else. Every time we say “no” to something, we open the door for a “yes” to follow.
What if we continuously say “no” to opportunities? What happens then?
Do we end up closing ourselves up so much that we have no doorway to walk through?
There must come a time when we say “yes” to something. Although we may close ourselves off to everything else, we also can choose to allow ourselves to open fully to something we wish to commit to. For example, to fully explore the book we are reading, the relationship we are in, the career we have chosen, the children we are raising, the home we are building, or the spiritual path we are practicing, we have to choose to commit ourselves to it.
In saying “yes,” we become committed to that one thing, and in that commitment we open ourselves to a fuller expression of that path.
Even when we choose “not to choose,” we are committing to be non-committal, and that is a stand we are taking in our lives.
Almost 14 years ago, I was sitting in therapy bemoaning my arranged marriage when my therapist said to me, “Chani, every day that you stay in your marriage, you are choosing not to leave.”
In that moment, I understood that I was making choices, even when I thought I was not making choices. I realized that every time we do or don’t do something, we are choosing that to be part of our life. Our choices say “yes” or “no” even when we are silent.
Moshe understood that as human beings we are constantly making choices and we all serve in one way or another, whether it is for our jobs, our careers, our family, ourselves, or Spirit.
He said; “Let my people go so that they can serve God.”
He wanted to give the Israelites the opportunity to serve in a way that was conscious. When working for Pharaoh, the Israelites had no choice, but after leaving Egypt, Mitzrayim, the “narrow place,” they could step into serving the one they could FREELY CHOOSE to serve with all of the heart.
When we consider Freedom this Passover, can we consider service?
What is it that you would like to commit yourself to this Passover?
How do you want to pray?
Whom and What do you want to worship?
What does servitude mean to you?
Chag Somayach (Hebrew)
A kusherin freilichen pessach (Yiddish)
May you be blessed with a meaningful and sweet Passover.
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