Rabbi Knopf's Blog

The Talmud teaches that 30 days before Passover, we should start learning about the festival and its meaning. In that spirit, over the past several years, I have offered "30 Days of Liberation," a brief message on each of the 30 days leading up to Passover, drawn from the wisdom of the holiday and the Exodus story. I am thrilled to announce that I am in the process of completing my first book, which will be a compilation of those messages from years past. This year, for “30 Days of Liberation,” I will be sending out brief selections from the book. I look forward to sharing the book with you all in its entirety when it is completed. Meanwhile, I hope you find these messages meaningful and inspiring. Please feel free to share/forward.


Day 3: Happiness in Slavery
Passover is not about freedom. The Hebrew word for freedom, חירות, is mentioned nowhere in the Torah. Instead, Pesah is about גאולה, ‘redemption,’ implying exchange, trading in one thing for another, leaving one state of being and entering another. The Israelites aren’t freed; they exchange one master (Pharaoh) for another (God). The holiday invites us to consider who or what we serve (for we all serve someone or something) and offers us a chance to exchange for a better master.