Rabbi Guzik is on sabbatical. Please enjoy A Bisl Torah from our Rabbinic Intern, Moe Howard.
It’s never too early to start preparing for Passover. While the cleaning can wait, the claim at the heart of the seder is timely: “In each and every generation we must see ourselves as if we personally went out from Egypt.”
Slavery, we’re 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:
“Let heavier work be laid upon the people; let them keep at it and not pay attention to deceitful promises.” (Exodus 5:9)
It’s 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:
“This is one of the cunning strategies of the evil inclination—to 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.” (Mesilat Yesharim 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: “Let me turn aside,” he says on seeing the burning bush, “to look at this marvelous sight.” One moment of attention was enough to liberate our people. Perhaps it’s enough to liberate ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom.
