Freedom is not easy!

A friend recently told me how much she dislikes Passover on account of all the work that it requires and all of the rules and restrictions it carries. If we are supposed to be celebrating freedom, why are there all these regulations?

I hear you, I told her. It’s hard! And it’s easy to hate things that are hard. If we’re celebrating our liberation, why does it feel like such slavery?! We were suffering under such difficult labor in Egypt, and then we go out and it feels like we’re still in bondage. Why doesn’t God make it easy on us – let us relax and just enjoy our freedom?!

I think about this every year on Pesach. And here’s what I keep coming back to: Freedom is not easy. It’s hard work because the nature of this world is to constantly pull us down into the muck. We are souls – pieces of the infinite – stuck inside these very limited bodies that are hiding and constraining our true divine nature. If the soul relaxes, for even a moment, it is engulfed and overwhelmed. So it is constantly working to free itself, to make itself known, to overcome the physicality that is holding it.

The Chassidic masters explain that this is why the soul is compared to a candle – “ner Hashem nishmas adam/the soul of man is the candle of God” (Proverbs 20:27) – because our soul is like a flame that is always flickering, jumping, trying to escape from the wick and wax (our body) that holds it. But here’s the thing – the flame is not supposed to escape the candle to reunite with the heavenly fire above from which it came. Not yet. It’s supposed to be down here in this dark world so it can illuminate it. There will be a time, after 120 years, when each of our souls are released from this world and returned above. But in the meantime, we have this short opportunity to light up the darkness for all of those around us. It’s not easy, but it’s quite an honor to be entrusted with this holy mission.

I know all this doesn’t make it any less laborious, but for me it makes it less onerous. I can actually come to embrace the work when I feel its meaning and purpose. Rather than a bunch of oppressive rules and restrictions, it becomes a practice and an exercise. I am working my spiritual muscles, so to speak, to keep my soul strong so that it can overcome my body that is always trying to pin it down and keep it quiet.

I can actually celebrate and enjoy Pesach with all of its strictures because I realize that this is what it means to be truly free. Freedom is not relaxation, it’s being unlimited. It’s embracing my infinite nature and not allowing the world to define or confine me. I am a piece of Godliness that was sent into this place to elevate and illuminate it. That is not an easy job, but I’m up for the task, and I am grateful for all of these soul-exercises that God provides me to strengthen me and to help me be His light.

— Pnei Hashem is an introduction to the deepest depths of the human experience based on the esoteric teachings of Torah.  www.pneihashem.com