April 25, 2024

Breaking Matzah, Breaking Chains: Unveiling the Depths of Free Will in Pesach's Embrace

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Season 7

Are the chains of modern-day restraint holding you back from true freedom? Embark on a profound journey with us as we navigate the intricate themes of liberty and choice that Pesach brings to light, challenging the notions of what freedom truly means. By lifting the broken matzah, symbolizing not just the bread of affliction but our unseen shackles, we explore whether true autonomy is possible or if forces beyond our control perpetually bind us. Through a captivating narrative, including a tale of the Rebbe and the simple act of selecting a potato, we unravel the subtle servitudes that govern our lives.

This episode is a reflection on historical liberation and a clarion call to examine our daily decisions and the essence of free will. We discuss how being chosen people is less about privilege and more about the responsibility to live intentionally as servants of the Almighty. The Pesach festival becomes a backdrop for a deeper commitment to personal autonomy as we recommit to the ongoing struggle for the right to choose our path and the power to alter our destiny. Join us as we pledge to keep fighting for the free will that Pesach so timelessly inspires.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



WEBVTT

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The broken matzah is lifted and the head of the household begins his MC, his master of ceremonies duties For the Maggid is about to commence.

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Holach Ma'onia.

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This is the bread of affliction.

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In this short little paragraph of the Haggadah, we exclaim this year, hashtar.

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Right now, avde, we're slaves, but in the year to come we're going to be B'nai Chorin.

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Let us be free men.

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The question's a popular one, and it must be asked that who's a slave?

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You're a slave.

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Well, lincoln and the Civil War, that was the end of slavery.

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What is slavery?

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Well, we must first define freedom.

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If we're to define slavery.

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What is freedom, then?

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And I reckon that freedom is the ability to act or charge or change based on one's own decision, without any outside hindrances or restraints.

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I act how I want.

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And if we allow ourselves that definition, well then ask yourself do you do what you want, sti, grow, learn, study how you want, without any hindrance or restraint?

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Or do some items, things, people, entities hold you back?

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Are we totally free?

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Are we truly b'nei choran?

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They tell an epic maisa, in which the Rebbe, right after Karpas and leading into Yachatz and Magad, turned to one of the young men, one of the Hasidim, who asked this question and said Rebbe, I'm not a slave, so what does it mean?

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Hash to Avde?

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And the Rebbe pointed out well, just before, during Karpas, when you were selecting a potato from the bowl, it was interesting how excited you were to push away all the small potatoes, to reach down and grab the fat, juicy, delicious potato, nearly knocked over the whole bowl the Rebbe mentioned Could it be, god forbid, that we are avodim to potatoes?

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The great Rebbe said Pesach is about freedom, it's about choice, it's about no longer being directed, hindered or forced, coerced to act how someone else wants.

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But instead we see freedom.

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We were chosen by Hashem, and that's royalty.

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We live in the castle, servants of the Almighty, with total free will.

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We choose.

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When we don't want to sin, we choose to act, we choose to get up and we choose to sit down.

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Choice, freedom, the power to change that's what we celebrate and hope to reinvigorate ourselves with this idea.

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It is the Zeman of Chayru Seinu.

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We are free men.

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We pledge again anew during the Pesach holiday to never stop fighting for our free will and the right to change.