Pesach – Zman Cherutenu- The Time of Our Freedom - Nati Recht
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In every Tefilah of Pesach we refer to the holiday not just as Pesach or Chag
Ha’Matzot (Festival of Matzot) but also as Chag Cherutenu, the festival of our
freedom. We have been redeemed from a house of slavery after years of living
without freedom. Every year we mark this moment by sitting together and
recounting the story of the Exodus. We teach our children the history of our people
so they will do the same to the next generation.
In Igeret 378 (Letter 378) in the book Igrot Hareaya Rav Kook writes:
“Every time shines with its own uniqueness”.
Rav Kook taught us that every period of the year has its own defining
characteristics, and because of that, similar things happen in those days again and
again throughout history. The Second Beit Mikdash, for example, was destroyed
on the same day as the first one, since the beginning of the month of Av is a time
of destruction. The Talmud teaches us that five tragic historical events happened
of Av. Five events also happened on the 17th
on the 9th
for example, is a time a year when judgment is revealed in the world. The historical
events that happen on those days are not mere coincidence, but happen because of
the attributes of the days.
The attribute of the days of Pesach is the Cherut, freedom. And because of that
we have been redeemed on those days. However, the Exodus wasn’t the only
expression of freedom that was revealed at the time of Pesach. In two other periods
in the history the Jewish people have expressed their freedom. Each one of them
represents different type of freedom.
In 70 C.E, many years after the Exodus, the last fighters who survived the massacre
of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple gathered in
the last stronghold in Eretz Yisrael for their last battle. They were the people of
Masada. Men, women and children who tried to live a normal Jewish life at the top
of the fortress were busy developing agriculture, practicing Judaism, and learning
Torah. However, at the same time they had to prepare themselves for the Roman
attack. The Romans who decided to destroy all Jewish resistance in the captured
land of Israel arrived to Masada with numerous amounts of soldiers and sieged
the Jewish rebels. The Romans built a ramp to enable them to reach the walls of
Masada. When the ramp and battering ram were ready, the Romans began their
attack. On the night of the 15th
walls and were ready to conquer the fortress. The rebels led by Elazar Ben Yair had
one last night to decide what to do.
According to the historian Josephus (the only historian who wrote about Masada)
Elazar gathered all his people and said:
"Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be
servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who
alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come
that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice...”
But the people were hesitating it was a hard decision to make. Elazar Ben Yair
continued:
of Nissan, the night of Pesach, the Romans broke the
“Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before
they have tasted of slavery; and after we have slain them, let
us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually, and
preserve ourselves in freedom, as an excellent funeral monument
for us. But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire;
for I am well assured that this will be a great grief to the Romans,
that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fall
of our wealth also; and let us spare nothing but our provisions;
for they will be a testimonial when we are dead that we were not
subdued for want of necessaries, but that, according to our original
resolution, we have preferred death before slavery."
The rebels agreed eventually with Elazar Ben Yair and decided that they would
choose mass suicide.
They made a tough decision: to die, but as free people. According to Josephus they
all committed suicide and when their bodies were discovered, the Romans found
that they were unable to ignore the feelings of respect for the Jews’ heroic deaths
and their choice to remain free. On the night of Pesach the rebels of Masada chose,
and their won freedom.
Since then, the years passed and the Jewish people experienced a long exile. When
the voices of returning to Israel began to spread over the world, the Jewish people in
Europe faced the worst consequence of the exile- The holocaust.
When the Jews of Warsaw realised that there was no hope, and the Nazis insisted
on sending all the Jews to the death camp Treblinka, an uprising broke out. The first
act took place in January 1943. The Nazis were shocked and stopped the transports
to Treblinka. The Jewish Combat Organization than published a proclamation:
"... The Nazi murderers want us alive to take advantage of our
strength for labor until the last drop of blood and sweat... we are
slaves, avadim anachnu. When we are no longer useful; they will
kill us. We should understand that and never forget it...
Jewish People: the moment is coming; you should be prepared to
oppose them and not give yourselves up like lambs to the slaughter.
Not one Jew to the train car! Those who can’t oppose them
actively, hide yourselves...
From this hour forward our slogan shall be: Be ready to die as
human beings!!!"
On the 19th
uprising and find every single Jew. It was Erev Pesach 5703. Few days later the
commander of the Warsaw uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz, wrote to his deputy,
Yitzchak Zuckerman:
of April 1943 Nazis forces entered the Ghetto aiming to break the
“I have no words to express my sentiments: something has
happened which goes beyond our wildest dreams: the Germans
fled twice from the Ghetto. One of our groups held its position for
forty minutes and there was another which resisted for six hours.
For thirteen days the ghetto has been in flames. After last night
we are passing over to guerrilla warfare. You must realize that a
revolver has no value; we need grenades, rifles, machine guns and
explosives.
I cannot describe to you the conditions in which we find ourselves.
Only a very few will survive: all the rest must succumb, early or
late. Our destiny is already sealed. In all the refuges where our
companions are to be found, it is not possible to light a candle by
night because of the lack of oxygen.
I bid you farewell, my dear. My last wish is fulfilled. I came to see
the Jewish defence of the ghetto, in all its glory and grandeur."
Mordechai was killed together with most of his fighters in the uprising, but a new
type of freedom had been revealed; the freedom to choose how to die. The last
fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto chose not to be sent to their death but to fight. In the
last few weeks of their life they were free people who caused fear among the Nazis.
They were free to choose and free to fight for Jewish pride. Their story and their
personalities have become legend and a symbol of a Jewish stand.
Three times in the course of history freedom has been revealed on the days of
Pesach: In Egypt, on the top of the fortress of Masada, and in the streets and the
bunkers of the Warsaw Ghetto.
May the days of Pesach be days of freedom to all the people all over the world.
Nati
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