I don't feel very curmudgeonly this time of year - too busy even to post. When you keep kosher, getting ready keeps you hopping. For those who don't know what's involved, we clean, remove the year-round dishes, pots, etc. from the kitchen, store it out of sight, bring up the Passover set, clean the cabinets, clean and install the Passover set, and clear the house of any "chametz" - leavening - to prepare for the season of our freedom.
What does that mean, the season of our freedom? Some 3,400 years ago, our ancestors were brought out from slavery by God's strong hand - but is simply being brought out enough? The actions of our ancestors in the wilderness proves it's not. They were "at liberty", but were still controlled by their own fears and passions, conditioned by their slavery. I've had those who don't understand the limits placed on us by our religious beliefs tell me I'm a slave to those limits. But without limits placed on our behavior, are we not slaves to our passions? Who are we, and what are we? What do we do with that liberty? Even the Founding Fathers of this great country spoke of liberty, not freedom. Once we had liberty, each person had the opportunity to choose what to do with it.
Our sages teach without the constraints on us placed there by God, without a purpose, we are at liberty, but not truly free. A person's mind can be free, even if he is not at liberty, but when we choose what we do with our liberty, and we choose well, we are truly free.
May in this season we all choose well what we do with our liberty, so that we may be truly free.
