Passover, the festival where we commemorate the Exodus. And where do we commemorate our foundational tale? The seder. an order of ritualistic stages with different meanings and rituals. The main stage of the Seder is Magid, where the adults (men over the age of 13 and woman over the age of 12) fulfil their obligation to reenact the Exodus by having philosophical and scholarly discussions, while the children are bored out of their minds.

One of the main parts of Magid is the four sons and their questions. When we are introduced to the wicked son:

We rebuke the Wicked-son and exclude him from the Exodus that is celebrated during Pessach. So basically, we are considering him still a slave; he is not considered free. Why? Why in his questioning, however heretical it may be, do we make him unworthy of 'being freed from Egypt'.

In the case of a Jew who claims he is of another faith do we consider him not Jewish anymore? No, because his maternal ancestral line dates back to mount Sinai (in the case of the convert it is taught that their soul was present on mount Sinai instead of their ancestors). No matter what the jew says, they considered Jewish because it is their ancestoral heritige. So the logic is that Ancestrol right is superior to the words of the individual in the eyes of the Law.

But in the case of the Wicked son his questioning makes him unworthy of his ancestral heritage. A clear contradiction! so it must be that this case is different in some way. So why is his questioning making unworthy of his ancestral right to be 'free'?

Well what is the ancestral right that we take away from the Wicked son? Well we are saying that he was not 'freed from Egypt' (the thing we are saying is his ancestral right). So in essence we are taking his 'freedom' away, making him a metaphorical or spiritual slave. But do we know what freedom is to make such an assumption? Do we even know we ourselves should be considered free or not? It is no secret that Judaism has more restrictions than any other religion in the world. Then how are we able to say that we, the Jewish people, are free, if we are still bound by restrictions. After all in Pessach our entire theme is our freedom, making the contradiction between our servitude (referring to the restrictions) and our status (our assumption that we are free) even more prominent. So how do we consider ourselves free?

For us to solve this dilemma we must understand that this contradiction is rooted in our understanding of what freedom is. It seems that our original definition of freedom is autonomy, where we are able to do what we like. And it is according to this definition that our servitude is contradicting our freedom, for we are restricted. But really our definition is wrong, for if freedom meant Autonomy then no one is free. For every being has a master, whether it is your boss, the government or even the laws of physics, everything is bound by something. Life is a circle of providing and demanding with the only exception of G-d, the only one who is truly autonomous.

Since our definition of 'freedom' is wrong, we are left to redefine it. So let's propose a new definition of freedom, the ability to choose one's master, one's service and one's life's meaning.

Applying this new found definition, in pessach we are celebrating our ability to choose to serve the almighty. Our freedom, our servitude and our faith is based on the fact that our ancestors chose to serve the almighty, hence we commemorate the fact that G-d gave us that choice. On pessach we are also making that choice, when we reenact the Exodus we are also reenacting how G-d gave us the choice, the freedom, on whom we serve. Our ancestors chose to serve G-d, our true eternal master. But it is our choice whether we see our inherited servitude to g-d as a burden full of regulations and commandments, or a choice WE also make. A master WE serve and a purpose WE live.

The reason why the Wicked son is excluded is because he chooses to see his servitude to G-d as a burden, instead of a choice he also makes. To fully embrace Exodus we need to embrace our ancestral servitude as our own choice, for otherwise we see ourselves as slaves of the decisions of our ancestors. 'The beauty is in the eye of the beholder', a phrase very true in this context. Two choices, both based on the perception of the individual. You can view the Exodus and service to G-d as a commitment made by distant ancestors, with no correlation to your own decision making. Then of course you will be a slave, for you yourself proclaim your existence and your faith not being your own. Or you can view Exodus and servitude to G-d as a covenant made by our ancestors but is ours to embrace. Hence we relive the Exodus to make such a decision ourselves, to see that G-d is the eternal master and by serving him we elevate ourselves. The wicked son chooses to see his servitude as a burden so he is still enslaved in Egypt, for he does not serve a master he chooses.

Pessach is a reminder of who we were, who we are and who we wish to be. Throughout which G-d reminds us that it is our choice to embrace, or to reject. We can live our lives fulfilling requirements because 'I was told to' or 'The book told me to', for which we are no different to any other man who is a slave. Or we can live our lives, fulfilling requirements because 'I want to do it' or because 'it is my choice', that is the gift that G-d gave us, and we are eternally thankful. When we embrace and embody the commitment, that is when we are truly free. Do not be the wicked son, and view your connection to G-d as your choice, then you will fully embrace the spirit of Pessach.

Thank you for reading.

פסח שמח!!