About this episode

The episode explores the contradictions of freedom and slavery in the context of Passover with Rabbi David Stav.

Passover is just around the corner. So we sat down with the ever-wise Rabbi David Stav to dig into the inexplicable contradictions at the heart of the holiday's traditional Seder meal -- and of Jewish life writ large. In the Seder's text, the Hagaddah, we are commanded to declare that “now we are slaves, but next year we shall be free” -- even if we live in freedom and prosperity. And we are commanded to thank God for "taking us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a festival" -- even in generations past when we were crushed beneath the yoke of oppressors and tyrants, and even in our own day when we must run to a bomb shelter to be safe. So which is it? Are we free? Are we still slaves? Rav Stav takes us through stories of Natan Sharansky, Hasidic rebbes in the ghetto, and Rav Kook’s wisdom to reveal Passover's deepest teaching -- that true freedom is an inner consciousness and moral choice, not mere political circumstance, and that the experience and remembrance of slavery teaches us how to value, safeguard and properly use our liberty. And that is why on the evening of April 1, in this time of war and sirens, violence and fear, Jews…

People in this episode

Host: Haviv Rettig Gur

Guest: Rabbi David Stav

Topics covered

• Passover
• freedom
• slavery
• Jewish life
• moral choice
• inner consciousness

Keywords

• Passover
• freedom
• slavery
• Hagaddah
• Rabbi David Stav
• Natan Sharansky
• Rav Kook
• Jewish tradition
• Seder meal

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hagaddah

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