How is Passover more relevant today than ever before?
Removing things that constrict our lives
Passover, or "Pesach" in Hebrew, is one of the Jewish religion’s "most sacred and widely observed holidays," notes History.com.
Passover commemorates the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt, which appears in the Hebrew Bible’s Books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy among other texts, the same site notes.
The week-long festival is observed with rituals including a traditional Passover meal known as a seder, "the removal of leavened products from [the] home, the substitution of matzo for bread and the retelling of the exodus tale," the site also says.
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Rabbi Pinchas Taylor of Plantation, Florida, calls the Exodus story "timeless."
He told Fox News Digital, "It teaches that whatever your situation, you are worthy of redemption, and God will take you out of your affliction."
The stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments being received by Moses on Mount Sinai during the exodus from Egypt. From "Sunday Reading for the Young," published in 1895 by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co, London. Passover commemorates the Jews' exodus from Ancient Egypt. (iStock)
Taylor continued, "The energy of Passover can inspire redemption from self-inflicted slavery as well. Now more than ever, many people are challenged by combating oppressors from within."
Hebrew scriptural tradition teaches that the Passover seder "allows us to reexperience the exodus on a personal level in the present day," Pincher also said.
"More than simply marking freedom from a geographical place, ‘Egypt’ is also a state of mind," he said.
The first step in breaking free of the "Egypt mindset" is recognizing that it is essentially "a mirage."
This is emphasized, he said, by the fact that the Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, also means "limitations."
The "inner Egypt" is "limited thinking, feelings of powerlessness and spiritual constriction," Pincher continued.
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Taking the Israelites out of Egypt happened in a moment, taking the "Egypt" out of the Israelites required forty years in the desert, he said.
Symbolic of Jewish holiday Passover or "Pesach," certain foods, including bitter herbs and unleavened bread, are served. (iStock)
"It’s not difficult to see how we can be physically enslaved to things like food and money," Pincher noted.
"When dessert comes out and you must indulge, the cake is in charge. Same thing when you can’t turn off the TV or put down the smartphone."
He continued, "Deeper still, we are emotionally and psychologically enslaved in how we look at ourselves and the world around us."
He noted that we may "believe false and limiting ideas about ourselves because of our upbringing or our circle of influence."
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Taylor said, "We may believe things about the world based on the values touted by society in general, or media outlets, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and political parties."
Rabbi Taylor shared thoughts about Passover's meaning today with Fox News Digital. (Rabbi Pinchas Taylor/Chabad.org)
The first step in breaking free of the "Egypt mindset" is recognizing that it is essentially "a mirage," Pincher noted.
"It’s almost like the giant circus elephants who are fastened in their place by an insubstantial rope. When the elephants are small and cannot break these ropes, the [ropes] are fastened to the elephants' leg during their training," he said.
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"As the elephant grows," Pincher said, "it never realizes that it can now easily break the rope. Instead, it remains shackled only by its previous notion that it cannot break free from the cord that holds it back."
"When you feel trapped on all sides, with an army behind you and a sea in front of you, know that seas split for those who courageously march forward."
He continued, "The energy of Passover and reliving the Exodus through the Seder enables us to spiritually break free from our limiting worldviews — and find personal freedom."
At left, Rabbi Pinchas Taylor of Florida. On right, a rendering of Moses, who led the Jews out of Egypt. (Pinchas Taylor, Chabad.org/iStock)
The culmination of the Passover liberation story, he also said, was "when God split the Red Sea," enabling the Israelites to cross on dry land, "and their pursuant oppressors were washed away."
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He said, "This archetype is an eternal spiritual lesson for mankind: March forward. The final step to freedom begins with the first step forward."
Said Taylor, "When you feel trapped on all sides, with an army behind you and a sea in front of you, know that seas split for those who courageously march forward."
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Rabbi Pincher also said that this Passover season, for anyone who puts the effort forth and no longer wants to be enslaved to the things that ensnare them, "God will surely lead them out of their inner Egypt."
