During this season of the Omer, the period between Passover and Shavuot, our own autonomy is limited. As the Jewish community transitions from freedom to covenant, we are particularly attentive to the voices of congregants and Jewish leaders throughout the centuries answering one of two questions:
Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt; the freedom from enslavement. Yet freedom is not enough since unadulterated it can mean chaos and disorder. Only months after crossing the parted Sea and attaining that longed-for freedom, the recent slaves stood at Mount Sinai and said “yes” to accepting God’s Torah – a covenant outlining a way to live a sacred life – and with it, a limitation on freedom.
- What does it mean to be free?
- What does it mean to be a part of a covenanted people?
| Omer Day |
Contribution |
|---|---|
| 48 | The community of Israel is that which keeps ‘the covenant and the kindness’ (Deuteronomy 7:9)
— Zohar, Gen. 47b |
| 47 | An aspect of our freedom that is common in the United State is the freedom to reinvent ourselves. Here’s a story heard some years ago: a woman from Switzerland wanted to learn to ski. It was an embarrassment for her being from Switzerland that she never learned to. So she came to America to learn because she knew that reinvention, even when you are older, is just something we do here. There are always things we would like to do, big and small, that improve our lives and sometimes the lives of others are improved, too.
— Jim Corsale |
| 46 | It is not the mind, it is the heart that makes free.
— Boerne, 1821 |
| 45 | Our covenant with God is a reciprocal relationship. We have the responsibility as Jews to live our traditions and values. For me the covenant is a single connection but also a community connection. Our covenant is ever-evolving and helps me define my life as a Jew now and in the future.
— Linda Jones |
| 44 | Democracy is always a beckoning goal, not a safe harbor. For freedom is an unremitting endeavor, never a final achievement.
— Goethe, German poet, Faustus, 19th C |
| 43 | None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
— Goethe, German poet, Faustus, 19th C |
| 42 | Being part of a covenanted people means that our ancestors who were Jewish must have also believed in God and Judaism, and they also went to Temple and services like we do.
— Henry Casher |
| 41 | The Covenant means to me, that I am part of a people chosen to be responsible to help people in need to the best of my ability.
— Harlee Abromson |
| 40 | In Vayikra, the first Torah parsha in the book of Vayikra, or Leviticus, we learn about sacrifice. At face value the portion talks about animal sacrifice. What sacrifice are we really talking about? The sacrifice of our egos. As we move into spirit, the animal of the ego is sacrificed. And eating meat, the flesh of other beings, fishes, chickens, cows and the fluids they offer for their own young is let go as well, often first. There is wonderful freedom in eating only plants and working with fasting to see more clearly while clearing out the inner ecosystem. May we all find solace in our own groundedness. May we all find our own inner awakening version of freedom, and thrive in these amazing times! May Mother Earth continue to surround and support us in her womb. Shalom!
— Elisa Beck |
| 39 | Man is free in his imagination, but bound by his reason.
— Iggeret HaMusar, 1858 |
| 38 | To be free means more this year than ever. Since our freedom is being curtailed due to the world-wide pandemic, I appreciate all that we normally are able to do.
— Bob Gordon |
| 37 | To be part of a covenanted people to me means to share in both a responsibility -a duty- and a gift. It is our responsibility as Jews to honor and to love God and to observe God’s commandments, not only through ritual and action and service, but in our hearts, as human beings – to be kind, to be just, and to observe Shabbat. And this very same responsibility is what also yields in equivalent portions life’s greatest gifts — of joy and peace beyond measure.
— Helen Dorra |
| 36 | I don’t think that freedom can exist without being covenanted. I think that we’re all bound by covenants (‘relationship contracts’), whether internal to ourselves or with something greater than ourselves. I believe that we express our freedom through the options we comprehend and the choices we make regarding those options. I believe that freedom won by pushing past perceived limitation, is particularly sweet.
— Deb Scheib |
| 35 | Faith is a two way street. God wants the Jewish people to live according to their free will with the caveat that we promise to obey God’s commandments. God has faith in the Jewish people because God doesn’t personally get involved in our lives. Conversely the Jewish people have faith in God that by following the commandments and keeping the covenant, God will protect us and we will prosper.
— Greg Casher |
| 34 | Freedom can be as large scale as the Israelites escaping from Egypt, or as small scale as your parents allowing you to go to the movies with your friends alone. Freedom doesn’t have a definition, it’s a different feeling for everyone. For me, being free is being able to do all the things that I love.
— Natalie Keough |
| 33 | Lag BaOmer This is the day of celebration. This is day that the plague that afflicted Rabbi Akiva’s students let up. On this day in normal times, people come out of semi-mourning by cutting their hair, students hold outdoor celebrations, weddings take place. We too, plagued by Covid19, will have a celebration. As the economy begins to open up and we return to some normalcy, we may have the freedom to enjoy a haircut or going out to a restaurant. Let our celebration be more than that: may we combine freedom and covenant. Let our celebration follow the words of Torah “do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds” and include reaching out to the many people whose lack of freedom has been further exposed through this pandemic in the areas of food insecurity, disparities in health care, lack of clean air and water, lack of access to our electoral system May the words of our covenant bring freedom to all. –Rabbi Barbara Symons |
| 32 | Freedom in this country is taken for granted, to do what we want when we want is how we live. In recent days, however, that freedom has been taken away from us…not by a war or a political party, but by a life-threatening virus. When these frightening days are finally past us, freedom will taste that much sweeter.
— Barbara Holst |
| 31 | Mother’s Day The first part of my reply is that being free does not mean freedom to do as you please. I believe that true freedom means the ability and responsibility to carry out whatever actions that will lead to improved living for yourself and those around you, most importantly family and friends. Freedom does not mean do as you please. True freedom carries with it a large measure of responsibility and caution. Political freedom means that each individual has the right and responsibility to support whatever candidate or cause that they favor. Thus, true freedom carries with it significant responsibility to become informed and to participate in the political process that we have available to us as Americans. — Richard Myerowitz |
| 30 | We have a covenant with God – a relationship of reciprocal love, caring, and loyalty. As part of that covenant, I have the responsibility to follow God’s commandments, to live with compassion towards others, and as the prophet Micah explained to us “to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”
— Barbara Fisher |
| 29 | In the Torah portion Vayakhel, we think about details of the Mishkan, and the Holy Ark that was in the center of the Temple in ancient times in Jerusalem. Each of us as a human being has our own inner ark and role in service to ourselves. As we look deeply inward into our own inner arks, we come to the realization that all of our souls are one being – each with a special individual role in this form, on this earth, at this moment in time. And what a moment in time this is! These roles in universal spirit come from within each of us. From these self-realizations and inner self explorations emanates our roles in service to family, community, and the world wide web of life.
Freedom is the understanding that each day, each moment, can be Shabbat from within. We are being given the opportunity to take deep dives into ourselves and examine the way we have been caring for ourselves, our families, our communities and the earth and cosmos as a whole. We are experiencing the great turning — and what a joy it is! This is freedom from the slavery of the group mind that has led us down the rabbit hole for all of these years of the industrial revolution and through the millennia. With freedom from the trance and shackles of what we think is really true into new understandings. We are now open to learn from the seeds of the ancient wisdom of all of our world-wide indigenous cultures, including Judaism, and the technologies born from the natural world that these indigenous cultures practiced and that some still practice. Chaos is of our own creation, and as we shift our consciousness, calm our minds, bodies, and spirits, we will witness the chaos lift from within. And then the perceived chaos on the outside will vanish as well. And so, as we dive deep into the details of our own Mishkan – We rise This is what it means to be free. — Elisa Beck |
| 28 | In this time of COVID 19, I find myself thinking how fortunate I am to be free and living as a Jewish woman in America now. Over the years. I have read about what it was like to be Jewish during war time and there was often a component of struggling to find food. Today, as we struggle, our hard times are making sure we have enough toilet paper. I don’t want to minimize the medical threat. I saw a Facebook post saying our ancestors were sent to war, we were sent to our couches to watch Netflix. Passover will be so different this year. As hard as this is, I have so much that makes me grateful: I am a Jewish woman who was able to raise her daughters by herself. I am able to work any job or career I choose. I own my own home. I am able to take walks outside and witness the beauty of spring all around. Being born free today is truly a blessing.
— Debbie Maier Jacknin |
| 27 | Someone sharing their experience as a “free person” recently, reminded me of something that I have felt for a long time – that in discipline lies my freedom. Rather than freedom being something that makes life easy, I believe that the challenge of self regulation and the need to make and then pursue personal choices is a lot of what life is all about. The jewel is what results at the end.
— Tom Congedo |
| 26 | To me, freedom is about freedoms such as of thought and of expression. And Free Will. Exercise of Free Will is the only thing that I can think of that permitted the Holocaust.
— Al DeRoy |
| 25 | To be liberated – that is easy. To be a free person – that is very hard.
— Andrew Gide, French author, 20th C |
| 24 | Free means to have freedom. Freedom is a state of mind, you can not have Life, Liberty, or the pursuit of Happiness without freedom. Freedom is given to us from God and is guaranteed by our Constitution. Freedom is the ability to express our opinion. To speak freely is essential to bring about change in our society. Knowledge brings freedom, and freedom brings responsibility.
— Kay Liss |
| 23 | To be part of a covenanted people means that all Jews regardless of their affiliation have basic beliefs that are the same and the same tenets from G-d. What it means in simplistic terms is that wherever I travel I can find a synagogue or a Jewish Federation that I can become a part of and feel at home.
— Bonnie Lerner (Deb Scheib’s Mom) |
| 22 | As a part of this covenanted community, I enjoy knowing that I belong to a community whose values include ethical behavior toward all, and the mandate to make the world a better place for all. It is my free choice and responsibility as a Jew.
— Carol Congedo |
| 21 | It is an interesting time to be answering the question of what does it mean to be free. For most of us we have been free our whole lives and only know “not being free” from our studies at the temple or history class. The last three weeks have been the closest I have come to not being free that I have ever experienced. I think that this experience and the one still to come for the next month or so, will make me appreciate being free even more.
— Arin Keough |
| 20 | No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
— Frederick Douglass, former slave, Washington, DC, 1883 |
| 19 | To be free is to let go of one’s ego and to allow the spirit of G-d lead the way. Freedom is knowing that we are led forth in this physical form by deep spiritual messages as we allow these messages to work through us. Freedom is being in the present moment and working with our skills to heal ourselves and to help others heal, from our strengths by being with others, now often virtually, as a witness without judgment. Freedom is knowing that we all are equal and yet have different reasons we are here on earth at this time. Freedom is a knowingness that we each have special offerings in our own unique ways. Freedom is knowing our own specialness and sharing it with others.
— Elisa Beck |
| 18 | To be free, is to be able to stand up and leave everything behind – without looking back. To say Yes!
— Dag Hammarskjold, United Nations Secretary General, 1953 |
| 17 | One way of being free is how God led us to be free out of slavery. But another way is being free in your soul. God led us out of Egypt and slavery, but I think it’s our task to let ourselves out because sometimes stuff bottles up inside and it’s hard to let it out. We just need to know that it’s going to come out and we should enjoy the world.
— Sylvie Casher |
| 16 | Despite our many differences, we all stood together at the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses returned with the ancient Covenant. Despite our many differences, we all stand together today, guided by the same historic principles.
— Fred Bortz |
| 15 | Being free means being able to worship comfortably when and wherever you want.
— Marcine Hillman |
| 14 | Being free allows me and my family to be who we are without the worry of judgement and fear. We are lucky to have lived our lives this way.
— Gabby Keough |
| 13 | The covenant between G-d and the Israelites must be perpetuated by every generation to ensure the survival of the Jewish people. Maintaining our faith and values is not always easy. When times are good, it’s natural to feel thankful and share our gratitude by performing good deeds. It’s much harder to preserve our ideals when times are tough. But this is when we truly need to remain firm in our commitments and live up to our value of helping others. This is when we must support our community the most, so that we don’t lose what every generation has worked so hard to build.
— Reena Goldberg |
| 12 | Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
— George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, 20th Century |
| 11 | Over the last month or so we have tasted the anxiety and stress of not being free to do what we want to do as we self-quarantine ourselves to our home. We miss the gatherings at the gym, school, senior center, Temple, and other places we hang out and socialize at. Is this what it feels like not to be free? Maybe to some of us, we would say yes, but if you think about the real situation, it is just a small sacrifice we make to hopefully save lives; ours, our extended families, friends, and people we do not even know. We still have the freedom to choose where we can carefully go, what we can do with our time at home, ways we can get involved with cyber technology, checking on people over the phone, and so many other inventive ways to stay socially active. This crisis will make us stronger and give us the appreciation of the freedom we have just taken for granted for so many years. Maybe when all is safe, and life becomes more normal, we will be able to embrace and appreciate not only the big things that we hold dear in being free, but also the small daily activities we enjoy because we have the freedom to do them. What does it mean to be free? My list is long and growing every minute as I experience living; I will never take it for granted.
— Randy Boswell |
| 10 | The definition of freedom literally is: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. I also believe that you should not be judged unless your actions causes harm to the society in which you belong. It is why we have laws that govern us. Freedom is very fragile and it is a privilege that must be protected. It’s even more fragile in this day and age, given the fact we each see freedom from different perspectives. We all must begin to agree that freedom is bigger than what we see around just us. It ripples out from us, moves and grows.
— Melissa Cooper |
| 9 | Each human who lives in a society is bound by the social covenant.
— Al DeRoy |
| 8 | Freedom is especially appreciated by people who had to fight for their freedom. Some of us had freedom given to us from birth. So it’s important to value our freedom and accept the responsibility to use it to improve the world and the lives of others.
— Stan Beck |
| 7 | No human being is free who is not master of himself.
— Epicetitus, Greek philosopher, Rome, 1st Century |
| 6 | Freedom can give me good things like hockey, my friends, and family. When I am an adult I can vote, be in the NHL, or be a superstar. I still have to listen to my parents now, but when I am older I can do whatever I want.
— Nathan Goldberg |
| 5 | What does it mean to be free? What does it mean to be part of a covenanted people? The ancient Israelites, as well as us living in the 21st century, have stood at the edge of Yam Suf, The Sea of Reeds, witnessing the miracle of the splitting of the waters, and uncovering earth in which to traverse to the other side. Once on the other side, we gave a collective sigh of relief and began to dance and sing praises to Adonai. As the ancient Israelites, and as well as us, gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Adonai gave the Torah to Moses, we all replied with one voice, ‘We will hear, and we will do,’ without question. We surrendered to the covenant that would forever identify us as ‘The People of the Book,’ without the slightest understanding of what that covenant conveyed. The only thing that was on the minds of the Israelites, at that time, was getting to this Promised Land that they heard so much about. They had no idea that it would be 40 years of rehabilitation, so to speak, to change their mindset from slavery to freedom. It is said in our prayer siddur that the Torah is a Tree of Life, and happy are its supporters. As a Jew by choice, I have been studying our Torah for 7 years. According to our ancient Sages, there are 613 mitzvot contained in the Torah. I thought to myself – how could one person fulfill all 613 mitzvot in one lifetime? In my recent Torah study of Vayikra, there is a midrash that states when studying about all of the korbanot, the sacrifices, it is as if all of the mitzvot pertaining to the offerings have been fulfilled. When we pray the Elul Devarim, at the end of the prayer we say, ‘Talmud Torah k’neged culam,’ ‘but the study of Torah encompasses them all’. What it means to me to be free and to be a part of a covenanted people is expressed in my studying of the Torah. I know there is much in the Torah that may or may not apply to us in the 21st century, however, to not read the Torah and study it, is to ignore how our ancestors lived and believed. When I have an opportunity to lead a Torah discussion, the challenge is engaging discussion regarding how the laws apply to us. I can transform the 613 mitzvot in the Torah down to three words, Torah, avodah, and g’milut chasadim – study, service, and acts of kindness. How free is that? — Carol SH Gottlieb |
| 4 | To be part of a covenanted people means to belong to a community that believes in the covenant that the Jewish people have with G-d. Since we all hold to these beliefs, I find comfort being together to pray, study and embrace the Jewish values we share. Unfortunately, this year we will not be able to be together for the support we usually have but I know my community is out there praying for us all.
— Carol Gordon |
| 3 | We have confused the free with the ‘free and easy.’
— Adlai Stevenson, Presidential Contender, 1956 |
| 2 | Despite the pandemic, I still have freedoms. I can walk. I can reach out and talk to old friends, and my loved ones. I can volunteer to talk to those who are alone. I am free to eat what I choose, read what I choose. I am free to do what I CAN do, even if I can’t do things I might WANT to. I am free to focus on the possibilities! Because of the pandemic, I value freedom more than I ever did. Though restricted, I trust that the freedom to move about will one day be restored. I am free to believe in this, think this, speak this. I think of Anne Frank, how she hid from the Nazis, losing her freedom to live normally. I think if she could do what she did, I can do this easily. I am free, free, free as can be in comparison.
— Harlee Abromson |
| 1 | In today’s society, there is so much negativity. People always complain that they do not have this or that; but oftentimes, they forget the one thing that they have which no one can take away from them: freedom. To be free means to have control over your life, no matter what the circumstances are. When you’ve had a bad day, or a good one; you are free and can make the choice as to continue having bad days or make the change and begin to have good days. We are also free to practice Judaism every day; a privilege which we should not take for granted. If there comes a time when you lose control, turn to Judaism and remember the freedom that you have been given.
–Alaina Goldberg |