On the Seventh Day of Pesach Am Yisrael experienced the final salvation from the Egyptians bondage at and by the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. However, they remained in exile until they entered the Land of Israel. For, the Exile would not be complete until they returned to their place and the spiritual level of their ancestors.
When they left Egypt, they left the house of bondage, but were still considered in exile for they were still in a foreign land, wandering in the desert (Ramban). Thus, the crossing of the sea is not only the final stage of the exit from Egypt, but it is also the start of the journey to Mount Sinai where they received their Torah and it’s Mitzvoth and the gateway to what turns out to be the forty formative years in the desert, the years in which Am Yisrael (The People of Israel) were transformed from a nation of slaves, to an independent people ready to conquer the Promised Land, there to build a society based upon freedom to practice the Torah, holiness and social justice.
This journey, fraught with great difficulties and tests, demonstrates the destructive energy that is unleashed when falling short of actualizing potential and Am Yisrael‘s potential greatness in unity and harmony for a cause such as receiving the Torah. The implications of our journey from oppression to freedom have also inspired oppressed peoples throughout history in their struggle for freedom, in their search for a better place, a world more attractive, a promised land, in their understanding that “the way to the Promised Land is through the wilderness.” Of course this journey, the first part of which is reenacted annually by the process of Sefirat HaOmer (counting the Omer), must also be understood as the spiritual journey of each individual towards his/her own “Promised Land” to the place where one can maximize one’s own spiritual potential and creativity. Thus, the implications of our journey from oppression to freedom can also be interpreted on the spiritual level. We can move from here to there, we can liberate ourselves from the maitzarim (the straits), the constricting places that withhold us from actualizing our potential. However, this requires our willingness to leave civilization behind and to march into the desert, not necessarily doing what everyone is doing being enslaved by the society we live in but beginning our own personal search for self fulfillment and spiritual growth.
Let us start our personal journey by entering the gateway travelling our own desert on to our own personal promised land.
Chag Sameach
שחמט דיגיטל