Passover is the Festival of Freedom, the celebration and re-enactment of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. It is also a good time to reflect on where one might personally stand in the larger story of freedom, and whether your loyalties are primarily with Pharaoh and his powers, or with the rag-tag band of wanderers searching for a Promised Land.
Where do you see yourself in the Passover story?
“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”
—Jean-Paul Sartre
How have you chosen on behalf of your own freedom?
Many would claim the American flag and iconic bald eagle as symbols of freedom. Many others associate those images with oppression and unjust domination. A symbol never means just one thing. Neither does freedom.
What is a symbol of freedom that works for you?
The poet Walt Whitman famously wrote that “I take to the open road,/ Healthy, free, the world before me.” Somehow, it’s hard to imagine taking to the road more lightheartedly than in a rainbow-colored school bus.
How have you found freedom on the open road?
A bald-headed vulture might not be your idea of the perfect model for a beautiful piece of art. Good thing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
What work of art do you love, although it is not conventionally attractive?
