בס”ד
There’s a double liberation expressed in the last days of Pesach. A few explanations of the subject.
We’re coming very close to the last days of Passover — Pesach — which is part of the broader holiday of liberation. Pesach itself is about liberation from slavery in Egypt, and the last days of Pesach commemorate the splitting of the Red Sea, when the Jewish people passed through and the Egyptians drowned. That too is a form of liberation.
Now, the question is very simple: if the first days of Pesach already represent liberation, then what do the last days add? Why do we need another commemoration of liberation?
I’d like to explain this in a few different ways.
Way number one:
You could say that the Jewish people only truly understood they were free from Egypt when they went through the sea. Why? Because after the sea opened for them, and then closed on the Egyptians, drowning them — that was the moment it became clear: “We’re really free now.” Egypt no longer had power over them. That’s explanation number one.
Way number two:
Liberation is an ongoing process. It’s not that you get freed once and that’s it — you’re done, you’re free, you’ve made it. No, not at all. When you leave your first “Egypt” — meaning the first level in which you were stuck, limited, or trapped — yes, it’s liberating. But then you enter a new level. And at first, that level is expansive. You feel free. But after a while, that new level becomes your new Egypt — your new limitation. And you need to break free from that too. It’s a continuous process of growth. A person can never say, “I’ve finished.” When is it finished? When your life is over. That’s when your work in this world is done — either because of age, or because you’ve fulfilled your mission, or for reasons only G-d knows. But until that moment, you’re still alive — and that means there is more to grow, more to liberate within yourself
Then There’s a third, deeper explanation
The Hebrew word Pesach — Passover — can be seen as a combination of two words: Peh Sach — meaning “the mouth that speaks.” Peh means mouth, and Sach means speaking. So the first level of liberation during Pesach has to do with what we say. It’s about freeing the mouth — freeing ourselves from negative speech, from gossip, insults, and harmful words.
Then come the final days of Pesach, where we remember the splitting of the sea. In Psalms and other texts, it says that God opened something called the Nahar — a river. Nobody knows exactly where this river is physically, but that doesn’t really matter. In the mysticism of Judaism, the Nahar represents something internal. It’s about that which is hidden becoming revealed. Our speech — what we say — is external and can be heard. But our thoughts — what’s inside — are hidden. And those inner thoughts also need work. We need to become aware of our thoughts, to discern which are appropriate and which are not. That’s the deeper level of liberation: inner liberation, mental and spiritual clarity.
So, the first days of Pesach are about liberating the mouth — what we say. The last days are about liberating the mind — what we think. It’s not a repetition, but a deepening. A second stage. An inner stage.
May G-d help us fulfill all of these levels of liberation, and may it ultimately lead us to the ultimate redemption with the coming of our righteous Mashiach, speedily in our days.
Talk from Rabbi Tuvia Serber
The above is a representation of the spoken text converted to written text.
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