Let’s start with a question:
When you think of Passover,
what does the holiday bring to mind?

• Perhaps…Epic amounts of food, family, comfort, home, gathering, stories and great storytelling, children, wine, delight, playoff hockey (for you Canadians)…

And a second question: What is the Passover story?

• Slavery in Egypt, hard work of the Israelites
• Pharaoh asking for all of the Israelite boys to be killed
• Moses standing up to Pharaoh with Aaron and the elders
• The 10 plagues, the final plague: Killing of the firstborn
• The parting of the sea!
• Etc.

I hate to break it to you all, but when we tell the story of Passover,
we are actually missing the entire point of the holiday of the story
at least, as it is told in the Torah.

What is the most famous song about the Passover story?
(I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Debbie Friedman’s “Miriam’s Song”)
Let my people go!
“When Israel was in Egypt’s land,
let my people go;
oppressed so hard they could not stand,
let my people go.”

The great oppression against the Israelites was quite real:
Our ancestors were under the toil of their work,
stripped to their bones to make Egyptian pyramids.
They bore the weight that their baby boys
could be taken from them and murdered at any moment.

Yet, their oppressed lives were not the reason
they were asking to be taken out of Egypt.
Time and again in the book of Exodus,
Moses beseeches Pharaoh to “Let my people go”:
שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י,
better translated in the words of Everett Fox: “Send free my people”!
But, as in our Torah portion Va’era,
the appeal is for something more than to be free of their oppression.
It is not a “freedom from…” — freedom from slavery and bondage —
that they ultimately seek,
but a “freedom to…”

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה כָּבֵ֖ד לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה מֵאֵ֖ן לְשַׁלַּ֥ח הָעָֽם׃
YHWH said to Moshe:
Pharaoh’s heart is heavy-with-stubbornness—
he refuses to send the people free.
לֵ֣ךְ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֞ה בַּבֹּ֗קֶר…
Go to Pharaoh in the morning, here, (as) he goes out to the Nile,
station yourself to meet him by the shore of the Nile,
and the staff that changed into a snake, take in your hand,
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י הָעִבְרִים֙ שְׁלָחַ֤נִי אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר
and say to him:
YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying:
שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וְהִנֵּ֥ה לֹא־שָׁמַ֖עְתָּ עַד־כֹּֽה׃
Send free my people (Let my people go),
that they may serve me in the wilderness!
But here, you have not hearkened thus far.
(Exod. 7:14-16, Translation by Everett Fox)

שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי
Send free my people that they may serve me!
Half a dozen times in our parashah,
as well as countless times across this epic book,
this phrase is repeated, again and again.
שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי

G-d tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him
that the people should be allowed to go out
a three-days journey distance into the wilderness
in order to offer sacrifices, and worship and pray to their G-d.
Ultimately, this three-days journey is just a bargaining chip
to lead the people towards full emancipation,
where they are able to, without burden,
worship G-d and live their lives freely.

Yet, when we think of Passover,
we think of the words “Let my people go!”
שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י
without remembering the essential addition: שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי
Send free my people that they may serve me!

The real purpose of Passover is not to escape slavery to Pharaoh.
The real purpose of getting out of Egypt is to serve G-d.
The real reason why Moses faced the most incredible challenge of his life
was in order that he and his people could serve a Higher Power,
a power far greater than Pharaoh’s tyrannical authority.
The real purpose of Passover is that we learn
to love, serve and work towards something
that is more powerful than any one person.

We know how this story ends:
with the people making their way
to Mount Sinai and receiving the 10 Commandments;
and where the people eventually make their way
to relative freedom in the Land of Israel,
where they build a Temple beautifully designed to serve G-d.

When we serve the universe in order to only free ourselves
from something that is holding us down, that is oppressing us,
we are only telling a partial story:
That story is how we can overcome
oppression, fear, burden, destructive behaviour, or more.
But the truest story is told when — G-d willing —
we are able to envision, articulate and work towards
opportunities that bring purpose to our lives,
that serve a greater truth.
Kein Yehi Ratzon, may it be so, in our own lives, towards the greater good.

…

7:26
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה שַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃
the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let My people go that they may worship Me.
8:16
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה הַשְׁכֵּ֤ם בַּבֹּ֙קֶר֙ וְהִתְיַצֵּב֙ לִפְנֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֔ה הִנֵּ֖ה יוֹצֵ֣א הַמָּ֑יְמָה וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה שַׁלַּ֥ח עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃
And the LORD said to Moses, “Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh, as he is coming out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let My people go that they may worship Me.
8:25
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֗ה הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י יוֹצֵ֤א מֵֽעִמָּךְ֙ וְהַעְתַּרְתִּ֣י אֶל־יְהוָ֔ה וְסָ֣ר הֶעָרֹ֗ב מִפַּרְעֹ֛ה מֵעֲבָדָ֥יו וּמֵעַמּ֖וֹ מָחָ֑ר רַ֗ק אַל־יֹסֵ֤ף פַּרְעֹה֙ הָתֵ֔ל לְבִלְתִּי֙ שַׁלַּ֣ח אֶת־הָעָ֔ם לִזְבֹּ֖חַ לַֽיהוָֽה׃
And Moses said, “When I leave your presence, I will plead with the LORD that the swarms of insects depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his courtiers and his people; but let not Pharaoh again act deceitfully, not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”
9:1
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְדִבַּרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י הָֽעִבְרִ֔ים שַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃
The LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go to worship Me.
9:13
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה הַשְׁכֵּ֣ם בַּבֹּ֔קֶר וְהִתְיַצֵּ֖ב לִפְנֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֑ה וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י הָֽעִבְרִ֔ים שַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃
The LORD said to Moses, “Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go to worship Me.