Sing Your Way to Freedom

Friday April 18, 2025/20 Nisan 5785/Pesach

Hevre/Friends,

The Torah readings for the days of Passover together retell the epic of our ancestors’ liberation from Egyptian slavery: the paschal sacrifice and the seder meal eaten with it; the Passover laws to be observed; the 10th plague and Pharaoh finally letting us go; leaving in haste with no time for our dough to rise; and tomorrow’s 7th day reading (the last day for Jews in Israel and for those of us who keep one day of yomtov outside of Israel) which recalls the Egyptians pursuing us, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, and the famous Song of the Sea. But if the readings up until tomorrow retell an ancient tale, tomorrow’s shares the story of freedom that lies within each and every one of us in every single generation, on every single day.

There is a deep connection between song and freedom. Earlier in the Torah when Moses encounters God at the burning bush and asks “who are you?” God answers “אהיה אשר אהיה/Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” - “I will be who I will be”, or even better, “I am not yet”, modeling for humanity the truest expression of our life spirit which is to continually be in a process of growth; to always be becoming. Freedom is a necessary condition to evolve into who it is you are called to be, to live your truth honestly and authentically as your life unfolds.  

In an amazing feat of Jewish mathematics, the mystics calculated that the numerical value of the Hebrew words for God’s answer, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh”, is the same as the numerical value of the words, “כח השיר/koach hashir” - the power of song. And indeed, music and song are bold expressions of the freedom embedded in God’s name. The unselfconscious raising of our voices, the uninhibited lifting of our souls through melody, rhythm and harmony brings to life the sense that we are unburdened by any restrictions and that nothing stands in our way of living out the potential that lies within us. 

Since October 7 and in the 18 months of war since, Jewish communities, families and individuals have accessed this power of song through the elegies sung at too many funerals, the Acheinu prayer for the release of the hostages, the proud choruses of Hatikvah reverberating throughout so many gatherings, and the musical yearnings for peace at the core of so many services. We are even told about hostages like Alon Ohel, a musician, who has sustained himself in captivity by air-playing piano and singing his favourite songs, all expressions of the inner freedom no monstrous terrorist can ever take away from him.

It is no wonder that Bnei Yisrael burst out in song when they crossed the sea, for they were singing the freedom of their souls as much as the freedom of their bodies. It is no wonder that so many other communities like Black Americans and Africans adapted both the narrative and the musical inspiration of this holiday’s moment of liberation as they yearned for their own freedom not only from their physical shackles but from those that kept them from following their own personal destinies.

And one more thing: the mystics remind us also that when singing on the shore of the sea long ago, the Israelites were not only expressing their faith in God, but God’s faith in them to live their newfound freedom responsibly and justly. When we lift our voices in song, we are also confirming trust in who we are, in the possibilities we each have as human beings, the sense of purpose with which we each live our lives. When we sing we harness our kavanah, the intentionality with which we pursue our dreams and realize our goals, when we have faith in who we are and who we are committed to becoming, we unleash our inner potential whose most fitting expression is song. As the Hasidic teaching challenges us: sing as loudly in this world as you want to sing in the world to come, in the world you know you’re capable of creating.

With continued prayers for our ability to bring home all the hostages, protect the soldiers, heal the injured, comfort the bereaved, and build a lasting peace in Israel and around the world, and with blessings for a Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Dini

Photo Courtesy of Ronen Avisror