How Much Freedom?

March 12, 2010
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

      The story is told of a Kentuckian and a Texan who got into an argument about which state was better. Finally, the Kentuckian had enough and he exclaimed, "There's enough gold in Fort Knox to build a wall six feet high and two feet wide around the entire State of Texas." The Texan was not phased in the least. He said, "You build it. If we like it, we'll buy it."

      On the other hand, more recently with times getting economically difficult, people ask the natural question, "What's the quickest way to become a Texas millionaire?" And the obvious answer is "Start out as a Texas billionaire."

      Jews in Texas are all transplants from somewhere else, So they tell their stories in ways that help them understand their Texas-ness.

      For example, there is the story about roundup time down on the ranch when the boss could not spare a single hand. Everyone was needed for corralling and branding and repairing the fences and making the chili. This was no time for workers to strike, but that's exactly what happened. They came to the boss and told him that they wanted to go to a tent meeting out on the back forty for just a few days.

      They sent their spokesman to talk with the boss. "You had better let us go," the spokesman said, "or else we'll muddy up your water and mess up your ranch. We don't like being coerced to work." And no sooner had the water muddied up and turned red than the hail started and there were gnats everywhere and frogs and lice and boils breaking out.

      And, of course you know the rest of the story about that there "King Ranch." The workers finally got their way and collected themselves and left town entirely, looking for their own ranch. That's why we Jewish Texans celebrate Passover.

      Of course, being Jewish and being Texan is a bit of a dilemma because you are never exactly sure which of these two chosen peoples you want to belong to.

      Around Rodeo time, we tend to want to belong to the Texan people. So we tell tall tales about Texas and remind ourselves that we live in the richest, most God-beloved country that ever was created. But when we think about the shenanigans of those folk we sent to Austin and those we sent to Washington, we are awfully glad that we belong to that other chosen people.

      As spring draws near, our thoughts as members of God's chosen people turn toward celebrating Passover. For many Jews this is the one holiday when their homes become an outward  focus for their inward Jewishness. Today, we think less about the sacrifice of lambs at the Temple mount and we turn our Passover attention to the meaning of liberation.

      As we gather together in our families, we know there is something a little different about this holiday of Pesach and its Seder which just does not translate into a simple Thanksgiving dinner. There is an undercurrent of labor strikes and controversy and liberation that keeps giving this holiday its special edge. Whether we celebrate in Texas or in Jerusalem, Pesach tends to remind us of the freedom fighters of the Holocaust and the long struggle of Soviet Jewry and the need to see people liberated throughout the world to release their potential and bring us all the richness of their talents.

      Passover reminds us that nothing creative can be realized if we constantly adhere to the daily grind. We need to see the world through exaggerations and big brags because these kinds of storytelling free us and free our imaginations from the slavery of the everyday, from sameness and fear. Sameness in the sense that you want to be as thin as the next cover girl and the heroes of the movies. Sameness in the sense that you want to find out what you have to do to live longer and own more things and be more effective at negotiating and wear the best fashions and carry the right cell phone. Fear in the sense that the news is always based on what goes wrong and what can be criticized and what can be put down. And the advertising explains new diseases to sell you the ideal drugs to cure them and only in passing to mention the fact that these medications probably have the side effect of killing you.

      But Passover says liberate yourself from that. Get off the ranch and look for the hidden country, any place you can stretch your imagination and get your spiritual sea legs. Think less about how you fit into society and more about how society should fit you, what you could do to make the world a better place for more people by giving them the same opportunity for freedom that you enjoy. And if you don't think you are enjoying enough freedom, Passover says spring is coming and spring is eternally the moment for new life.

      I saw this on a tree in my backyard just yesterday. There are buds where the branches were bare and the buds are beautiful, each one a little spirit and a promise of the future. They are green and white with little white flowers on some of them already. But they will grow stronger and turn into leaves and soon that tree will be full of enough new growth to last it another year.

      Have you thought about how you plan to personally sprout this year? Have you thought about what attracts you here in Houston that you want to bring into your life the way the tree grows toward the sun? Maybe you need a little more humor in your life. Maybe you need a little more Texas in your life. Maybe you need a little more time with family and a little less obsession with work. Maybe you need a new kind of work or a new kind of recreation.

      And have you given any thought to what you want less of, of the Egypt that you want to escape this year? Have you had too much Facebook time and not enough people time? Have you spent too much time at home answering business emails? Have you suffered too much and worried too much and been too insecure? These are all the anomalies of living on the ranch and paying too much attention to the boss -- whether the boss is a person or the boss is an object like the computer or a trip on the Internet. What will you do this year to liberate yourself from being a drone?

      Passover challenges with these issues about ourselves and our families. While we are cleaning out our houses and searching for any little grains of leaven, leftover corn flakes and old bread, we should also be cleaning out our minds and searching for traces of conformity and normality that leave us feeling helpless and alone. This is the time to look back at your life and exaggerate the good things. Not only did you escape and succeed here and there, but you brought a plague on the houses of those who tried to keep you down. No, not one plague but ten plagues. Not ten plagues, but one hundred plagues.

      See yourself bigger than life and you will see your life as bigger and more exciting. Passover does that. It's worth observing, even here in Texas where everyone brags and everyone knows that if the ice melts, Alaska will soon be smaller than the great State of Texas.

      I tell you this now because at our second Seder you will not have time to listen to a sermon. So this is it: a reminder that spring is coming and you can brag because you are a privileged member of both of God's chosen peoples -- you are a Texan and you are a Jew. And the amount of freedom you enjoy in the future all depends on you. And let us say: Amen.