The crucial connection of Purim and Pesach

Our sages comment on the flow of the festival of Purim followed by Pesach on our lunar calendar, declaring that we connect geulah ligeulah – the redemption of Purim is inextricably bound with that of Pesach.

In Hebrew there are many words that can be used to describe our escape from slavery to freedom. For example the word cherut literally means ‘freedom’ and generally refers to physical liberty from persecution and slavery. When the State of Israel was established, there was a right-wing political party called cherut, with the immediate goal of attaining political and military freedom in Israel for the Jewish people.

Menachem Begin often aligned with Cherut (as did my grandfather, z”l). Within this worldview there was no compromise and Israel included both sides of the Jordan. Members were prepared to give their lives to achieve their goals. This party captured the imagination of Jews recovering from the Holocaust, instilling the belief that the destiny of the Jewish people was to be determined by and for Jews. Freedom!

The word ‘cherut’ is mentioned in the Torah in relation to the Exodus. Our sages felt the need to immediately requalify its meaning. It was not just freedom per se, they also read the word as ‘charut’, which means engraved in stone – that of the Ten Commandments. Freedom alone was not the ultimate goal, but rather the liberty to adhere to Torah commandments.

When Moses stood in front of Pharaoh, he demanded in the name of G-d: “Let My People Go!" Yet it did not end there: “Let My People Go that they may serve Me”.

The purpose of freedom is not isolated, rather it is matched with a recognition of divine purpose.

There have been many evolutions of ‘freedom fighters’ throughout history. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, taught that the French Revolution was instigated to bring liberty to the people, yet as a revolution for the rights of man, with no reference to G-d – it led to mass murder and the Napoleonic dictatorship.

Alternately, the American revolution, based upon the profound belief that all are created equal in the image of G-d, has never ended and the United States is touted as the greatest democratic example in history.

We have had our own redemption, the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel. Miraculously for the first time in two millennia we have an army to defend ourselves, no longer needing to be subservient. But it is so much more.

My father, of blessed memory, used to say, “We did not wait 2000 years and sacrifice the very best of our youth to merely sunbake on a Tel Aviv beach.” The State of Israel must be imbued with the principles of Sinai, the Torah and its commandments.

Ethics are personified. This includes sending our soldiers into countries wherein we are not viewed as friends. Why? To save their children who we believe are all created equally in the image of G-d. Brave actions which greatly manifest the principles of Sinai.

In reality, there is still a long journey ahead.

Geulah implies both physical and spiritual redemption and our sages connect the geulah of Purim with the geulah of Pesach. Initially, Purim appears to be a purely physical redemption as we destroyed Haman and our enemies. Just Cherut.

However our sages teach that Purim has to be connected to Pesach – so G-d can be served.

Purim without Pesach is not the whole story. In fact, Purim was the impetus spurring the rebuilding of the Second Temple a few years later. As G-d indicated, “Let my people go – that they may serve me!”

Let us hope and pray that we too speedily witness the rebuilding of our Temple in our days, so we may all merit both a complete cherut and geulah. Amen!