Seder Night Ideas

What is Freedom?

The answer cannot be as simple as doing what I want.

Philosopher Harry Frankfurt made a distinction between what you want and what you want to want.

• First-Order Desire: I want to scroll on social media for four hours.

• Second-Order Desire: I want to be the kind of person who is productive and present.

If you "do what you want" by scrolling all day, you are actually a slave to your impulses. In this view, true freedom—or Autonomy—is the ability to govern yourself according to your higher values, even when they conflict with your immediate urges.

Analogy: An addict "wants" the drug, but are they free when they take it? Most philosophers would say no; they are being driven by a compulsion, not a choice.

If freedom is purely "doing what I want," it quickly turns into the "Law of the Jungle." If I want your car and I take it, I have exercised my freedom, but I have destroyed yours.

If you want a specific brand of shoes or a specific career because society has spent millions in marketing to make you want them, is that your freedom?

A sophisticated view suggests that much of what we "want" is actually programmed into us by:

• Upbringing and parents

• Algorithmic manipulation, what social media wants us to see.

So, what is freedom?

1.    Negative Liberty ("Freedom From"): This is the absence of obstacles or barriers. You are free  nobody interferes with your actions.

2.    Positive Liberty ("Freedom To"): This refers to the possibility of acting in such a way as to take control of one's life and realise one's fundamental purposes.

3.    Freedom is not about escaping the laws of physics, but about our actions being aligned with our internal desires and reasons. If you want to do something and you do it without external coercion, you are free, even if your "want" was shaped by your history.

Rabbi Sacks drew a distinction between two terms

• Chofesh (Freedom From): This is what a slave gains when they are released. It is the absence of a master. It is the freedom to do what you want, when you want. However, Rabbi Sacks warned that if a society has only chofesh, it eventually collapses into "the war of all against all," where the strong crush the weak.

• Cherut (Freedom To): This is the freedom of a "covenantal society,” one in which we have each other’s best interests at heart.  It is the freedom that comes from self-mastery and the rule of law. It is the ability to do what you ought to do, not just what you want to do.

You can be a "free" person (chofesh) but still be a slave to your own impulses, addictions, or anger. True freedom (cherut) is the ability to control yourself so that you don't have to be controlled by others.

Modern Slavery

On Pesach we talk about freedom from slavery. We ought to continue that conversation by discussing the tragedy and curse of modern slavery.  Slavery is no longer defined by legal ownership, but by coercion, control, and exploitation.

According to modern studies:

1.    Approximately 50 million people are living in modern slavery on any given day.

2.    Breakdown: * 28 million are in forced labour. 22 million are in forced marriages.

3.    Demographics: Women and girls make up over half of the total (54%), and 1 in 4 victims is a child.

Types of slavery- learn the correct terms

•  Forced Labour: Victims are coerced to work through violence or intimidation. This is prevalent in industries with low oversight: agriculture, construction, mining, and fishing.

•  Debt Bondage (Bonded Labour): The most common form. A person "borrows" a small sum (for a medical bill or travel) and is forced to work to pay it off. The "debt" never decreases because the employer adds costs for food and housing.

•  Human Trafficking: The recruitment and transport of people using deception or force for the purpose of exploitation.

•  Descent-Based Slavery: A "traditional" form where people are born into a slave class based on their family lineage or caste.

Are you sure you don’t use slaves?

For Individuals:

• Check Your "Slavery Footprint": Use tools like www.SlaveryFootprint.org to see how many forced labourers likely contributed to the clothes you wear and the tech you use.

• Support Fair Trade: Buy products with certifications (like Fairtrade or B Corp) that audit their supply chains for labour abuses.

• Ethical Investing: If you have a pension or stocks, check if your funds invest in companies with transparent labour practices.

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On Seder Night when thinking about the maror consider: We don't eat Maror (bitter herbs) at Pesach just to remember the past; we eat it to remain sensitive to the suffering of people in the present. If we become indifferent to the forced labour in our supply chains, we have forgotten the lesson of the Exodus.

Rabbi Sacks once noted that the first thing Moshe did after the Israelites were freed was not to build an army, but to tell the people to tell the story to their children. He believed that the only way to end modern slavery is through education: teaching the next generation that a person’s dignity is non-negotiable and that "profit at the expense of another's freedom is not profit, but theft."

Education

Pesach is the Yom Tov where every parent and grandparent become educators.

Rabbi Lamm argued that the goal of the Seder is not to provide answers, but to provoke questions.  Even when giving answers you cannot possibly give an 8 year old the same answer and perspective as you give a 15 year old. The night requires preparation and planning, it’s really difficult. So focus on questions.

Rabbi Lamm said: "The greatest tragedy in education is not a student who doesn't have the right answer, but a student who doesn't have a question. The "Wise Son" and the "Simple Son" are both equally important because both are engaging in the process of asking.”

When we overcome the fear of having to give the correct answer, we open ourselves up to the possibility of learning.

On Seder Night there are two types of conversations:  Sippur (Storytelling) and Talmud Torah (Torah Study).

• Storytelling is unique because it requires an emotional connection between the teacher and the student. Unlike a regular maths lesson, the educator at the Seder must make it real, use vivid language, games, drama, poetry to bring the story to life. Include everybody, ask them how they would have felt and evoke an emotional response.

• Education on Pesach isn't just about transmitting data; it’s about experiential empathy. We don't just learn about the past; we reenact it, so our children feel they were there and that they are part of the story. It is their story to pass on in the future.  At the end of the evening, we need to feel closer to the Jewish people and our collective story.

Rabbi Soloveitchik taught:

Learning Torah creates a "Community of Mind" (people who think similarly), but Story telling on Seder Night creates a "Community of Fate."

By focusing on the story of slavery and freedom, the leader of the Seder connects  the child to the Jewish people not through logic, but through shared destiny. Before a child can understand the laws of the Torah (the "Covenant of Sinai"), they must first feel the story of the Jewish people (the "Covenant of Fate" in Egypt).