Each year, as the festival of Passover arrives, the Jewish people gather once again around the family table to remember one of the foundational events of their history: the Exodus from Egypt. Passover commemorates the moment when the people of Israel ceased to be a collection of subjugated families and became a free nation.
In the Book of Exodus, the Torah recounts the arrival of the children of Israel in Egypt, the years of slavery under Pharaoh’s rule, and the liberation that ultimately came through Divine intervention. For more than two centuries, the Hebrews lived under forced labor and a regime that stripped them of their will. There, in the midst of that condition, they grew and multiplied until they became a great and numerous people. Yet, while they remained enslaved, that people had not yet been fully “born,” as they were still under the domination of the tyrannical Pharaoh.
The true birth of the people of Israel occurred only when they attained freedom and received the Law at Mount Sinai. As long as a person or a people cannot exercise their own will, it is as if they do not truly exist. For this reason, Passover marks the beginning of the existence of the people of Israel as an independent entity.
The word “Passover” (Pesach) is related to “to pass over” or “to protect.” It refers to the moment when, during the last of the ten plagues of Egypt, God “passed over” and protected the houses of the Israelites while striking the Egyptian firstborn. This episode symbolizes a fundamental principle: no one has the right to oppress another. The liberation from Egypt was a demonstration that power exercised over the weakness of others ultimately comes under judgment.
