Let my people go — Freedom & Dreams

Let's ponder on what it means to be free. Freedom gives rise to our aspirations and dreams. Are dreams meant to be realistic?

We are the climax of the 10 plagues. Moshe's famous rallying call is— “Let my people go”. It is the story of redemption and Freedom. It is ingrained in our Jewish DNA.

It is the rallying call of freedom movements from eternity till today. We are commanded to remember this every day.

We seek freedom on the national level, the world level — global challenges, and on the personal level.

We are slaves to the system, to work, and more. We are limited in our lack of time, resources, and skills.

So, even today we are not so free. We strive to be free. We have dreams about freedom and a better life. We have dreams for a better world.

So, let’s learn a bit from Reb Shlomo about dreams.

Reb Shlomo Carlebach on Parsha Bo

Dreams I Don’t Dare To Dream

“It was on that very day that all the legions of Hashem left the land of Egypt” (Shmos 12:41)

When I meet someone who I love very much and want to marry, what am I thinking about? Do I just want to live like a normal human being? Do I want to be married since everyone else is getting married? Do I want to build a house with you because that’s what all other couples do? Everyone has children, so I want to have children. Is this all I am capable of dreaming about? When I meet someone I love very much, I want something that never happened before. I don’t want to marry them because everyone else is getting married.

And here I want you to open your hearts to the deepest depths. There’s a passage that says “Ba’asoscha Nora’os Lo Nekave” — Master of the World, I never dared to hope for the wonders you ended up doing for me (Yishayahu 64:2).

There are certain dreams I have which I hope will come true, but there is something even deeper. Deep down inside, I’m hoping for something to happen which I never even dreamt about. I simply don’t allow myself to dream it. Little me, what do I know what G-d wants to do? Do I know what kind of miracles G-d wants to perform?

So the Ishbitzer says that when G-d set us free, it does not only mean that I’m no longer a slave. Freedom means my relationship to G-d is on the level of freedom. If I have plans for that which G-d will do for me, it’s sweet but I’m making G-d a slave, I’m telling G-d what to do. To be on the level of freedom with G-d means that I never need to know what G-d will end up doing.

You see what it is, while we were in Egypt we hoped we would be free, but the night we got out of Egypt something happened which we never dreamt about, something we never dared to dream about.

So this is what Ishbitzer says. If I wake up in the morning and I say “today is going to be a good day,” its sweet but it has to be more than that. When was the last time you woke up in the morning and you were literally ready for unbelievable miracles which you never even dared to dream of

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Reb Shlomo while in Russia in 1989 was interviewed by Russian Television and they asked him “In a world with so much violence, persecution, hunger, and death, do you still dream? And Shlomo said, “Yes”. Then the Russian asked if he believed that G-d answers his dreams, and Reb Shlomo thought and said, “I used to think so.” The surprised interviewer asked “Rabbi Carlebach, are you saying G-d doesn’t answer your dreams? Reb Shlomo answered “You don’t understand.

We pray that G-d should answer our dreams. This morning I had the honor of playing for the Leningrad Steelworkers, and I promise, in my wildest dreams I never dreamed I would play for them!

If G-d only answered our dreams, how boring our lives would be! But the truth is that G-d has even better dreams for us. G-d’s dreams are so much deeper, so much more beautiful — we have to pray that G-d should fulfill His dreams for us because they are so much more awesome!”

Good Shabbos!