Rabbi Sacks raises an interesting point about the biblical word for freedom. 

Most will say “cherut”. ..We call Pesach “zman cheruteinu”, the season of our freedom. We have just read, “leshana haba’ah bnei chorin”. 

Well, this is wrong. The Tanach does not contain a single instance of the word cherut meaning freedom.  The biblical word for freedom is chofesh. When a slave is set free. Whereas cherut is a rabbinic word  

What is the difference between chofesh and cherut

Chofesh is individual freedom. Cherut means collective freedom. Freedom that we share as a society. 

What's the practical difference? Well, imagine a society in which everyone had chofesh, everyone was able to do whatever they liked. Would that be a society? The answer is that it would be anarchy and chaos. 

Real freedom is law-governed liberty. It means caring for others, not just yourself. It means caring not just for self-interest, but for the common good. 

Now, the difference between chofesh and cherut could never have been more evident than in the last few weeks, certainly not in my lifetime. 

We've seen chofesh, individual freedoms being exerted. We've seen people doing what they like. People who care only for themselves… panic-buying…. Not doing social distancing etc. 

We have also seen the opposite. Cherut. Collective freedom. People caring for the common good. We've seen the heroism of doctors and nurses and other essential service providers. 

That is the difference between chofesh and cherut, between caring for “me” and caring for “all of us together”. 

Out of all this suffering, we have to become less selfish as individuals, more caring as societies, more united as humanity, having discovered our collective vulnerability. And if we do that, we will have rescued blessing from this curse. 

So the Sages said about telling the story on Pesach, “Begin with the shame, end with the praise”. Begin with the story of suffering, and end with the story of redemption. 


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning