"From Constriction to Expansion"
A little Passover reflection
As this year’s Passover holiday begins this coming Saturday evening, I was reminded of an excerpt from Sharon Salzberg’s 2024 book Real Life. In it I had heard for the first time where the Hebrew word for Egypt, “מִצְרַיִם”, transliterated to “mitzraiim” comes from. It means “from the narrow straits.” As young kids in Hebrew school we showcased live dramatizations for our parents and teachers of our Jewish ancestors living in these narrow straits, in the constricted reality as slaves building bricks under the rule of vengeful taskmasters for shrines and buildings they would never be able to enter.
Salzberg goes even further bringing in the concept of narrow mindedness, which is a nuanced and expansive opposition to the concept of freedom. When we are narrow minded we believe we lack choice, agency and options. We are rigid and struggle to see that things can be different. When are mind is free, possibility and expansion become graspable. We more naturally flow with life rather than feel the impulse to brace against it.
Sitting around the Passover table at my grandparents house was one of the most joyous times of my year. My eyes swell as I reflect on the meticulous menu my Grandma would outline weeks prior in her clean and curly cursive. We got a little more dressed up, the long dining room table was a little more thematic, and we literally sang the songs of freedom.
As a child, freedom was simply the alternative to slavery. Yet as an adult, I believe the medieval sages that created the Haggadah, the guidebook for the Passover seder, the ritual meal, decided to provoke us once a year to take it a step further and ask ourselves, where am I getting in the way of my own capacity for greater freedom? Where are there other options that I may not be seeing right now because my mind is experiencing narrowness and constriction. And more broadly, what are the human-made constrictions that we have the ability to dismantle that prevent the growth and expansion of others. Sadly, so many people in 2025 are still enslaved due to factors beyond their control. Are there ways that we can challenge our own narrow mindedness to see where we can unshackle ourselves for the benefit of all beings? I don’t know what this will look like exactly but I believe it wouldn’t hurt.
Wishing you freedom from the inside out.