Redemption is bigger than freedom. Its more than being able to do what you want when you want. Its even bigger than the freedom to worship THE ONE. It is about being pulled out of the cycle of history, the cycle of suffering, into a state where the apparent division between GOD and world dissolves. Not for an individual, but for everyone. It’s nirvana for the whole ‘olam, not just the bodsatva/chassid.

In that sense the Zionist return to history is a huge step backwards, because it turns the whole thing back around. Faced with a particular political position, the chassidim turned geulah on its head, and create a system that works from the inside out, or from the bottom up (and by up I mean way up). Liberalism allows us to universalize that inside-out system so the Jews are not at the center of the world, just a part of it. The State of Israel (which is both soulless and illiberal) turns it all back jumping over 2000 years of history to redemption by the sword.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. In my Hasidism class last night we spent our time on some passages about galut and geulah, and I think bumped up against some of the same challenges you’re describing here.

In my own life, the focus on personal liberation was important as I moved into active engagement with Judaism and with God. Pesach felt like the perfect metaphor for my own journey. And I don’t want to knock that — nor the wealth of Hasidic teachings about geulah which I think still have amazing resonance today. But at the same time, the question of what geulah means on a communal level looms large — and I don’t know what the answers are or should be…

Anyway. Thanks for this. Wishing you a zissen Pesach.