I'm glad my kids feel so free. As for me, I'm still a slave and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, never died. I labor for him all week long
23 Comments Posted
This fit me very well! End results was good, and something I will learn from!
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I also have been "plagued" by the same feeling that we celebrate our "freedom" by having a long and long-winded ceremony attended by a lot of holiday requirements and preparation for the Seder. It reminds me of the feeling I had in high school when we were assigned Thoreau to read to learn to be ourselves, and free of convention, but we had to turn in a paper of repectable length in a jiffy to stay in high school.
Go figure. "My plastic Pharaoh" is a delightful piece! Give us more!
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um i just had a question about the part of the unquestioning son: wasnt he unquestioning not because he was not paying attention but just the opposite? i learned once that he did not ask questions because he had reached a holy level in which you follow G-d's commands without question.
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Yes, Rabbi Sholom Dovber, the fifth rebbe of Chabad once gave that explanation.
But there are 70 ways to interpret everything in Torah--all of them true, all of them Torah. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the 7th rebbe, gave the interpretation I presented here.
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When we soar to that place of "natural connection" with G-d and our true Matza being, we can throw away the "shoulds" and the "wants" and just BE. Being connected to our spiritual selves is the greatest freedom there is. It is the true Lightness of Being. thank you for a wonderful way of transmitting this deep concept.
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Thank-you SO much! I really enjoy your writings! Your style is so practical and yet deep and enlightening. I have been wondering the same question - how do we free ourselves from ourselves and truly connect with His infinite endlessness of self and abundance??? Thank-you for a peice in the puzzle, I truly believe the Rebbe is right on! Thanks for sharing your journey!!
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i really like this it teaches u a lot i am in 6th grade and some of these things i didnt even learn any way i really want to hear more of these at least once a week or once a month my favorite part is when it said help people out even though they are not part of your family very nice!!!!!!!!
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all is fine if you're the cold intellectual who needs to learn to splurge, and give yourself over a bit, (like that evil one who asks good questions but won't get involved) but for the other types of ppl. what is their answer? (seems rabbi freeman needs four answers, for four sons)
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really well written, very entertaining and amen!!!
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interesting...and slightly weird for me but it shows people in an easier way what this is about.
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Sitting down to the computer I click on the various subscribed items. I’m enjoying a feast, as usual, at the chabad.org table.
Then an item of food catches my attention – a dish named ‘My Plastic Pharaoh.’ Wearing half a smile I reach for it with a click.
Having eaten food presented by this chef before my anticipation is that the dish will be as creative as the title. Am I expecting too much?
My smile spreads as I read, a chuckle escapes. Then throwing my head back with a laugh the chef has ‘sold’ his dish.
Seriously though, I did get the point ….. or two ….. or three …!
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Interesting that exactly today when I am involved in a big conflict with future in-laws about setting the wedding date, G-d leads me to this article.
I, of course, am right. They are wrong. The date I want is the best time possible, the date they want is not. It is very inconvenient for me and will cost us more money. But this morning I decided for the sake of peace, to give in. My husband is very proud of me.
I gave in, but it was with my fists clenched and my teeth grinding. My jaws hurt me already. Also my arms and shoulders. Who are THEY to tell ME what to do? I (almost) always get my way. And they come along and tell ME what to do?
And now G-d, in His infinite kindness, brought me to read your article, and I realize that by negating myself I am doing a kindness for people who I do not know yet, and have a great opportunity to disconnect from this "ME" and connect into Him. I am already beginning to feel some freedom from myself.
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So, what about all of us who never met or had a relationship with the guru/Rebbe. Not possible to find enlightenment without one/him? Where does that leave us? I certainly understand how easy it can be to delude ourselves - we require others, preferably wise others - to see ourselves clearly sometimes. Our there limitations to each persons capacity for enlightenment? Has no one ever found G-D without a Guru/Rebbe? This does not bode well for humanity...
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What a gem we are offered in this sacred story! I have a similar story of my own I shall write some day. It seems we all seek freedom in all the wrong places. My son has just spoken to me today about all the busyness and noise and pressure in his life with his career and young children. He has so little time for quiet and prayer and sacred reading he tells me every time we talk. He longs to be free but is so bound! Perhaps this little gem of a story is the answer to a mother's prayer for her son! Perhaps I shall send it to him and it will help point the way to freedom in a way he will understand. Thank you for this gem! May G-d bless and keep you!
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Very creative and insightful. Thank you very much for sharing.
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I love your words and how you describe things. G-d has blessed you and we are all grateful for your inspiration. Thank you so much and have a beautiful day.
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I read your article and liked it very much but I don't understand the title,"My Plastic Pharaoh". Could you please explain what it means "plastic paroh" Thank you.
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Credit cards are plastic.
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I am not Jewish. I was raised in a secular family. Dad often said, "Bobby there is a G-d and we DON"T believe in him.
Well, fast forward 75 years; here I am, an 81 year old retired doc, surfing the internet, finding your website, read it three times . . . . . .
AND I AM SMITTEN! Perhaps I want to become a Jew. Is there hope for me?
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You don't have to become a Jew in order to believe in G-d, or to love Him and have Him love you. All you have to do is keep the Seven Noahide Commandments, i.e. the seven commandments that were given to Noah after the flood. Noah also wasn't Jewish. And it's certainly easier than keeping the 613 commandments that God gave the Jews. Just one thing-you have to keep them for the sole
purpose of fulfilling G-d's will, and not because they sound nice or ethical, etc.
With best wishes
P.S Why don't you first investigate your past. Jewishness is passed down by the mother. Maybe your mother and maternal grandmother were Jewish and didn't know it and then you are also Jewish.
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I have looked into this. As far as I know none of my female forebears were Jewish.
Derisively, I have been told that I have a Jewish nose and, by the way "some of my best friends are Jewish", speaking of derisive and patronizing things to say.
Some of my best friends are Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox etc. etc. I don't know any Amish or Mennonites.
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