An Exercise with Matza

[00:00:00] A beggar who was walking door to door collecting alms was once asked, what would he do if he became a king? [00:00:08] There are so many tall buildings in our city, and in my old age it is hard for me to climb the stairs. [00:00:17] If I would become a king, I would issue a decree prohibiting buildings with more than one floor. So it should be easier for me to walk around collecting charity. [00:00:30] What would you do if you became a king? [00:00:35] Usually this question is asked in anticipation of grand political or economic ideas. But I am asking you now about yourself. What would you do for yourself? [00:00:48] We are used to spending so much time and energy on trying to make money and then making sure we spend it properly and we save it. [00:01:00] On trying to take care of our health, trying to solve family issues and everyday problems. [00:01:08] But what would you do if you would not have any of these headaches at all? [00:01:15] Imagine for a second that you are living in an ideal world. [00:01:20] You have unlimited financial resources and there are no diseases. [00:01:25] You don't need to spend a minute on solving any problems. [00:01:31] What would you do all day? [00:01:34] What would you like to spend all your time on? [00:01:38] What would you want to devote your life to? [00:01:42] We are often so busy being stuck in the routine of life that we don't even think about this question. But answering this question can open our eyes to what we would, at least in theory, really be like if we were completely free. [00:02:00] This is a good exercise. It can allow us to understand what we would really want from our lives. [00:02:07] On Passover, we celebrate Jewish liberation from slavery. [00:02:11] A slave is someone who is controlled by other people, by. By his system, by his conditions. [00:02:18] On Passover, the Jews freed themselves from these restrictions. It is said that when we celebrate the liberation of our ancestors, we ourselves must experience their sense of freedom. We must imagine that we all have removed all of our restrictions that were imposed on us from the outside. [00:02:45] So what would I look then? [00:02:48] But the exercise is not over yet. During the Passover Seder, we sit at a table with Matzah, surrounded by our families. And our children and grandchildren ask questions. [00:03:01] What we tell them about our lives will shape how they define theirs. [00:03:08] Imagine that you actually spent all of your years doing the very thing that you want to be doing. [00:03:17] And now you are talking to your children and grandchildren. [00:03:21] Would you be proud of the way you spent your life? [00:03:26] In old age? You look at your life in hindsight. [00:03:30] What will you think of yourself if you only did the thing that you really want to do? [00:03:37] The Torah says that we must remember the Exodus, and every day we have to look at ourselves as if we are leaving Egypt. Now, every day we have to ask ourselves this very question. [00:03:50] What would I really want to devote my life to?