American Bigots
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Passover asks one big question: are you free? Here are four ways to find out.
Jews around the world will soon sit at the Passover seder and retell the story of a people escaping slavery. But the story was never only about Egypt. It's about us, right now, and the invisible chains we carry.
The Hebrew month of Nissan has always been considered a time of personal liberation, a window for breaking free from whatever has you stuck. Here are four questions worth sitting with this month.
Think about the narratives, grudges, habits, and fears that may be quietly running your life. Which fears are shaping your decisions right now? What past version of yourself are you ready to release?
Many of us are still living inside an identity that made sense years ago. Maybe you were the achiever, the caretaker, the one who never needs help. Those roles may have kept you safe or successful once. Now they may just be keeping you small.
We also carry outdated beliefs long past their expiration date: If I disappoint people, something bad will happen. I have to earn my worth. And we hold onto resentments, not because we're wrong to feel them, but because we keep letting the past drain energy we need for the future.
Make a list of what you're holding onto that you no longer need. Then use this month to put it down.
Look at your calendar. What would a stranger assume you care most about? Your values show up in how you spend your time, attention, and money.
Notice where in your life you feel pressure instead of choice. Pressure sounds like: I should, I have to, I need to. Choice sounds like: I want to, I get to, this matters to me. What decisions would you make differently if no one was watching?
Some signs you've drifted into living for others: feeling trapped, burned out, resentful, or finding that success feels strangely empty. When your life actually reflects your values, you feel meaning even on hard days, you're willing to accept trade-offs, and your choices feel internally valuable rather than externally impressive.
Ask yourself: What do I deeply want that I rarely admit, even to myself? If I lived with less fear, what would change first? Start small. Make one shift this month that's genuinely yours.
We live in a culture that's always pushing for more: more money, more productivity, more success. But inner freedom requires knowing, in your gut, what "enough" actually feels like.
When did you last feel most like yourself? What would make this year genuinely meaningful, not just impressive? At what point does achievement stop adding anything real to your life? What level of financial security would let you stop feeling like you're always behind? What relationships are you holding to a standard no human being can meet?
Think about what a day that feels like "enough" actually looks like. For most people, it involves time with people they love and work that matters. Not a perfect score.
Use this month to define your own finish line.
Nothing drains us faster than pouring energy into things outside our control. It's worth getting clear on the difference.
You can control: your actions, your effort, your boundaries, your responses. You can influence: outcomes, other people's reactions, how relationships evolve. You cannot control: the past, other people's feelings, timing, or the challenges life will inevitably throw at you.
When you catch yourself white-knuckling an outcome, ask: Can I control this, influence it, or neither? If I let go of controlling the result, what can my role actually be? Try shifting your focus from outcome to effort, from managing other people's emotions to setting your own boundaries. Trust the process is not a platitude. It's a practice.
This month, release what isn't yours to control. There's real freedom on the other side.
When the Jewish People left Egypt, they didn't have it all figured out. They left anyway. They kept moving and the path opened as they walked it.
Whatever your personal exile looks like right now, you don't have to have it all solved before you start. You just have to keep moving toward freedom.
May this month bring all of us a little closer to it.
