Egypt/Jerusalem

We traditionally end the Passover Seder with the fervent hope of “Next Year in Jerusalem!”

Because Jerusalem is much more than a city, we can be miles away from Jerusalem even while living there. Jerusalem is an ideal that we are struggling to reach for.

In general, the Jewish story can be summed up as a long journey from Egypt to Jerusalem. Beyond being just geographical locations, they symbolize two opposite spiritual states. The journey from Egypt to Jerusalem is a spiritual odyssey.

Egypt is called "Mitzrayim," in Hebrew, which also means limitations, restrictions, obstacles. It represents a state in which our souls are enslaved to material desires and tied down to physical limitations.

Jerusalem means “the city of peace”—a place of peace between body and soul, the ideal and reality. When we live our lives according to our ideals rather than our cravings, when the world values goodness and generosity over selfish gain—then we are in Jerusalem.

When we overcome our concern for our own needs and think and do for others, we have left Egypt. We allowed our innate goodness to prevail over our instinctive selfishness. We're then out of Egypt, but not yet in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, we won't have to conquer our selfish nature; our nature would itself be kind and selfless. There would be no need for a battle to do good in the city of inner peace; it would come naturally.

Even if we are living in the city called Jerusalem, as long as there remains suffering, injustice and unholiness in the world, we haven’t reached the Promised Land. As long as we remain slaves to our own negative instincts and selfish desires, we are still struggling to truly leave Egypt.

Perhaps this year, our efforts to better ourselves and our world will bring the fulfillment of the words of the Haggadah:

"This year we are here, next year we will be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves, next year we will be free."

Next year in Jerusalem . . . literally.