The holiday of Pesach (Passover) is an exodus from our ego. Our ego locks us in a capsule called “this world” and prevents us from seeing the reality outside. In order to break free from this shell we must perform a “circumcision,” by drawing the Light of Hochma from Above. It acts like a sharp knife and removes our great egoistic desires that cannot currently be corrected. We are given the opportunity to rid ourselves of them and to not use them, in essence to become free!

To be a “free people in our own country” (the word “country” comes from the Hebrew word “desire”) means to escape the rule of our desire. When we become free from our desire and can rise above it, we are ready for the exodus from Egypt.

We then exit our evil inclination (Yetzer HaRa) out of Egypt (Mitzraim – Mitz Ra, concentration of evil) and toward freedom. Having been slaves to our desires, we now come out of slavery and become free of them, meaning we refuse to use them egoistically.

Presently we are drowning in our ego, in our desire to receive for ourselves, and immersed in this world, we are subject to waves of all kinds of problems and desires. Suddenly we receive a strong desire to rise above this world, this life, and to feel a spiritual life.

This doesn’t mean we discard all of our corporeal desires; rather, with the help of The Book of Zohar, we receive the strength to rise above our desires and become masters over them. The moment we ascend, we immediately stop feeling trapped within an egoistic capsule with its sensation of this world, and we begin to feel the spiritual world. That is the real meaning of the exodus from Egypt.

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