Leaving Bondage Behind

We famously say in the Hagadah, that were Hashem to have not taken us out of Egypt, we, and our children, and our grand children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt. 

It would seem that that is highly unlikely! After all, few are the peoples who are still enslaved today; at a time when African Americans had been enslaved for hundreds of years in America, and then the descendant of former slaves, Barack Obama rose to the highest office of the land, it is hard to aver that statement from the Hagadah in a way that is whole-hearted. How would we still be enslaved, indentured, in a state of servitude to this very day? 

I was asked this question by the Rosh Yeshiva of Pitchei Olam, Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Faivelzon, together with other students in a class before Pesach over 10 years ago. The conclusion we reached was that the intent of the author of the Hagadah was not physical, but rather spiritual, or psychic freedom. That answer, though, doesn't seem to jibe with the simple meaning of the text. 

Not long ago, maybe about a week ago, I asked the very same question of Yehonatan David Loock, a dear person with whom I attend prayer services; his answer was particularly insightful. At the time the Jews were freed, in fact - he shared - they were already no longer slaves! A year had passed from start to finish, during which the Egyptians were smitten with 10 plagues; and therefore, the connotation of that passage is that were we to have escaped or gone out alone, we would still be beholden mentally to the Egyptians because it wasn't Hashem Himself who had freed of us. Even if it were an angel, or another heavenly force, acting in God's agency, it still would mean that we weren't the chosen nation; but, because it was God himself, and "not an angel, seraph (ministering angel), or messenger," we would forever more be Hashem's chosen people, breaking the shackles of slavery and servitude, and know that we are Hashem's beloved firstborn son, spared to consecrate His name!