Street Farbrengen Episode 113 - Slave or Prisoner?

“When Adar enters, we increase in joy.”Rashi explains that the joy comes because we are approaching Purim and Pesach. In other words, Adar begins a movement—from celebration to liberation.But there’s a fascinating detail in the language of Chassidus.The Alter Rebbe doesn’t describe the Exodus simply as leaving slavery. He calls it leaving prison—the godly soul being freed from the prison of the body and the animal soul.Why prison?A slave feels controlled by a master. But a prisoner feels stuck.No one may even be actively holding him down. Yet he remains confined.Our prison is subtle. It’s the moment we begin to rely on the outside world to generate our inner life—to make us feel alive, inspired, or fulfilled. When the outside shapes the inside, we are no longer living from ourselves.That is prison.Adar begins with joy.Purim awakens identity.And that awakening leads us toward Pesach—the true jailbreak.But the door does not open automatically.At some point, each of us has to decide:I am leaving this prison.And then take the first step.