This book includes essays on the seder itself, the plague of the firstborn, the counting of the Omer, and a variety of related topics. Generally, the essays are not for beginners, and some of them presuppose a higher level of Hebrew and/or cultural literacy that I have (something the editors could have mitigated through occasional use of footnotes or endnotes). Nevertheless, I found this book to be useful pre-Pesach reading. A few points that grabbed me:

1. Discussion of why the Pesach seder is a communal meal. The author points out that "When man is engaged in a carnal pursuit such as eating, and his own need presses the most . . . the Torah expects of him attentives to the need of the other self. The norm of charity comes to the fore." (p. 24).

2. The distinction between Passover and Yom Kippur. Pesach is perhaps the most communal of celebrations, while Yom Kippur is the loneliest. On Pesach, we go out of our way to celebrate with others. On Yom Kippur, one moves "from without toward within, from community toward oneself" to a confrontation between a lonely individual and his or her Maker. (p. 30). Both are necessary parts of a religious Jewish life.

3. Why does the Torah emphasize both the Jews' history as nomads and their history as farmers? Because both have virtues worth imitating: the farmer's attachment to their land is useful under certain circumstances, and a farmer's tenacity is practice for the struggle to remain Jewish under often-adverse circumstances. But the nomad's willingness to surrender territory and move on may make nomads more hospitable, also an important virtue.

4. His explanation of the concept of Israel as the "Divine firstborn." Ideally, a first-born helps to teach younger siblings. Similarly, the Jews' function (in an ideal world) is to "teach" the rest of mankind.

Some quibbles: one or two of the Torah exegeses did not seem all that persuasive to me. And the author sometimes plays fast and loose with historical reality (at least about non-Jews) in his quest to make broader points. He writes: "the ancient pagan religions worshipped pleasure. Pleasure was the highest ethical norm for them." (p. 137). This seems like a rather broad generalization about a wide variety of civilizations, one that he does not support by any real evidence other than the fact that the Torah does NOT worship pleasure.

Festival Of Freedom: Essays On Pesah And The Haggadah from the deftly written works of the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993) is an outstanding collection essays, studies and documentation of the great author's interpretation of Passover and the Haggadah. Consisting of ten knowledgeably written essays: An Exalted Evening; The Seder Night; Slavery and Freedom; The Symbolism of Matzah; The Inner Transformation on Pesah Night; Seders of Denigration and Praise; Arami Oved Avi; Jewish History and Destiny; The Plague of the Firstborn; Moses and the Redemption; Pesah and the Omer; and Counting Time, Festival Of Freedom opens its readers eyes to an exclusive and scholastic understanding of the Haggadah and Passover. Festival Of Freedom is very highly recommended to all students of the Judaic religion for its outstanding seminal and theological collective documentation of an iconoclastic entities greatest and most intriguing works.