The Story of Passover is a tale for the ages. It speaks to all people regardless of their ethnicities and backgrounds. The story of Passover consists of many symbolisms. Each historical event in the story of Passover as a whole and even the actions that occur within each of those events in the story of Passover are interpreted in both the same plus a number of different ways, depending on the stream of belief that one adopts in Judaism.
The story of Passover consists of the main theme of freedom from slavery, however from a philosophical point-of-view, the theme of freedom in the story of Passover is merely the all-encompassing idea that ties all the events together. Various types of freedoms underlie the events in the story of Passover.
Obviously, the story of Passover retells the physical freedom of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. When toiling under the cruel Egyptian taskmasters, there was no physical freedom for the Hebrews unless they dared to test the consequences of rebelling. One was under constant watch and so the physical sufferings of the Hebrews continued until they were able to leave Egypt. Technically speaking, one always has a choice in any situation as to what to do about that situation, but in the case of the Israelites in the story of Passover, they were closely monitored and so they knew that any attempt at obtaining physical freedom would come at a physical cost they were not prepared to pay. The lack of physical freedom in the story of Passover was clear and evident: one's physical abilities were viewed as simply a source of survival for the Hebrews; it was not free to be viewed any other way under the conditions of slavery in the story of Passover. For instance, one could not choose to stop their labour at one's choice of time. One could only think of working until one could not work. In this sense, the story of Passover teaches a lesson about the joy of obtaining physical freedom from such harsh conditions.
The less obvious factor in the story of Passover was that of psychological freedom. When Abraham was told by G-d in Genesis 15:13 that "Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years. They will be enslaved and oppressed", just the THOUGHT of knowing that his descendants would be enslaved was a form of slavery to Abraham, albeit in a psychological sense. It was as if the enslavement in the story of Passover had already begun in Abraham's mind. Thus, the timeline reference to '400 years' may be referring to the beginning of enslavement just at the point of knowing that one will be enslaved. In other words, the idea of being enslaved in the story of Passover may have begun with psychological enslavement and ended with physical enslavement, totalling 400 years. Note that I say 'may'. This is one interpretation among many other interpretations as to the meaning of '400 years' in relation to the story of Passover. Each person reading this web page is of course free to deduce their own conclusions! After all, the story of Passover is about freedom!
Would you like to read more about the story of Passover? I have built a website about the story of Passover that is always expanding with new aspects of the story of Passover. I will be adding lots of recipes, trivia games for kids about the story of Passover, music to download about the story of Passover, and much more! Just click the link below and you're on your way to becoming more of a maven about the story of Passover ("maven" means "knowledgeable person" in Yiddish.):