Pesach arrives each year with a familiar promise, a story of freedom. But it is not only a story of freedom from. It is also a story of what we do with that freedom.

In Hebrew, we hold this distinction between hofesh, freedom from constraint, and herut, the freedom to act, to build, and to take our place in shaping what comes next. The story of Pesach reminds us that leaving Egypt was not the end. It was the beginning. The Israelites did not leave into certainty. They stepped into the unknown.

In many ways, that feels familiar.

Across Israel and Jewish communities around the world, including here in Australia, we are living with a heightened sense of uncertainty. There is vulnerability, pressure, and a deep questioning of what it means to lead, to belong, and to move forward in this moment. We are free. And yet, it does not always feel secure.

Freedom, in this sense, is not a destination. It is a precondition. It gives us the capacity to act, to contribute, and to shape what comes next. While the path ahead is not always clear, we are not without agency. Freedom lives in how we respond, in the choices we make, and in what we choose to strengthen and build.

This is where leadership takes form.

Leadership in times like these is not about certainty. It is about holding nuance, staying present, and continuing to move forward even when the path is not fully clear. It is expressed in how we use what we have, our time, our care, our resources, and our influence, to support one another and to invest in the strength and future of the communities we are part of.

In Australia, this is not abstract. We are feeling the pressure in real time, in our communities and in how people are navigating what it means to lead and to belong in this moment. I see it in the philanthropic spaces I am part of, where people are thinking carefully about how to respond and how to strengthen our communities for the thriving Jewish future in Australia and beyond that we are committed to.

Through initiatives like Voice of the People, Jewish leaders from across continents are sitting together in that reality. Different contexts, different pressures, and at times very different perspectives, yet a shared recognition that no one community can carry these challenges alone.

This is areyvut, the deeply held Jewish value of mutual responsibility, the understanding that we are bound to one another, and that our wellbeing is shared.

It asks something of each of us, not to carry everything, but to take ownership of what is ours to hold. To strengthen where we can, to build where it is needed, and to contribute in ways that are thoughtful and enduring. This is how we have always sustained ourselves, by leaning into our values, our traditions, and the wisdom we have inherited.

This is the deeper invitation of this Pesach. Not only to reflect on freedom, but to live it.

This moment is not without its challenges. But we are still, unmistakably, a people who choose how we respond.

Our freedom from constraint is not the end of the Pesach story. Pesach calls on our freedom to act, to lead, and to shape the future we will create together.