Passover: Freedom's just another word

Passover became the celebration of liberation, z'man cheruthainu. The reading for the Shabbath of Passover prominently includes the instruction to makes the second pair of Tablets.  These are to replace the Tablets that Moses broke when he saw the people dancing around the golden calf. The people had misinterpreted their liberation from Egypt as a license to follow their instincts.  The release from the arbitrary and unjust laws of Egypt permitted almost anything. 

 Such unrestrained freedom is alluded to in the Haggadah.  The magid, the retelling of story of Passover, begins with Terach  

בְּעֵבֶר הַנָּהָר יָשְׁבוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם מֵעוֹלָם, תֶּרַח אֲבִי אַבְרָהָם וַאֲבִי נָחוֹר,   

 'Over the river did your ancestors dwell from always, Terach the father of Avraham and the father of Nachor, and they worshiped other gods.

Abraham's father did a very unusual thing: He left his homeland.  He did what Gd later  commanded to Abraham.  When Abraham leaves and goes to Canaan, Rashi quotes Genesis Rabbah  on how difficult  is this life of an immigrant. 

שֶׁהַדֶּרֶךְ גּוֹרֶמֶת לִשְׁלֹשָׁה דְבָרִים, מְמַעֶטֶת פְּרִיָּה וּרְבִיָּה וּמְמַעֶטֶת אֶת הַמָּמוֹן וּמְמַעֶטֶת אֶת הַשֵּׁם,

travelling is the cause of three things—it decreases (breaks up) family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown

But Terach is the one who left the ancestral homeland of Aram.   Terach read left to right ( which the Hellenized  Jews in the time of the Haggadah may well have done) reads cheruth: freedom.  Terach had given himself the freedom to leave and go on the road, despite the sacrifices involved. The spirit of Terach may have been critical for Abraham to travel on to Canaan, as Gd instructed. 

Terach is described as an idolator. (His interest in theology may also have influenced Abraham).  In the context of the story of the Jews, Terach's travels were (at least somewhat) misguided, they missed the target.  Terach is freedom without direction...just another word for nothing left to lose

Freedom is a good thing.  A good life is better.