Freedom

Have you ever seen someone do something nice, like help an old lady across the street, and then shout “Hey, it’s a free country!”?

I doubt it, because usually when someone says “Its a free country” they are acting like a jerk.

America is a country that was built on the idea that everyone is “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

In this great land, we fight to uphold freedom at almost all cost. But all to often, we lose sight of what freedom really means. We tend to define freedom as that which I am allowed to do.

I am free to speak. I am free to vote. I am free to bear arms (let's leave that one on the side for right now.)

I contrast to this freedom to, Judaism emphasizes a far greater aspect of freedom: Freedom from.

Real freedom is the ability to become free from that which is holding me back from greatness. Redemption means to leave the state of being controlled, to become independent of any external attachments.

I am free from social pressure. I am free from my own preconceived notions of the way the world ought to be. I am free from my immediate impulses and quick thoughtless responses.

Real freedom is not free. This kind of freedom has a price tag called responsibility and self restraint.

In the words of Viktor Frankl:

“Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth…. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplanted by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”

One can look at an olympic athlete as free or enslaved. It all depends on your definition of freedom.

If you want to be an olympian you must work hard and follow very strict rules as recommended by your coach. When you wake up, how you eat, practice and exercise are all restricted.

Before becoming a doctor, you need to study hard for four years while earning a Bachelor’s Degree. Then work hard to do well on the MCATs to get into a good medical school and then work through four years just to begin your residency, but at the end you earn the title Doctor and the freedom that it affords you.

You can’t achieve a goal without work, practice and restrictions. These restrictions bring a person to the ultimate freedom.

The word used to describe the tablets of the Ten Commandments is “Charus” (etched.) This is intimately connected to the word “Cheirus” (Freedom.) It is through the rules that were etched in the Tablets that we reached the ultimate pinnacle of freedom.

That is what is meant in the book of Ethics(6:2)  “There is no free person other than one who is immersed in the study of the Torah.” The rules of the Torah are restrictions, they are tools to become free. Real freedom takes effort and self-restraint.

Our children today don’t want to hear this. They are a product of a culture that shuns putting in effort or delaying gratification.

We, their parents need to be the ones to show our children self discpline. To teach them that self restraint builds self respect.

It is much easier to protect our children from life’s challenges than it is to allow them the room necessary to try their hardest and allow them to make mistakes. It is easier to give in instead of enforcing necessary rules.

Children need us to be their parents, not their friends. Parents set limits. Rules give them the security and comfort they crave (even though they may not know it consciously and would never admit it) and will help them become independent and free.

Spring is in the air and as the trees come alive and the sky turns sapphire blue, we are awarded an opportunity to reflect on our own transformation.

Winter is a time of inactivity. We are trapped indoors as mother nature withholds her bounty and produce. When spring comes around, just like the natural world, we become free and have a chance to renew and rejuvenate ourselves.

This is the meaning of zman cheiruseinu, the time of our freedom. It is built into the natural fiber of our world. Its not a time of freedom because that's when we left Egypt. We left Egypt at this time because it is a time of freedom. The practical difference is that Pesach is an opportunity to become free regardless of where or when I may be. A person can be free while locked in a prison cel or can be completely enslaved while enjoying all the "freedom" America has to offer. Freedom is as much a state of mind as it is a physical reality.

That's why we celebrated the very first Pesach Seder while still in Egypt. Even though geographically we were still in the same place, freedom is not about a place. The Almighty was showing us that real freedom is freedom from, not freedom to.

Today, we can use this moment in time to become free from everything that is holding us back.

“The Captain who is slave to the compass has freedom of the seas.  The rest must sail close to the shore.”