Freedom is the Call of the Day
The universalist lessons from Passover
“Give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry’s words ring in my ears as we near Passover, the holiday celebrating the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. Thousands of years later, this biblical story is so important to us Jews that we reenact it each year in the Passover seder.
But this story isn’t just an important one for Jews. Much of the free world, without recognizing its foundation, is still inspired in its pursuit of freedom by the story of Exodus. This story of freedom from oppression inspired the American Founding Fathers as they demanded their freedom and crafted a new republic.
Unfortunately today, many devalue freedom for two primary reasons: they misunderstand what freedom is and they think of freedom as a binary.
What is Freedom?
The late, great Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks points out that Hebrew has two words for freedom—herut and hofesh. Hofesh is the modern Hebrew term for vacation, meaning freedom from work and life’s usual responsibilities. There is no profound holiday celebrating hofesh because there is no spiritual significance to freedom from responsibilities.
Herut, on the other hand, means freedom from bondage in order to establish ourselves as a nation to live out certain responsibilities and values. This is the freedom celebrated on Passover that inspired the American Founding Fathers and freedom movements around the world. America would be a nation founded on freedom to live up to ideals, such as the rights of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This type of liberty is intrinsically bound to responsibilities.
Many authors have written about freedom as an internal state. So long as we are slaves to our desires and habits, so long as we think other people and things outside of us are determining our internal states, we are in a form of bondage.
Viktor Frankl, the Austrian Jewish psychiatrist who lost his family in the Nazi concentration camps, which he survived, wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning:
“The last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you become the plaything to circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity...”
Indeed, the ultimate freedom is internal.
Do we allow circumstances and other people to determine our inner worlds and states, or do we take responsibility for ourselves? Most of us are far from this standard. I am far from it, which brings me to my next point.
Freedom is a Process, not a Destination
We are all born with negative tendencies towards addiction, depression, negativity and the like. Life’s challenges saddle us with more baggage. Some we never overcome fully, but we dare not invent artificial limits before even embarking on the project of spiritual growth.
The Israelites left the bondage of Egypt only to wander and complain in the desert for 40 years. The United States Declaration of Independence declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” and then took almost 100 years to abolish slavery and the work is still far from finished.
You may struggle with anger, negative thoughts, or addiction to a substance, social media, or your phone. The struggle to free yourself from these burdens is well worth it, but we must not let perfection be the enemy of progress. The goal is to improve little by little over a lifetime. The work is difficult, but knowing it is a process without a fixed destination eases the burden. And this work is the only thing giving life any real meaning. It is the purity of the effort that allows a just and blessed rest at the end of the journey.
Do you think we ever fully "free" ourselves from these burdens? I especially think about anger here. I have anger and I am learning to integrate it, to love it, to harness it, to actually foster it in a way so that it can show itself and show that it is safe to do so.
I love the contemplation that writing brings to others. I just listened to a podcast with the spiritualist Gordon Biernat on "Britevibe" podcast. I would be curious what you think. I know I need to go back and listen again and again.
Freedom is the Call of the Day
The universalist lessons from Passover
TZVI DORON, DO
APR 18, 2024
RE: The goal of the very dry bones in Jordon’s valley is to daily improve little by little over a lifetime. The work of the Lord’s hand is difficult, but knowing it is a spiritual-growth process with a fixed destination of Eden’s Messianic garden-like perfection eases the burden. And this work of the Lord’s hand is the only thing giving life any real joyful meaning. It is the purity of the Lord’s regenerative effort that allows a just and blessed rest at the end of the journey.
Ezekiel 37: The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry.
Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.”
And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you so that you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”
So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’ ”
Ezekiel 36: Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine upon you. I will also make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer bear reproach among the nations on account of famine.
Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD—let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel!
This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be resettled and the ruins to be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through. Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’
Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.
This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock. Like the numerous flocks for sacrifices at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”