Live Free
Thought for Shabbat Ha-Gadol
Here is the bad news: what the Jewish tradition means by “freedom” and what we mean by “freedom” are two different things. When we think of freedom, we think of freedom from government interference in our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We think of freedom from unreasonable coercion and restrictions. We think of being a free people, free to vote for or against our government, and being free to express ourselves.
Freedom in our tradition means something fundamentally different from the liberal conception of freedom. The liberal conception of freedom from tyranny is rooted in the idea that a free people can choose, within rational limitations, how to live their lives.
Passover is referred to “z’man heiruteinu” – “the time of our freedom” freedom from the tyranny of Pharaoh. The similarity ends here. According to the Bible, we were freed from Egypt not so that we could decide our own fate, but so that we could be free to serve God. Serving God includes the moral commandments, often the focus on liberal Judaism, and the ritual commandments, often the focus of more traditional Jews. Neither group, I would stress, neglects the other kind of commandments. Just each one tends to stress either the moral side (commandments between one person and another) and the other, the ritual side (commandments between a person and God.)
Neither group, those who focus on the moral commandments or those who focus on the ritual commandments, would say we are free, in some kind of metaphysical sense, to violate the law. We might be free from the King of England, but we are not free from the Sovereign of the Universe. A liberal Jew, who focuses on moral responsibility, would not say you are free to discriminate in employment, even if within the law. An Orthodox Jew would certainly not say that you are free to break the laws of the Sabbath. Of course, you are politically free to do so in America, but you are not free, in some metaphysical sense. Metaphysically, you are obligated.
Judaism is essentially a system of obligations, not rights. Judaism, from its traditional sources, can certainly accommodate the modern liberal state (liberal, in the sense of the focus on liberties), but its focus, nevertheless, is on obligations, not freedom as liberty.
How does this apply to us? First, and obviously, we are morally obligated to work for political freedom, in other words, to “establish justice throughout the land.” The inner life tradition would have us add a focus on our own behaviors, not just the oppressive behavior of others. Think about acting in anger, resentment, and holding grudges. Think about acting reactively and defensively, where feelings and emotions produce negative behavior. Think about acting from fear. Think about favoring someone because you feel sorry for them, not based on any rational thought. Think about losing empathy for someone. Think about deciding not to fulfill a promise. Look around you. Do you know anyone who is free? Yes, we are free politically, for example, to choose whom we vote for. But in some cases, spiritually and morally, we are not free at all. Our choices seem foisted on us by inner forces that choose for us.
I have seen relationships ruined, families torn apart, friendships ended, by anger, criticism, complaining, condemning, conflict and defensiveness – because of a lack of inner freedom to act morally and mindfully. Once people fully admit how their bad thinking or negative feelings and emotions cripple them, they realize how not free they are.
Here is the good news: Once we focus on being a moral– acting in accord with the moral law in Judaism, for example – we start to get a sense of inner freedom. It is not about what they do; it is about the kind of person we want to become. We can choose to let go of anger, raging, criticizing, complaining, condemning, accusing, blaming, labeling and defensiveness. We can choose not to accept fear or seeking approval as a way of dealing with the world. We can choose to focus on what is right, true and good. Anything to be worked out can usually be worked out mindfully, kindly or assertively, as the case may be. We can let go of the slavery of toxic thinking, feeling, speaking and acting.
People of the world doing inner work, unite! Break the chains of destructive patterns and breathe. Feel the freedom.
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