The meaning of freedom

In this week's Parasha the tribulations that Bnei Israel undergo in Egypt finally end. Hashem, with infinite determination, exhausts Pharaoh and his servants. The Egyptians no longer want to be in a state of patronage and rule over a foreign people. The king of Egypt receives a demand from Hashem to free His people and to remove any sign of slavery.

"Let my people go" is only the first part of Moshe's request. The essential part is found later in Moshe's words: "Let My people go, that they will serve Me."

There are two requests:

1. Let My people go.

2. That they will serve Me.

Why must these two requests be intertwined together? Is it necessary to impose both demands at once? Is it not enough to only abolish slavery?

It is obvious that the people's liberation does not amount to making them free. Freedom is for liberation on the one hand, but many times it can become limp at best, or a destructive profligacy at worst. Therefore, each time Moshe wishes to release the people of Israel, he immediately declares the purpose of this request - worship Hashem. Thus, when Bnei Israel are released, Hashem immediately imposes upon them an authority and brings them into a new religious-spiritual framework. Moshe wants Pharaoh to send the people out so that they can turn to the service of Hashem and fulfill His commandments. Hashem does not want a crowd of freed drunkards that escaped just as a herd of sheep flees from the wolf's teeth, but in the provision of a moderate sense of freedom that involves obedience to His commandments. The important mission was not to coordinate Bnei Israel’s escape from the land of Egypt, but to establish a basis of spiritual depth in a group of slaves that has just emerged from suffering and hard labor. They did not even have the time to organize or set a path for the journey ahead. Moshe has the heavy task of fortifying the faith of the people, using cautious measures, and when he defines to Pharaoh the goal of the exodus from Egypt - "serve Me," he actually makes the liberation a more lofty and meaningful event.

Moshe wants to declare to Pharaoh that he is not a human rights activist but rather a messenger of Hashem and the herald of spiritual redemption. Moshe planted in the heart of the nation the recognition that the fulfillment of Mitzvot is a necessary condition for a proper exodus from a land of impurity. This is why, in the first commandment, immediately after the plague of the firstborn, it was stated: “This is the law of Pesach!”. Without any delay or pause. The people are still panting from all the signs and wonders. Now we establish a constitution and a covenant. Moshe understands that these minutes of exodus and freedom are moments that will never come back. The Jewish history begins. Moshe is planting roots, precisely at the right time.

Chazal also recognize the virtue of a spiritual framework. A person, let alone a slave, needs Mitzvot that will give him borders and boundaries. The people of Israel had to immediately put on the yoke of the commandments, so as not to reach a state of national moral collapse. That person must temper the sense of freedom by giving expression to his spiritual desires. Indeed, as we learn, the true expression of freedom is the ability to connect with Hashem and the Mitzvot.

I leave you, as usual, with a few questions.

How convinced are you that true freedom is one of continues Torah and Mitzvot observance? How do you view pure freedom? Finally, do you have freedom?

Shabbat Shalom