Thursday, October 01, 2009
Let Freedom Bring…
The Liberty Bell rang false even before it cracked.
The bell proclaims Liberty throunghout the land, but for no apparent reason. Liberty is only a means to an end. Booker T. and De Bois argued about the purpose of liberty during African-American emancipation and the French revolutionists debated their goals at beheading parties. The founding fathers weren’t just looking for Freedom – they were looking to grow as human beings. Freedom for a cause is a virtue; Freedom in and of itself is pointless and often violent. The bell was cast in England – maybe they didn’t understand what our freedom was all about. (They certainly didn’t know enough about making bells.)
The Torah criticizes voluntary slaves for one reason only: “You should desire to be My servant”, Hashem says, “and not the servant of a servant”. When Hebrew slaves were emancipated with the Shofar Blast at Yovel it was to become servants of Hashem. “There is no freer man than he who toils in Torah” (Avos 6).
The word Yovel (jubilee) is related to the Hebrew word Mabul (flood). It is the precursor of the Latin Movere (move) and Mobilis (mobile). The Torah uses this root word to indicate intense shifts and important transitions. We sounded the Tekiah Gedola at the conclusion of Yom Kippur to signify our transition into the new year as new and different people. After forty days of supplication, prayer, and change there is no reason why we shouldn’t be ready to free ourselves from ourselves and serve Hashem exclusively.
