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FREEDOM FROM AND FOR
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As this Fea§t of Passover draws to its close, lét us think once
more about its message of freedom.
The Hebrew slaves who, one fateful spring night three thousand
years ago, set out from Egypt into the unknown wilderness, staff in
hand and with their kneading bowls over their shoulders, could hardly
have realised what a momentous thing they were doing.
But the fact is
that they were not merely gaining freedom for themselves.
giving the idea of freedom to mankind.
They were
They were teaching the world
new and revolutionary lesson: that freedom is a priceless possession,
that all men are entitled to it, and that for its sake they must be
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prepared to make every sacrifice.
It took a long time f0? the world to learn the lesson.
There
was little freedom either in antiquity or in the Middle Ages.
Slavery,
feudalism and the absolute right of kings were taken for granted.
Only
in recent centuries has flhe ancient struggle of Moses against Pharaoh
been re—enacted.
kings.
The English challenged the absolute right of their
The French proclaimed liberty, equality and fraternity.
Americans abolished slavery and erected a Statue of Liberty.
The
Finally,
in the middle of the last war, Roosevelt and Churchill issued the
Atlantic Charter defining the four freedoms which were to gmvern the
postewar world: freédom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of
worship, and freedom of speech.
But, alas, these_high hopes have not been fu1filled.
and want have contlnued.
Poverty
There have been new tyrannies and
new wars_
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The rights of persons have been trampled down.
Freedom of worship
And the world is in the grips of a fear
and speech have been denied.
more terrifying than any hithefto experienced: that of nuclear war.
What has gone wrong?
one big mistake.
These modern advmcates of freedom made
They thought that if only all men had freedom, then
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all other problems would solve thefiselves.
They thought of freedom
not as a means to an end, but as an end innitself.
the intention of Passover.
Passover teaches that freedom is necessary.
It does not teach that freedom is sufficient.
to Pentecost.
But that was never
Passover points forward
The Exodfis from Egypt prepared the way for the giving
of the Law on Mount Sinai.
when we obey the Law that we
It is only
use our freedom in a worth-while way.
What did Moses say tp Pharaoh in God's name?
Not simply "Let
my people go", but "Let my people go tag; Eggx ggx £231; mg." They
were to cease to be Pharaoh's servants only that they might become
God's servants.
"He brought forth his people with joy and his
chosen with singing...that they might keep his statutes and observe
his laws." (Psalm 103zu3,45)
"No man is free," said the Rabbis,
"but he who labours in the Torah." (Avot 621,2)
And they noticed
that when the Bible says that the Ten Commandments were engraved
upon the tablets of stone, the word for 'engraved' is charut.
But,
they pointed out, this word may also be read cherut, which means
freedom. (Ibid.)
And so the same point is stressed time after time.
Freedom by itself is nothing.
It bécomes
wortthile
and enduring
only if we use it rightly, only if we use it to live in accordance
with God's will.
.
.
-3What does all this mean?
Is it not a contradiction?
Why
should men be truly free only when they obey the law of Goa? There
are two reasons. In the first place, even if we are free from human
tyranny, unless we learn to live the good life, we remain slaves
to our own impulses. Our desire for this or that pleasure, for
this or that possession, pulls us hither and thither, so that we
are not really free to live in the way we should like to live and
in which we know we ought to live. Some of you will know Moliere's
play "The Miser".
had many servants.
He had everything.
He Was veyy rich and Kfifififl
But he was so obsessed with his money that he
lived in constant dread least it should be stolen.
Of course not.
Was be free?
This miser was the most miserable man on earth,
because he was completely enslaved by his own selfish greed.
To
be free it 15 not sufficient that your life should not be controlled
by others.
yourself.
It is necessary that you should be able to control
And that is where the Moral Law comes in.
It teaches us
how to control'ourselves, and in so doing it gives us true freedom.
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill;
Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care
Of public fame or private breath...
-uThis man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise or fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.
(H.Wotton)
enjoy
That, then, is one reason why we KKXKZK true freedom only
when we obey the Moral Law.
But there is a second reason.
Without
the Moral Law, freedom itsélf is bound to disappear sooner or later.
For if men do not know how to control themselves, if they are slaves
to their selfish passions, then they will seek to impose their will
on others.
There will pe exploitation, oppression and strife, and
before they know where they are they wiil have lost their hard-won
freedom in a new tyranny.
Without the Moral Law, not only are we
not wholly free, but we cannot preserve such partial freedom as we
may have gained.
For both these reasons there ié perfect freedom
only in the service of God.
It is this truth which the world has not yet recognised.
takk a great deal about freedom.
country, a free world.
We
We boast that we live in a free
But our freedom is a negative freedom.
It
is"freedom from" not"freedom for": freedom from want, freedom from
fear, freedom from oppression, freedom from interference.
things are excellent.
But they are not enough.
These
What is the use
of having a bycicle if you do nofi know how to ride it?
Not only
do you get no benefit from it, but it stands about and gets rusty
until finally you would not be able to ride it even if you knew how.
So also freedom gets us nowéhere, and ultimately breaks down, unless
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we know how to use it.
Its value does not lie in itself, but in that
which it makes possible: the parsuit of goodness, truth, justice and
beauty.
So far the world has only learnt the first half of the message
of Passover: that man needs freedom from oppression.
It has yet to
learn the second half of the messagexxxfiflx which teaches what we must
do with the freedom when we have got it.
"Why," asked the Rabbis, "did God bring the Is"aelites out of
Egypt?
In order that they should accept the yoke of his commandments
and sanctify his nafie."
'
Pentecost.
Passover is only the prelude whose sequel is
The way from Egypt leads to Sinai.
And the way from the
political freedom of the 20th century leads, if we choose the right
road, to the kingdom of God.
For as from out the house of bondage went
The hést of Israel, in their fiidst they bore
The heritage of law and freedom, blent
mn holy unity for evermore.
And still from rismng unto setting sun
Shall this our heritage and watchword be:
"The Lord our God, the Lord our God is One,
And law alone it is that makes us free!"