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Endowed By Their Creator...


By Levi Avtzon

The Jewish people left Egypt on the fifteenth of Nissan, at midday. No sooner had they departed, they began counting the days to the giving of the Torah on Sinai, scheduled to occur seven weeks later.

One second there. The Jews were still on the run, they hadn't even crossed the Red Sea yet, Pharaoh was still bound to chase them and attempt to bring them back to slavery (as he indeed tried to do), and they are already counting down to the next event?

Moreover, we can be sure that the Jews had a pretty decent idea about what would transpire at Sinai. They knew that Sinai would spell the end of doing what they want without accountability, that a whole new way of life with many limitations and consequences/punishment would be given to them. The Jews hadn't even had the chance to live like free men, and they're already impatiently counting down to religion?

They hadn't had the chance to live like free men, why were they impatiently counting down to religion?The answer struck me when I thought of the opening lines of the United States' Declaration of Independence:

"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 that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

In the words "endowed by their Creator" lies the difference between the American Revolution, which made the country the beacon of freedom and liberty to the whole world until this very day, and the other revolutions crying the same cry of "all men are created equal" (e.g., communism) which did not last.

Freedom without a Creator is not freedom. It might sound like freedom, it might even taste for a moment like freedom, but it is not freedom. It isn't even a democracy. For the strong will find a way to exploit the weak under any system. If there are no divine principles to be accountable for, then ultimately there are no principles at all.

Without G‑d, democracy can be just as evil like any other form of government. What makes the USA a city on a hill is not its form of government as much as those four words in the Declaration of Independence and the four words on the dollar "In G‑d we Trust."

Thirty-three centuries ago, our ancestors rushed to Sinai to live a life of true freedom—as servants of the Creator.
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Rabbi Levi Avtzon lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with his wife Chaya and their son Aharon. He regularly blogs his thoughts and ideas on the weekly Torah reading, current and past events, and the imminence of the Redemption on the Jewish website Chabad.org.

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Posted: Jan 26, 2012
Endowed By Their Creator
The philosophy behind the Declaration was pretty well-aired long before Jefferson drafted "endowed by their Creator". John Locke's statement of natural rights (a concept that goes back to ancient Greeks) was not the first to mention the Creator--the Creator was just as central to the philosophy Locke was railing against as it was to Jefferson's. The dominant political philosophy in the 17th century was the divine right of kings, and his subjects' rights were those that the liege lord deigned to grant.

The shift in philosophy had very little to do with a changing concept of G-d, but rather a changing concept of whether G-d had anointed a monarch, like King Solomon, to rule over men at his behest, or whether God had granted all rights directly to men who had the right to choose their earthly leaders..

Like opposing belligerents who each claim G-d to be on their side, both Royalists and Jeffersonians claim Divine blessing for their philosophy.
Posted By Anonymous, Atlanta

Posted: Apr 18, 2010
Try to get U.S. history correct
First, "the four words ... 'In G‑d we Trust.'" did not become the official national motto or get put "on the dollar" (or any paper money, although they were on coins earlier) until the 1950's, a time when the U.S. was using false allegations of Communism to persecute Jews (not exclusively, but at a higher rate than gentiles were accused).

Second, the author of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves and the Revolution was partly intended to allow the conquest of the Native American Indians (who the British wanted to protect).

Actually, the Torah allows slavery and requires killing of those who inhabit the land where the "city on a hill" will be built (Canaanites), and the author of this article says that those who do not share his beliefs about G-d are Communists. So he is correct about one thing: Historical U.S. beliefs and Jewish beliefs have been much alike, although I am not proud of that part of the history of either my religion or my country.
Posted By Anonymous, Camarilllo, CA

Posted: Apr 14, 2010
so true. great article as usual.
Posted By Anonymous, bklyn, ny

Posted: Apr 6, 2010
No Endowment, No Freedom
Even the "liberty" is a gift. And a gift has a Giver. And to go with a further analogy, as Inge's......Without G*d one is like a kite without a string!

A string may seem to be tying one down and restricting movement, but, 'ironically', it is that very string that gives the kite, direction and the ability to reach the heights of the heavens.
Posted By Dvora Fairfield, Jacksonville, FL

Posted: Apr 4, 2010
Really?
"...and the other revolutions crying the same cry of "all men are created equal" (e.g., communism)..."

I was surprised reading such words in the article. You see, communists never believed that all men are created equal because they don't believe in creation! Rather they believe that humans have evolved from apes. So they never had any such cries.
I would suggest you correct that point in your article, otherwise it makes the communists look not so terrible--and they are.
Posted By Shlomo Teplitskiy, Dallas, TX

Posted: Apr 4, 2010
Democracy
It is more than those four words "In God We Trust" that has made America as a city on a hill. Truly do the Mullahs of Iran trust in their "God", as did the human -sacrificing Aztec city on a hill.
The difference is that the God referred to by the founding fathers of the USA is one and the same as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob! That God, the one and only, has given us Free Will. As opposed to the total surrender demanded by "Allah", our true God wants us to wrestle with him, to find the extent of our strength; beyond which point we discover the beginning of His. Point by point an outline of the ineffable is constructed. We worship by discovering Him and not by surrendering.
But, as for the government; it is the limitation on its scope that is defined by The Constitution. It is the Constitution that limits the arena in which majority rule can operate to the Civil Arena.
Posted By Brian , Simsbury, CT

Posted: Apr 4, 2010
Re: Endowed By Their Creator
I can't find in the Torah any sense of counting down to Sinai before the time that God tells Moses to tell Israel to wash, cleanse themselves and prepare for three days. Moses knew he was returning to Sinai with the Israelites as God had required of him; but where is there a sense of impatient striving for the Torah demonstrated in Torah, prior to arriving at Sinai?
Second point: it is continually frustrating to encounter the anachronistic use of the phrase The Jewish People to refer to B'nai Israel. After the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel, the assumption is made that enough of a remnant of Ephraim and the associated tribes escaped south to the Kingdom of Judah that the term Jewish People subsumes all of the descendants of Jacob (Israel). I disagree. But, to speak of the Israelites as "The Jewish People" in the time of Exodus, through 2nd Kings or 2nd Chronicles is a reverse supersessionism.
Third: The replacement of "o" in "God" is unnecessary:not his name!
Posted By Brian , Simsbury, CT

Posted: Apr 1, 2010
Being left behind ...
Don't worry if you constantly feel that you are being "left behind". Perhaps it is the will of the G'd? Who can say for 100% that this or that is the the true intention of the G'd?

Those that were left in Egypt knew that all the anger will come onto them. But the prayer helped them survive. And from those who survived ... who are they but the invicible Jews?

Those who made an exit from Egypt after the "Big Run" ... are they worth any less than those who went with Moses?

So hide your gold and don't worry. Perhaps YOUR gold is the one that saves the Jewish nation at the end?
Posted By Zayan Sechel, Haifa, Israel

Posted: Apr 1, 2010
thank you. it is absolutely true. without G-d you are just like a leaf in the wind; with G-d you find freedom.
Posted By Inge Reisinger



 


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