We are limited by the very fact that we have human form. There is no freedom in following our whim, only further slavery to our own limited selves. Freedom can only come by connecting to something infinite and beyond us.
And so Moses was told, “When you take the people out from Egypt, you shall all serve G‑d on this mountain.”
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. SchneersonMore articles... |
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.
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Reader Comments Latest Comments:
Posted: Apr 19, 2011
Freedom
BRILLIANT! I shared this on F/B and wrote "To those who think they are free agents, that they control their own destiny, I and G-d beg to differ" I love your brilliance! Keep the articles coming! A Zissen and Kosher Passover to you.
Posted By Anne, Accord, NY
Posted: Apr 18, 2011
The Freedom Connection
Why don't we do just that? Help "all" Jews, including the Sephardic Jews to come to serve G-d in His Holy Mountain?
Posted By margaret, mesa, Arizona, USA
Posted: Apr 15, 2009
Re: Freedom
Any act of G-d is, by definition, initiated by G-d. Freedom comes in understanding, obeying that act (G-d's will, the continuing unfolding of the revelation of Sinai).
Without mitzvoh, we lose sight of G-d and consequently, of ourselves. We can no longer differentiate between the profane and the holy, between food sacrificed to idols, and that which G-d has sanctified.
Posted By Steve, Malta
Posted: Apr 13, 2009
Freedom
"Freedom can only come by connecting to something infinite" - what does this mean?
It suggests that when we do Mitzot we are free; when we do not we are enslaved. We are freed to become slaves to Mitzvot. The only freedom given is to choose to do or not to do them.
Freeman says that "following our whims" is not freedom. Are all whims from our lesser selves? What of creativity? Is the impulse to create only animal, or from the Infinite?
Did revelation cease at Sinai, or with the Prophets, or with the Rebbe? Does G-d provide revelation every single day if only we would see and hear?
Following Freeman's reasoning, Jews cannot be free unless they are doing the Will of G-d. How is obedience freedom? It is servitude, not freedom.
Posted By Jerome Krasnow, Manchester, CT
Posted: Apr 22, 2008
Rachel
There's a hint of irony in that a "free" man doesn't "serve" anyone, and yet here, when G-d freed us to "serve" Him, it is actually man who receives in this transaction over and over and over and over....
This is such a powerful idea. The Rebbe is ....well, the Rebbe, and Tzvi Freeman distills it and presents it like a whirlwind.
Posted By Rachel, Beverly Hills, California
Posted: Apr 22, 2008
Getting real
So by doing the mitzvot graciously given at Mount Sinai, we connect with G-d, who is the only reality, who is beyond all flesh and beyond physicality and beyond our universe, and so we attain a level of reality ourselves through this connection.
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