Parashat Yitro
Negative and Positive Freedom
We are called on daily to
"proclaim liberty throughout the land."
By Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels
This
commentary is provided by special arrangement with American Jewish World
Service. To learn more, visit www.ajws.org.
In this week's parashah, Yitro,
we read of the revelation at Sinai that follows last week’s Exodus from Egypt.
What is this relationship between freedom and revelation, between Exodus and
Sinai?
The
Hasidic master R. Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger explains that Sinai follows the
Exodus because "the purpose of all the commandments…is so that every
person of Israel be free (Sefat Emet, Language of Truth, pp. 319-320)."
Revelation follows liberation because while freedom might have been initiated
at the Exodus, it is only completed at Sinai.
Yet
what kind of freedom is this? What kind of freedom is maintained by the
revelation of laws and commandments which, on their surface, seem to limit
freedom?
Freedom From and Freedom To
We
can begin to answer this question through Isaiah Berlin's famous analysis of
the two kinds of liberty: negative liberty and positive liberty. Negative
liberty is defined as freedom from--the freedom from restraint on one's
actions, enshrined in such concepts as human and civil rights. Positive liberty
is defined as freedom to--the freedom to pursue a good life personally
and communally, expressed in such rights as the right to vote, the right to
organize, the right to education, and the right to pursue economic stability.
While
negative liberty, the Exodus from Egypt, is essentially concerned with the
absence of restraint, positive liberty, the revelation at Sinai, paradoxically
often requires restraint for it to be realized.
Perhaps
the clearest example of this paradox is found in our tradition's attitude
toward education. Learning Torah is understood by the tradition as a positive
commandment that one is obligated to fulfill (see Maimonides, Laws of Talmud
Torah). One is expected to find time to study and to utilize one's financial
resources to ensure that both oneself and one's children are educated. This
requirement of education is understood as essential to freedom, to positive
liberty, even though it seems to limit one's individual freedom of time and
financial priorities.
At
the completion of revelation Moses descends from the mountain with the tablets
of the law in his hand: "the tablets were God's work, and the writing was
God's writing, engraved upon the tablets (Exodus 32:16)." The Rabbis
famously comment, "'engraved (harut) upon the Tablets'--do not read
it as engraved (harut) but rather as free (heirut) for there is
no free person but one who engages in the study of Torah (Pirkei Avot
6:2)."
Here
we see the relationship between Exodus and Sinai. Only through the process of
learning the skills, insight, and wisdom to live an empowered life can one
truly be free.
A
later biblical injunction declares the laws of the Jubilee year. Every fiftieth
year all indentured servants are freed, all debts are forgiven, the land is allowed
to rest, and each person returns to his or her ancestral holdings--a complete
and equitable redistribution of land and a re-balancing of wealth. The Torah
explains, "You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land for all its
inhabitants (Leviticus 25:10)."
The
Torah specifically articulates that the jubilee year is to guarantee freedom
for all its inhabitants. The limitation on wealth acquisition for some
(debt forgiveness, redemption of indentured servants, and relinquishing land
ownership) is necessary in order to maintain liberty for all.
True
freedom, then, is not only Exodus, freedom from oppression, but Sinai, the
positive liberty of access to education and economic independence. The
commandments that enjoin these freedoms, then, do not hamper liberty, but
enhance it. It is in this way that Sinai, the giving of laws that restrict
human action, actually completes the process of freedom. And these commandments
apply to us still. We are called on to daily "proclaim liberty throughout
the land."
Our Obligation
Yet
in both our own backyard and across the developing world both these freedoms
lie in danger. In many countries even the negative liberty of human and
democratic rights is unattainable. In other countries, access to economic well
being, basic education, health care, and the ability to participate in
government are far from secure. For such countries Exodus may have happened,
but Sinai awaits.
We
must use our resources and our liberties to offer financial support, political
action, and direct service in pursuit of the goal of liberty for all. We are
obligated by the lessons of this parashah to establish precisely those
laws and protections, those restrictions, which allow true liberty to flourish
and enable all the inhabitants of the world to access the resources and
training necessary to achieve freedom. May we be inspired to redeem those
enslaved, to proclaim liberty throughout the land, and to stand together at the
foot of Mount Sinai, truly free.
Rabbi James
Jacobson-Maisels is pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies specializing in Kabbalah and Hasidism at the University of
Chicago. He teaches on Judaism and Jewish Mysticism in a variety of settings in
America and Israel
