Today is our Independence Day!
What does independence mean to you? Political and religious freedom is the biggest blessing America offers. One American view of freedom and independence is that we should be able to do whatever we want whenever we want. We can buy 15 guns, smoke cigarettes and eat all the fried oreos we want, at the same time. The Torah has the opposite view of freedom.
This week we finish the book of Bamidbar. The generation that entered the desert after leaving Egypt died in the desert. Bnai Yisroel was not able to harness their animal instincts, they were ruled by base desires and logged petty complaints against God and Moshe regarding food and living conditions.
One purpose of the Torah is to train us to subdue our desires, to prioritize, not to live for the moment of a temporary pleasure but to think long term. This was the mistake the generation of the Midbar (desert) made. They were focused on immediate gratification and missed their chance at eternal greatness.
The founding fathers of this great nation relinquished their opportunity for immediate gratification. Instead of consolidating power like nobles had before them, they divided power among the people (white, male, landowners at the time, but this move was extremely progressive for that age). The people desired to make George Washington a king, he declined and these acts of forgoing immediate power paved the way for the creation of this great nation and established A far greater legacy for these men then they could have ever imagined.
Freedom, true freedom according to the Torah means we are free from our animal instincts ruling us. Freedom is not about doing whatever we want, it is about having the ability to achieve greatness because we are free from our base instincts.
What does independence mean to you? Political and religious freedom is the biggest blessing America offers. One American view of freedom and independence is that we should be able to do whatever we want whenever we want. We can buy 15 guns, smoke cigarettes and eat all the fried oreos we want, at the same time. The Torah has the opposite view of freedom.
This week we finish the book of Bamidbar. The generation that entered the desert after leaving Egypt died in the desert. Bnai Yisroel was not able to harness their animal instincts, they were ruled by base desires and logged petty complaints against God and Moshe regarding food and living conditions.
One purpose of the Torah is to train us to subdue our desires, to prioritize, not to live for the moment of a temporary pleasure but to think long term. This was the mistake the generation of the Midbar (desert) made. They were focused on immediate gratification and missed their chance at eternal greatness.
The founding fathers of this great nation relinquished their opportunity for immediate gratification. Instead of consolidating power like nobles had before them, they divided power among the people (white, male, landowners at the time, but this move was extremely progressive for that age). The people desired to make George Washington a king, he declined and these acts of forgoing immediate power paved the way for the creation of this great nation and established A far greater legacy for these men then they could have ever imagined.
Freedom, true freedom according to the Torah means we are free from our animal instincts ruling us. Freedom is not about doing whatever we want, it is about having the ability to achieve greatness because we are free from our base instincts.
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