March 9, 2011: Reflections on Freedom from South Africa

Dear Chevre (Friends):

In the Jewish liturgical calendar, we are now entering the Season of Liberation: first Purim, then Passover. Both festivals celebrate the victory of our ancestors over their oppressors. I have just returned from three weeks in South Africa, a country that overthrew its own system of oppression twenty years ago. Although the legacy of apartheid still remains in the squalor of the townships and the disparity of opportunity among the citizens (you walk into a typical Cape Town sidewalk café and the entire clientele is white, while the entire wait staff is black or coloured), nevertheless, the dismantling of state sanctioned persecution through nearly bloodless revolution stands as one of the great human achievements of the twentieth century.

The Season of Liberation teaches two fundamental lessons about freedom. First, liberation does not entail the freedom to do as one pleases; rather, liberation merely affords the opportunity to follow God’s commandments in the perennial advance toward tikkun olam, ultimate Redemption. Accordingly, the Season of Liberation properly culminates with Shavuot, celebrating the giving of the Law. I was amazed to read Nelson Mandela echoing a similar message. One page 751 of his autobiographical tome Long Walk to Freedom (the length of the book mirrors the interminability of his 27-year incarceration), he writes: “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.”

Second, as long as human society endures, victory over oppression will always remain tentative and incomplete. That’s why we must come back to Passover year after year. At the beginning the Seder we chant: avadim hayinu atah bnei chorin, “we were once slaves, now we are free,” but then follow up with: hashata avdei lashanah haba’ah bnei chorin, “now we are slaves, next year may we be free.” In the same vein, Mandela concludes his treatise: “I have walked that long road to freedom, and I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”

Rabbi Brian
rabbi.brian.besser@gmail.com