Freedom - Remarks at FYOS Graduation 5777 - May 21, 2017

What are we recognizing and celebrating this evening?

The answer to this question is different for different people here tonight.

For parents, family members and friends, graduation from high school is a moment in time; a milestone to reflect on our children’s growth and development over seventeen or eighteen years of life.

For teachers, graduation is an opportunity to celebrate the transformative power of education and, in the case of our school, to emphasize the lasting impact of a Torah education.

For students, graduation is an indicator of freedom.

Leshon HaKodesh, the Hebrew language, employs three terms for freedom or the quality of being free – chofshi, d’ror and cherut.

Why does Hebrew use three terms for freedom and what concept of freedom does each term convey?

The term chofshi is used by the Torah to connote the freedom that a master gives a servant in letting him go. The master frees the slave. What type of freedom is this? It is the freedom from the master’s coercion.

The word d’ror is used in this past week’s parasha, Parashat BeHar – also in relation to servitude. The Torah describes the Jubilee Year – the crowning year of the fifty year cycle observed in Israel during the time of the Great Sanhedrin. One of the features of this fiftieth year is the permanent release of all indentured servants. The Torah says, u’kratem d’ror ba’aretz, lechol yosheveha – and you will pronounce liberty – d’ror – in the land; to all of its inhabitants.

The Lutzker Rav, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, in his sefer, Oznayim LaTorah, carefully analyzes this verse and is troubled by the Torah’s inclusion of the word, “all”. Only indentured servants are being freed – in what sense is liberty being pronounced to all of the inhabitants of the land?

Rav Sorotzkin suggests an answer based on a law of the Torah – a master must not treat his indentured servant more poorly than he would treat himself. In fact, this law serves as the basis of a dictum – one who acquires an indentured servant has acquired for himself a master.

In what way does the master become the servant? Suppose that a master and his indentured servant are travelling and they arrive somewhere to sleep for the night and have one pillow between them. Because the master may not treat his indentured servant more poorly than he would treat himself, the master may not use the pillow. Furthermore, the master may not withhold the use of the pillow by the servant because to withhold a benefit to a fellow when no loss would be accrued to you would constitute an act of evil. Therefore, the indentured servant and not the master should be given use of the pillow for the night.

Thus, having an indentured servant encumbers the master with a responsibility. In the fiftieth year, when all such servants go free, freedom is truly pronounced to all of the inhabitants of the land – both servants and their masters are freed of responsibility. The word d’ror – liberty – conveys freedom from imposed authority.

These terms describe the sense of freedom that many high school graduates have – a feeling of freedom from the bounds of authority and responsibility – a freedom from. As you are hearing this evening, this is a very unique class. I dare say that this class’s sense of freedom at this moment of graduation is more advanced than this. It is a feeling of freedom to. What do I mean?

Our Rabbis use another term to convey freedom – cherut. For instance, we call Pesach, zman cherutenu – the time of our freedom. How is cherut-freedom different from chofshi- or d’ror-freedom?

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of England, discusses this question. 

In fact, the word cherut is not used in Tanach – rather it is related to another word used in Tanach, charut – engraved. The Torah says, "The tablets that were given to Moshe were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved [charut] on the tablets.” Using their method of interpretation, our Rabbis teach in Pirke Avot, do not read charut, "engraved" but cherut, "freedom," – because the only person who is truly free is one who occupies himself with Torah study.

On the surface, this interpretation is difficult to understand – what connection is there between engraving and freedom? These two terms seems incomparable. 

I am now quoting Rabbi Sacks:

Consider two forms of writing in ancient times. One is to use ink on parchment, another is to engrave words in stone. There is a marked difference between these two methods.

The ink and parchment are two different materials. The ink is external to the parchment. It is superimposed upon it, and it does not become part of the parchment. It remains distinct, and so it can be rubbed off and removed. But an engraving does not use some new substance. It is carved out of the stone itself. It becomes part of it, and cannot easily be obliterated.

Now consider these two ways of writing as metaphors for law. There is a law that is externally imposed. People keep it because they fear that if they do not, they will be caught and punished. But if there is no chance that they will be caught, they make break it, for the law has not changed their desires. That kind of law - imposed on us like ink on parchment - is a limitation of freedom.

But there can be a different kind of society in which people keep the law not because they fear they will be caught and punished, but because they know the law, they have studied it, they understand it, they have internalized it, and it has become part of who they are. They no longer desire to do what the law forbids because they now know it is wrong and they wrestle with their own temptations and desires. Such a law needs no police because it is based not on external force but on internal transformation through the process of education. The law is like writing engraved in stone.

Imagine such a society. You can walk in the streets without fear. You don't need high walls and alarms to keep your home safe. You can leave your car unlocked and still expect to find it there when you return. People keep the law because they care about the common good. That is a free society.

Sitting in front of you tonight are the future leaders of this idealized society. These special graduates are on the path to being truly free. While they undoubtedly feel tonight the freedom from coercion and the freedom from imposed authority, their freedom is deeper. They are not only free from; they are free to. Their freedom stems from the impact of their education – an education that has produced students with internalized values based on knowledge.

I am so proud that our graduates can rightly call tonight, zman cherutenu – the time of our freedom. 

Mazal Tov!