The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, incised upon the tablets” (Exod. 32:17). Do not read, “incised,” (harut), rather [read] “freedom” (herut)—for no person is truly free except the one who labors in Torah.
— Pirkei Avot 6:2
For the ancient rabbis, positive liberty was seen as accepting ol malchut shamayim—the yoke of Heaven and ol hamitzvot—the yoke of the commandments. Freedom was committing oneself to Divine will, to Divine command, and to Divine authority—rather than that of humanity.
In his seminal work, Two Concepts of Liberty, philosopher Isaiah Berlin explicates the ideas of negative and positive liberties. Colloquially, we understand these as freedom from (negative liberty) and freedom to (positive liberty). The Jewish journey from slavery to freedom, then, is a journey of freedom from slavery into a freedom to–freedom to celebrate our holidays, pray to our God, study our texts.
What freedoms might you find in our tradition this week? What might it free you to do in the world?
— Rabbi Sari Laufer