Redemption and the Cycles of Existence (3)

Of course, there are other levels and forms of freedom than the ones we have discussed. However, just as we must weep for the person who has not reached freedom, so must we weep for the person who has magnified his freedom beyond ordinary proportions and has not discovered his responsibilities. This is a person who has not reached self-actualization. We will clarify this through psychologist Erich Fromm's wonderful interpretation of the book of Jonah. Erich Fromm drew largely on Jewish sources and although he altered and interpreted his sources, his writings are saturated with Jewish tradition.

     We read in the scriptures of Jonah the runaway. Jonah is the symbol of the person who runs away from his calling, his vocation. Among the commentators there are those who defend him, perhaps justifiably. However in the final analysis, he  does run away from his mission; he runs away from his responsibility towards others. If we read the book correctly, we will discover that Jonah was sent to others, and that the term "mission" actually denotes anti-freedom. Jonah refuses. What happens to Jonah? He enters the bowels of a ship and falls asleep, he hides. He escapes to a situation which he thinks is safe. His adventures end when he is thrown into the sea and finds refuge in the belly of the fish. Here Jonah finds his reward and his punishment, which turn out to be one and the same. Inside the fish Jonah is alone. There is no longer anyone to disturb his peace.   

     Thus Jonah symbolizes the person who is called to responsibility, to have a relationship with others. The person refuses. Usually, although this is not the case with Jonah, the person refuses because it limits his freedom, just as some young people refuse to enter the yoke of marriage, or young couples who refuses to take responsibility and become parents. however Jonah also teaches us the end of the process. The true punishment for refusal to accept responsibility is loneliness. A person lives in a city populated by millions, but he lives in a closed and locked apartment. He receives the goods he orders from stores by messengers and can even watch good programs on television. He is protected, but he is lonely. There is a feeling that modern man has become free because he has freed himself from the pressure of the tribe, of the small town, of the family. In the big city, in the megalopolis, he is apparently free, he can be an individual, not part of a group which determines his life. However the truth is different. Man has freed himself and has achieved individuality, but at its height he has reached complete isolation. The person who runs away from responsibility ends up in the belly of the fish, protected and lonely.     

Merging Values

The use of these two words together teaches us that a single value does not govern our lives rather there are many values which we try to incorporate into our lives, and we must try to merge them together. The young person growing up, discovers this call to freedom and also experiences the trauma of not being able to fulfill his desires. Time will pass until he feels something else, the problematics of freedom.

     Many people see birds or other animals as symbols of freedom. However they are not aware of the saddening fact that birds and animals in general, although they seem free, are tied by many invisible strings. They are actually similar, within certain limits, to fish in an aquarium. They have a certain level of freedom of movement, but even birds have very tough territorial boundaries. Man too, although he thinks he is free is sometimes bound as tightly as a prisoner. Actions that seem to us to be the result of our free and spontaneous decisions, are merely the result of external pressures which we internalize, an invasion from the world surrounding us which penetrates us. Advertising functions according to the same principle: it repeats and emphasizes the name and qualities of a particular product, to the point where when we need to buy, it will be the first name that rises to our lips and we will buy it. We often find ourselves singing a line from some commercial, which has invaded our thoughts. Sometimes the voice which comes seemingly from within actually comes from without. Regarding the ten commandments which were inscribed on the tablets the Sages say, "do not read 'harut' [inscribed] but 'herut' [freedom]." This implies that man is perhaps free to do what he wishes, but sometimes he is not free in those very desires. His desire is the result of the influence of the surroundings. The "harut" which  becomes the "herut" means that only education, personal work, and sometimes the adherence to the rule of the "harut", grants us the "herut".

     Let me give you an example. Imagine two people: one lying on his couch, watching a soccer game on television and drinking can after can of beer; the second exercising or playing basketball for exercise and health purposes.  The first seems relaxed, while the second is perspiring profusely. Which is the free man? Our first reaction will be that the free man is the one lying on his couch. However that man cannot even raise himself up. In contrast, all the work of exercising - if it is not done for commercial reasons - gives the person total control over his body and complete development of his ability and possibilities. In other words, it grants freedom. The person who exercises in order to give  his body the necessary freedom, fulfills the injunction, "do not read harut but herut." He shows that paradoxically and strangely enough, we reach freedom through self-subjugation and self-discipline. The second way sometimes promises much, but actually enslaves one. It is freedom which brings to enslavement.

     The encounter of these two paths that we have described reminds me of the beautiful way that Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the two goats used in the service on Yom Kippur. There are two goats; one is sent to be a sacrifice in the Holy Temple, the other goes seemingly to freedom, but it actually falls down the cliff of Azazel. Both goats had to be as similar as possible, to show that they are really one according to Rabbi Hirsch. They are two options which each person is faced with. One option is the option of bringing the sacrifice. It does contain an element of self-sacrifice, but it is a self-sacrifice that brings one into the holy of holies. The second option creates an illusion of freedom, but actually ends in a fall and deterioration, as we see in many areas of life, particularly in the use of drugs.

Translated by Gila Weinberg