Alexander just recently came to the USA to become a citizen and his friend, Ben, explained to him the many freedoms that Americans have as compared to the people in Russia. Alex then asked Ben if he could help him study for his civics test that he was going to take in a few weeks.
“No problem,” Ben said.
One of the topics on the exam was on the American Flag. So Ben explained; “The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The flag's colors are symbolic as well; red symbolizes strength and courage, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents perseverance and justice. Ben then proudly exclaimed, “The red, white, and blue flag really represents freedom and the true meaning of being an American.”
Alex then said, “If that's true, what about when you see in your rearview mirror red, white, and blue flashing lights?”
Statement: Freedom. The Passover season is dripping with the expression of this single word. Throughout Pesach, the Hebrew word often used to refer to our freedom is cherut. In our Tefilos and Kiddush we say, zman cheruteinu - the time of our freedom. In the Haggada, we say “He (Hashem) took us out from slavery to freedom.”
However, the Hebrew word cherut, as a term for freedom, does not appear even once throughout all of TaNaKh. The biblical word for freedom is actually chofesh as it says:
Should you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall work [for] six years, and in the seventh, he shall go out free without charge.
Alternatively, another word that conveys the idea of freedom is dror. This word also has the meaning of “flowing, liberty, and can refer to a sparrow or swallow bird. The Ramban explains that the word dror is an abbreviation for “One generation goes, another comes.”
Question: Why Did Our Sages Designate the Word Cherut for Freedom?
If the biblical words for freedom are chofesh or dror, why did our Sages designate the word cherut for freedom? What is the difference between these words? What is the significance of cherut specifically to Pesach?
Answer: The National Experience of Freedom
Although the word chofesh does mean freedom with respect to an individual slave, and dror refers to freedom for Hebrew slaves during the Jubilee year, that type of freedom relates to either an individual person or to a select group. Yet, since Pesach commemorates a national experience of freedom, our Sages chose to use the more inclusive word of cherut instead. But why?
This word cherut has a double meaning. In Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi encourages us to occupy ourselves with learning Torah, as he says:
And the Luchos (tablets) were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d, engraved upon the Luchos.
Don’t read "engraved" (charut), but rather read it as "freedom" (cherut). For there is no free individual, except for one who works towards the study of Torah.
Three Levels of Freedom
In his expansive 3 volume set on the Haggadah, entitled “Pathways to Pesach and the Haggadah”, R. Dovber Pinson explains that “everything within this world consists of three elements: Olam-space, Shanah-time, and Nefesh-soul.”
Simply, these are the “where, when, and who” of our physical existence. By looking at the roots of dror, chofesh and cherut, and their associations, he links each of these words of freedom to one of these aspects.
- The word chofesh, is related to the word lachapes - to search, which is connected with the concept of Olam-space, as searching suggests looking at what immediately appears while trying to see beyond it within space.
- The word dror, when related to “generations” (see above) is connected with Shanah-time.
- And cherut is connected Nefesh-soul, as the concept of engraving describes a quality of deep integration of wisdom within one’s being and soul.
Engraving - A Cut Beneath The Rest
Since we see an intrinsic connection between engraving and freedom, let’s discuss what is engraving. As a former engraver, I can personally confirm that the act of engraving requires much more effort and delicate precision than writing with ink on paper. Engraving usually involves the use of a very sharp tool or blade that is held at a precise angle. When applying just the right amount of force, the upper layer of metal is removed and freed from its source. As opposed to ink, when something is engraved, it leaves a permanent change in the object itself and how it looks. Even with raised lettering, (which is done through a process called “chasing”) this engraving involves removing a portion of the original material, leaving an empty space where that portion of the object was before. This negative space marking creates the message or image and becomes an inseparable part of the overall object.
So too is the task of learning Torah. It requires careful effort and demands that we refine our character by removing those attributes that could impede our ability to understand HaShem’s Torah and our connection to Him. Learning itself also involves the removal of unnecessary or redundant information. This allows for the refinement of our learning and the consolidation of information, thus making learning more permanent. By doing so, we can then have a permanent mark that becomes inseparable from us, identifying our dedication to our faith.
Onkelos - How to Trick an Emperor
The idea of refining ourselves to deepen our connection to Torah is demonstrated through the inspiring story of Onkelos the Convert (also known as Aquila). He was the nephew of the Roman emperor Hadrian and desired to convert to Judaism but feared his uncle’s wrath. So he cleverly told his uncle: “I want to engage in business and trade.”
“Why do you need to do so?,” his uncle Hadrian asked, “I can provide all the silver or gold to you, as much as you need.”
Aquila responded: “I want to go into business in other lands in order to become acquainted with other people and need only your advice on how to do so.”
Hadrian responded: “The way to trade successfully is to find something valuable that the world neglects because of the current trends of the day. That is what you should buy. You will surely get it cheaply. Then be patient because the price is sure to rise.”
Aquila replied, “You advise me well. No wonder that all men praise your wisdom.”
He then went to Yavneh, the Torah center in Israel, and studied. Later, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua met him and noticed that his countenance had changed. They said to each other: “Aquila must be studying the Torah.” When he drew near them, he asked numerous questions which they answered. Finally, he converted to Judaism and became circumcised. He studied day and night and translated the Torah from Hebrew into Greek and later into Aramaic. This became the famous and invaluable Targum Onkelos which is printed in almost every Chumash.
Later he returned to his uncle Hadrian who had now become emperor of Rome, to pay his respects to him. All of Aquila’s intensive hard work in learning Torah had taken away some of his youthful appearance.
Hadrian exclaimed, “You are not looking well, Aquila! What have you been doing to yourself?! Your business must be going badly.”
“On the contrary, uncle, my business is doing very well.” Aquila responded.
“What have you bought?”
“The most valuable goods in the world.
“What did you pay for them?”
“Only a piece of foreskin”
“You speak in riddles.”
“I have become a Jew; I have circumcised myself.”
“How dare you, without consulting me!”
“I did ask you, uncle, and you told me I should do it.”
“Impossible! I have an excellent memory, and I can’t recall saying anything like that.”
“You told me to find something valuable that is neglected by the world because of the trends of the day, but whose price is sure to rise. Look, uncle, I tried all the religions of all the peoples, and I found no people so lowly and despised by the world as Israel. Yet Israel’s value will rise, as the Prophet Yishayahu promised in the name of the A-lmighty G-d.”
“Could you not have studied the Torah while uncircumcised?” Hadrian inquired.
Aquila answered: “A man can never fully understand the Torah if he remains uncircumcised, as it is said: He tells His words to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. That is, HaShem gives his words of Torah to one who is like Yaakov (the Jews), and is circumcised, but not to people who are uncircumcised.”
From this intriguing story, we can begin to understand that there is an intrinsic connection between the concept of removing something of the original matter, like engraving, and refining oneself in order to better understand Torah and become part of the Jewish people. Yet this story isn’t merely a fable but has proven itself throughout the generations. Such is the case recently in Ukraine.
A Bris in Moldova
On Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, a news report told of an inspiring story that shines a ray of hope and light amid the harsh stories of darkness and destruction in the ongoing war in Ukraine. This story symbolizes the continuity of Jewish life amid the displaced Jews of Ukraine. A Jewish mother, who was not part of the Jewish community in her town of Kharkiv, when her child was born, did not see a reason to circumcise him.
However, after fleeing her home and arriving in Chișinău (Kishinev) in Moldova, she saw the amazing reception of the local Jewish community for every Jew arriving and decided that she wanted her son to become a kosher Jew.
The woman asked Rabbi Mendy Axelrod, a Chabad emissary who serves as the rabbi of a shul in Kishinev, to help organize her son’s bris as soon as possible. Rabbi Axelrod found another refugee in the town, Rabbi Yaakov Gaisonowitz, who is considered one of the most expert mohels in the FSU (Former Soviet Union) who performs more than 500 circumcisions a year in Ukraine and Russia. Rabbi Gaisonowitz had fled from Dniepro with his family and is in Kishinev from where he intends to continue to Israel or to another community of refugees in Europe.
Rav Mendy Axelrod (R.) and the Mohel
Since the local shul is full of refugees, the mohel decided to find a sterile place to perform the bris, which took place in a “Mother & Baby Center” where a member of the local Jewish community is employed. The child, who is two and a half years old, was named Chaim Shalom Yoel. But the question remains. What is the relationship between the concepts of charut - engraving and cherut - freedom?
Engraved with Freedom
Together with the freedom that we collectively experienced as a nation, we were then brought to Har Sinai to receive His Torah which transformed us as a people forever. We are no longer just individual slaves longing for our own separate independent freedom. Merely leaving the limitations of exile does not make one free. As the saying goes, you can take a Jew out of Egypt, but to take the “Egypt” out of a Jew–requires the unifying power of Torah. It gives purpose and direction to the freedom we now have.
When viewing our freedom through the lens of Torah, we can see how it becomes engraved into us and part of our DNA-part of our national psyche. On one level, when we see someone who is not free, as Jews, one of the three signs of our spiritual DNA is that we have Rachmanim-mercy. So it bothers us when we see others who are not free. Free from harm, free from oppression, free from anguish-and we can’t rest. In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Why did HaShem allow the Jewish people to become slaves? G-d wanted that at the beginning of our history to lose our freedom so that we would never let it be lost again. He wanted us to know what it feels like to be a slave so that we would become the world’s most consistent fighters for freedom.”
Chofesh versus Cherut - What is True Freedom?
On a deeper level, just to be merely free and do as we please can be understood as chofesh, but does not provide us with true freedom. Let’s look at the sequence of requests that Moshe Rabbeinu was to express to Pharoah.
When Moshe was asked by HaShem to tell Pharaoh to “Let my people go” that ubiquitous statement is incomplete. The first time that this idea is mentioned, the full text says, “Send out my son so that he can serve Me.” Not just “go” but “serve” HaShem.
Strangely though, when Moshe actually met Pharaoh, he didn’t say that. He changed HaShem’s words and said, “Send out my people so that they may celebrate for me.” Celebrate? Have a party? Spring break? Is that freedom? No, that is chofesh. That is a holiday vacation! Perhaps, Pharaoh intuitively knew that something was wrong with this request, thereby making more work for the Jewish people.
So finally, later at the plague of locusts, Moshe delivers the message as HaShem intended and said, “Let My people go, so they will serve Me.” This is the true goal of freedom!
So what is the difference between chofesh and cherut? The word chofesh is being freed to do as we please. Even freedom when expressed as dror can mean flowing and flying free as a bird. Yet the word, cherut, is to experience freedom through serving a higher goal that refines and defines us as a people. Just as Pesach is incomplete with Shavuos, freedom is incomplete without Torah.
Engraving and Removal of Chametz
Now we can begin to better understand the connection between the idea of charut - “engraved” and the word cherut - “freedom”. As engraving involves the removal of stone or metal that reveals its message, so too, we remove all traces of Chametz (leaven products) as it symbolizes one’s ego. Ego is incompatible and conflicts with serving HaShem. When the Bnei Yisrael left the servitude of Egypt they were able to transfer that same energy toward serving HaShem. This act of service and surrender to HaKadosh Baruch Hu requires the removal of any trace of the self-the engraving of the soul. Once those parts of the self are removed, it reveals the essence and identity of the Jew.
Although the task of Pesach is the removal of one’s ego, when compared with Shavuos, this changes. In the times of the Holy Temple, a special sacrifice for Shavuos: the shtei halechem (two loaves of bread), which (atypically for sacrifices) must be Chametz. Another offering is called a Korban Todah-a Thanksgiving Offering. It too is comprised of Chametz as it is accompanied by forty loaves of bread. Specifically, thirty of those loaves are matzah, while ten of them are chametz. In both of these cases, we don’t negate the ego but utilize it within our learning (Shavuos) and giving thanks.
Lesson: True Freedom Must Be Grounded
True freedom can’t exist in a vacuum. Freedom has to be grounded and connected to something greater than you. Grounded but something that can lift us higher as an individual and bring us together as a community. Something that can guide you, change you. When does freedom become meaningful? When its instruction leaves an enduring mark. When it unifies us as a nation and as individuals towards a loftier goal. Being simply free without connection is like a balloon aimlessly floating through the air. Chofesh-or holiday vacations are okay as a temporary respite from work so that we can “recharge our batteries” but not as a goal unto itself.
This is the meaning of what Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said when he encouraged us to dedicate ourselves to learning Torah. To reach the goal of acquiring Torah one must remove any impediments and then with care provide a way to bind ourselves to HaShem that can connect us all, throughout the generations. We can then see the fulfillment of “Let My people go, so they will serve Me.” This is the essential significance of freedom on Pesach, namely our connection in our service to HaShem through avodah b’Torah-service in Torah. And through this, not only does the message of freedom become engraved upon us, it becomes us.
As we struggle to free ourselves from those elements that limit us, a lesson can be learned from the act of engraving itself. Just like engraving, the act of refining ourselves often requires us to remove those elements of ourselves that can be an obstacle to our connection with HaShem and His Torah. This act of refinement and removal thereby creates our identity of a nation that is not just free, but a nation whose message is that of Divine connection. This is how we engrave freedom.
(דברי שאגתי)
- Found in paragraph Vayikra
- See Koheles 1:4. The Ramban alludes to a text from the Sefer Habahir. See Kisvei HaRamban, Vol.I, p.186.
- Shemos 21:2
- Shemos 32:16
- Pirkei Avot 6:2
- See Vayechapes (Bereishis 44:12)
- Tehillim 147:19
- Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 5:1-4; See “Akiba” by Dr. Marcus Lehman chapter 33, pg.180
- Shemos 4:23
- Shemos 5:01
- Shemos 10:03
- Mishnah Menachot 5:1
- Menachos 77b; See Rashi Tzav 7:12
