When any pretext came before him, he would risk his life to escape the place he was bound to in shackles – as happened in the end when his two slaves fled, and Shimi went after them to catch them and incurred the death penalty.
All this is based on the principle: the hardest thing of all is a barrier that stands before every person and limits his ability and freedom. It also seems this is the deeper intent of the Gemera’s (Sanhedrin 37a) statement: סוּגָה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים – Fenced with roses. The Maharsha wrote, it mentions a fence of roses because a person desires the fence itself, to uproot it and breach it to enjoy the scent of the roses. The deeper meaning is – the Torah’s fences are called by this name because a person always desires to breach the fence, just as he desires the roses for himself.
The purpose of a person’s service is to reach a state where he does not act according to his own wisdom, but out of complete and absolute servitude, as Chazal said: A person should not say, “I don’t want milk with meat,” but rather, “I surely want it, but what can I do, Hakadosh Baruch Hu decreed it upon me to refrain.” One who reaches this level is a servant of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. These are the wonderful words of Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz.
