* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Nir Menussi reflects on this week’s Torah portion and relates it to our own lives:
“When we read in the Torah about the exodus from Egypt, we must look at our affluent Western society and admit the truth: We have become enslaved to freedom. In essence we’ve created a paradox: by elevating freedom to the highest level of our value system, we have become enslaved to it.
We are surrounded by a culture that is constantly telling us: “Don’t be a frier (sucker). Enjoy yourself and take advantage of every moment, have as many experiences as possible, do everything, and try it all. But the truth is that this is an impossible goal when there are so many options available.
Try buying cheese or shampoo at the supermarket and you’ll find 20 different options. And what happens when it comes to choosing a profession? Or a life partner? So, you become frustrated and confused, and even after you’ve already made your choice—you compare your choice to that of others and then you aren’t sure that you’ve made the right decision after all.
It might not be pleasant for us to say, but perhaps it’s time to limit our freedom of choice. Without freedom of choice—you aren’t free; but presented with too many options, you also feel paralyzed.
The result of wanting to travel to every possible place, sample as many different foods, and drink as many varieties of wine as possible—is that you miss out on the most important experience of all: focus— focus on your family, your house, your life. You may think that you’re experiencing everything when in truth you are losing out on the most fundamental aspect of life that demands dedication and deep commitment.
Freedom is, indeed, an important value, but it needs to be our servant and not our master. Freedom is a tool to help me realize my objectives.
The ideal situation is one in which I recognize my unique mission--what I wish to accomplish in this world-- and use my freedom to actualize my goals. In this way, I will be able to free myself from the burden of excessive freedom.
This is our goal—from this week’s Torah portion until today.״
