Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 20, 1993 Page: 2 of 24
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Feature 2
TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1993-IN OUR 47TH YEARl
By Irving Greenberg
EW YORK (JTA) —
Marching toward Sinai,
as the days out ofEgypt
lengthened into weeks,
how did the Israelites
feel?
Did they run ahead,
like school children sud-
denly released for the summer, ex-
hilarated by the knowledge there
would be nothing to do and no obliga-
tions for days to come?
The Talmud guesses that the He-
brews’ initial worries (no food, no
water) were followed by a much
deeper concern. They were suddenly
discoveringthe behavioral limits put
on them as free men.
The slaves were powerless to pre-
vent the masters from taking their
wives and daughters sexually or from
selling their families whenever it
suited the owners’ will or whim.
But the atmosphere of sexual ex-
ploitation turned into promiscuous
sex and opportunistic coupling in
the slave quarters. Powerlessness
and inability to protect their family
responsibly created a psychology of
irresponsibility in the victims — in
labor, in love, in family ties.
So it came as a shock — it gener-
ated a certain sense of deprivation
— to learn of the tradeoffs of liberty.
Now that they were free, no one
would molest their family — but
their days of casual sex and parental
abandonment were also over.
In the slave’s fantasy, when free-
dom comes there will be no more
obligations or restrictions.
But Shavuot reminds us that lib-
erty is not to be confused with law-
lessness.
Liberty is the right to choose my
obligations; it is the right to commit
on the basis of my own love and will,
not by someone else’s
imposition. But lib-
erty exercised leads to
obligations, and the
God who liberated Is-
rael tells/commands
them to act properly
toward God, them-
selves and others.
Disturbed by this
apparent divine re-
striction of freedom,
Martin Buber insists
that there is no rev-
elation of law at Sinai
— or ever.
True revelation, ar-
gues Buber, is in the
encounter of an I and
a Thou, of God and
the human being. God
reveals God’s Self, not
God’s law. The law is
a human imposition,
a way of avoiding free-
dom by fixing all
courses of action.
But even if the
Buberian distinction
between Self and Law
were viable, it would
be false. The love of
spouse, family,
friends — as of God
and country — is not
a disembodied emo-
tion existing sepa-
rately from taking
care of them, remem-
bering their birthday
or our joint anniver-
sary, thinking about
them, acting like
them.
To know the other,
let alone to bond to
the other, is to accept all sorts of
restrictions and obligations for the
sake of the other.
The transition from slavery to free-
dom is also the transition from im-
maturity to maturity. If I cling to
non-responsibility, I am really cling-
ing to slavery. Thus, the free person
gets up earlier, works harder, takes
on more commitment. The family is
a perfect example of the obligations
of freedom. Relationships cannot
happen without binding one’s self;
this means accepting restrictions for
the sake of the other. Every person
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 20, 1993, newspaper, May 20, 1993; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753774/m1/2/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .