While watching Jon Stewart's final appearance as the host of
The Daily Show, as well as thinking about the influence he has clearly had on
American society and politics over 16 years, I was struck by the
fact that the show itself is a statement and a sign of the kind of freedom that
we have in this country. In many parts of the world it would not be possible to
have a show, such as The Daily Show, skewering politicians and making fun of
those in power. It would be shut down immediately and the presenters and those
involved with it would be severely punished. But in our society, The Daily Show
is one of those signs of our freedom and the freedom of speech that we have.
This week’s Torah portion is very concerned with the freedom
that the Israelites have acquired for themselves. It begins with the idea that
they have a choice between choosing blessing or curse. And then it continues by
talking about what happens when an Israelite becomes a servant or a slave, and
how that should be handled.
Towards the very end of the Torah portion, it
reminds us of the three foot festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – when the
Israelites would traditionally go to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate. When
looking at these festivals, as always, Shavuot appears without a date. Instead
we are told you shall count off 7 weeks, start to count the 7 weeks when the
cycle is first put to the standing grain. And then we’re told, you shall
observe the feast of weeks for Adonai your God, offering your free will
contribution according to Adonai your God and the way that God has blessed us.
We are told that we should rejoice with every member of our society and then we
are told, bear in mind that you were slaves in Egypt.
It’s striking that for
Shavuot we are told to remember our slavery in Egypt especially as for Pesach,
the festival in which we celebrate our Exodus, there is no mention of our
remembering our slavery. In reminding us that we were slaves in connection to
Shavuot, it might be a sign that the ability to worship God is a symbol of our
freedom. It might be that the receipt of Torah is also a symbol of our freedom.
But I wonder if it’s more about the fact that Shavuot is the festival that we
come to by counting. It’s the festival where the date is not specified in the
Torah and instead we have the obligation to reach to that point. We have the
ability to count time and through the counting of time we reach the festival of
Shavuot.
For slaves, time is irrelevant. Everyday blends into the
next one and the counting of time takes on a meaningless quality. But for free
people, everyday matters – everyday counts, because we have the freedom to use
it in the way that we choose. In this way Shavuot, the festival that comes with
the culmination of a count of 7 weeks is really the festival where we
understand and can appreciate the fact that we are free.
For our Israelite
community in the wilderness, freedom came from the ability to count time. For
us in American society, freedom might come from our ability to make fun of our
politicians. Wherever it comes from, the important thing is that we always
cherish the freedoms that we have and make sure to protect them.
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