Shawshank Redemption Revisited

I promised that I would not do a meme list. I broke my promise.... sort of.

Maybe I will do more lists of that sort. In the meantime, thanks to grovepark for your comment.

You asked a question:
...And how interesting what you said about God training the Jewish people to become free and not just taking them out. But how? What do you mean?

Let me explain (based loosely on the Sforno and Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik) by asking a question from this past week's parsha, Parshat Bo. When the Jews were leaving Egypt, G-d stops the "story" in the middle to present the first commandment that the Jews receive, the mitzvah to create a calendar and fix times:

Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt saying: This month will be for you the beginning of all months. (Shmot 12)

All the commentaries ask: Why now? Why is this the first Mitzvah?

I think the answer is illustrated in Shawshank Redemption. One of the side plots involves Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore) who is parolled after many, many years behind bars. His fears about going out - who will decide when to eat, what to wear, how will he bear the pressures of earning a living - are actualized when he commits suicide. This contrasts the other, main plot of the movie: Andy Dufresne's (Tim Robbins) slow, steady quest to earn his freedom. With patience and tenacity while never losing focus of his ultimate goal, he ultimately succeeds.

When the Jews were in Egypt, they were slaves in every way - mental, physical, spriritual, individual, national. G-d took them out of Egypt, but He did not only free them physically. He trained them, via the mitzvot in the desert to become a Nation, free to serve Him in Israel with the Torah.

Learning how to sanctify time is the first part of this basic training: slaves have no past, no future and certainly no present. Their entire existstence is based entirely on their master. As slaves become free, the first thing they must learn is how to sanctify their time: how to value the past, sanctify the present, and build for the future. Like in the movie, a slow, steady approach to breaking the slave mentality is the only way for the nation to become completely free in order to serve G-d.

(Chapter 12 in Shmot is filled with other mitzvot which are also made for breaking the slave-nation and creating a free, G-d fearing nation. Now though, is not the place.)