The Chains We Choose (Vaetchanan)

“Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.” —Sir Edwin Arnold

It is easy to fall into a pattern. We find something enjoyable or convenient in our lives and stick to it. At first, we like it. Later, we seek it. At a more advanced stage, we may rely on it, until eventually we feel that we cannot live without it. That final stage has many names. A modern term is addiction. An ancient term is enslavement.

The Book of Deuteronomy repeats the Ten Commandments that were given at Mount Sinai forty years earlier and first recorded in the Book of Exodus. There are several interesting differences between the two versions, including the explanation given for the fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy.

The first version, in Exodus, is more universal, connecting the observance of the Sabbath to the story of Creation. The second, in Deuteronomy, is more particular to the Jewish experience, connecting the Sabbath to the enslavement in Egypt and the eventual Exodus.

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 5:14 explains that we must remember the Sabbath because we were once slaves. We must take at least one day each week to release ourselves from the bonds of servitude.

The real question is what we are enslaved to today, and how we can break free.

May we have a meaningful Tisha B’Av fast and a Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the discovery of charred wooden beams from the First Temple in Jerusalem: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-903024