As the hostages return home, they revel in their freedom, but at some point, they will ask themselves why they were liberated. What is their new purpose? What must they do with their newfound freedom? Before the Exodus from Egypt, G-d gave us two commandments: circumcision and the paschal lamb. Why were these two commandments essential to our freedom, and what do they say about freedom? No-thing Meets G-d G-d did not take us out of Egypt to free us from tyranny. He did it to bring us to Sinai and induct us into His service. We were trading in slavery to Pharaoh for servitude to G-d. Either way, we wouldn’t call the shots, so how was one freedom and the other slavery? Two answers: Choice and master. (A) We choose to be indentured to G-d; no one forces us. (B) G-d is not a tyrant; He is the master of the universe. Slavery to Pharaoh is misery; servitude to G-d is transcendence. G-d is the origin of existence. He preceded all that exists, will outlast all that exists, and everything that exists exists because of Him. In His presence, there is only Him—the apex from which all existence emerges. This apex is indefinable. There is no substance or absence in the apex. No fill or void. There just is. It’s all G-d. Imagine being thrown into this apex; what would become of you? Well, you would cease to exist because the apex transcends everything. All you can find in the apex is G-d. So, if you get thrown into the apex, you would become part of G-d. In that space, everything is part of G-d. (Everything is part of G-d in our space, too, but we are too oblivious to notice it. We are so filled with ourselves, our EGO, that we miss this critical detail. However, it is possible to miss it here since G-d is unknown and unknowable. But in G-d’s space, G-d is all there is. You can’t miss Him.) Suppose you wake up one bright morning on this cheerful plane and discover that you are scheduled to be thrown into the apex; how would you feel? Would you shudder or rejoice? Fear or anticipate? The answer is both. You would fear losing yourself and rejoice over transcending yourself. You would not become greater; there is no you in the apex. You will be part of G-d. Subsumed by infinity. Yes and No You can now see why the Torah prescribes two types of commandments: things we must do and things we must never do. In short, let’s call them yes and no. The yes commandments introduce us to G-d. The no commandments take care of the critical piece that must come first. Surrender, letting go of being in control. You don’t get your way; you don’t control yourself or others. You are not in control. G-d is in control. Let go. Surrender, feel yourself floating up into transcendence, feel your ego draining, feel yourself subsumed in something higher and greater. Transcend yourself. The no commandments are just as important as the yes commandments. They work in tandem. You can’t have one without the other. You can’t be filled with yourself and G-d simultaneously. You can’t be in control and surrender at the same time. It is one or the other. The more you love yourself, your ideas, perceptions, biases, pleasures, etc., the less you love G-d, surrender, transcendence, subsumption, etc. The no commandments make space for G-d; the yes commandments fill that space with G-dliness. The yes commandments acknowledge that G-d is infinite, exquisite, vast, grand, all-knowing, almighty, and omnipotent. The no commandments acknowledge that G-d is unknown and unknowable. Therefore, don’t ask; just obey. If G-d said no, it's no. . Trust G-d as you jump down that cliff (or climb up that peak) with Him. At The Time of The Exodus Imagine G-d taking an ignorant, secular, pagan group of Jews from Egypt to the apex at Sinai. They were slaves in Egypt, but they were steeped in Egyptian culture. It was a wealthy superpower where stakeholders had anything they wished. They had armies of slaves at their beck and call. They had watering holes, theatres, palaces, pleasure crafts, indulgence, and abundance. They had whatever they wanted and could plunder at will. They were gluttonous, avaricious, decadent, hedonistic, and immoral. This was the milieu in which this generation of Jews was raised. Sure, they were slaves, but when they aspired for freedom, they must have imagined it looking a lot like the lifestyle of their Egyptian overlords. Along comes Moses, who promises them freedom, but not the kind they were programmed to want. Let my people go, thundered Moses to Pharaoh, so they could come to Sinai and worship me. There must have been a moment of cognitive dissonance, a shock, as they absorbed this ultimate paradigm shift. They were going from slavery to servitude? Moses had to teach them the higher truth. They were going from slavery to transcendence. But they had never tasted transcendence. They did not know how to savor or anticipate it. Because transcendence does nothing for the body, it holds promise only for the soul. G-d saw this and granted them two commandments: a yes commandment and a no commandment. The paschal lamb represents every yes commandment the Jews would receive at Sinai, and circumcision represents all the no commandments they would receive at Sinai. Circumcision is a shocking commandment to those who have never heard of it. You want me to lob off a part of my manhood? Emasculate me? Madness! Unheard of! Never! And yet, Jews practice it joyfully and routinely around the world. You would think it would be anathema, yet it is ubiquitous. There can be only one reason for this strange phenomenon. It is practiced because it is G-d’s will. It is our way of making a statement. We declare to the world, G-d, and ourselves, I am not for me, I am for G-d. As Hillel said, “If I am only for me, what am I?” This is pure transcendence of self. The paschal lamb is the classic yes commandment. Who doesn’t like roasted lamb chops? Everyone salivates over it. Everyone loves it. Yet, we don’t eat it for ourselves. We eat it for G-d. It is a sacred dish, a holy commandment. Not to fill my empty stomach but to fill the emptiness that is me without G-d. These two commandments became the thesis for all of Judaism. Everything that would follow began at this moment with these two commandments. They set the stage, and the race to Sinai began. “When you take the nation out of Egypt, you will worship G-d on this mountain. The Hostages Find Purpose The hostages have discovered this transcendence in captivity. When you are in captivity, all the ordinary reasons for living disappear. You hold on to a bleak hope for the future but need a reason to live in the present. It is not for education, pleasure, wealth, or power. It is not even about what you will achieve in the future. The future is bleak and so distant as to be unknown. The hostage discovers that life is inherently precious, profoundly meaningful: a treasure. One to which we must cling tenaciously and cherish with every fiber of our being. Life does not require justification. It justifies itself. Because life is a gift. Life energy is Divine energy, and as it pulses through our body, we are suffused with something holy, transcendent, and exquisite. Nothing in life holds a candle to the preciousness of life itself. No pleasure, joy, or experience can justify life. On the contrary, life justifies these pleasures. Discovering that they were not alone in the tunnels but with G-d and with the love of their people gave them a reason to live. It gave them the ability to transcend. With time, they will realize they were saved to share this transcendence. They have a gift that can inspire us, and they were saved to share it. May all the hostages go free, in good health, and post haste, and may they all find meaning and purpose.