"It's all about freedom". So said President George Bush on his recent tour
to the former Soviet Union. This has become Mr. Bush's crusade in life: To
spread the good word of freedom to all nations near and far, in Eastern
Europe and in the Middle East. This, then, is a goal in and of itself.

And so, we seem a bit perplexed by the fact that in this week's parsha, we
find, on the one hand: "You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim
freedom throughout the Land for all its inhabitants, it shall be a Jubilee
year for you. You shall return each man to his heritage and you shall return
each man to his family." Here the Torah releases the slave to return to his
own home after a period of enslavement, and the land to its original owner.
The shofar is blown throughout the Land, proclaiming freedom for all.

But, on the other hand, we find Hashem telling us: "For the Children of
Israel are servants to Me, they are My servants whom I have taken out of the
land of Egypt." In the same light we find Hashem telling us: "To Me is all
the Land", or, as it states in the book of Haggai, to Me is all silver and
gold. Well, if there is true freedom, then how can it be that Hashem tells
us that we are His servants, or that He controls all monies and lands in
this world?

The Targum Yonatan translates the sentence "You are servants to
Hashem" to mean - slaves to My Torah. You see, no man is really free in this
world. The great illusion of this world is of how all people are running
after something that really does not exist.

One way or another, whether it is being a slave to the god of money or striving with mental anguish, the bottom line is that all of us carry around burdens of one type or another. And so, how fortunate are you, Israel, that we are called slaves to the Most
High. For they - the nations - work and toil for nothing, but we work and
are rewarded.

And just look at where this freedom of the Bushes of this world has led us.
Like the Greeks and Romans before, who also boasted of democratic and free
societies - people now, with nothing but time on their hands, will watch an
average of some 6 to 8 hours of TV a day, which is perverting and eventually
destroying society. It is only one who knows that even freedom must have its
limitations, who is the one who will be able to rise above the mass
confusion of everyday life.

Yes, freedom, but not as an end in itself, but as a means to better oneself
and society. The Torah foresaw this and taught us that, even as we proclaim
freedom throughout the Land, we must also know that He is the Master of the
Land, and to Him is all silver and gold.

With this in mind, thousands of Jewish youth happily went out this week to
be arrested, not for the freedom of extra money or any other kind of gain,
but for the freedom of doing the will of our Father in Heaven. They were
willing to give up their personal freedom, knowing all too well that no
matter how many metal bars they are put behind, their freedom can never be
taken away. This is the real call of freedom throughout the Land, the call
of the Jews with self-sacrifice who are willing to pay any price to hold on
to their Land!

It came, then, as no surprise that a Prime Minister who understands nothing
of this type of freedom would, when visiting the death camps in Europe two
weeks ago, place a mezuzah on the barracks of the dead, but at the same time
have no problem taking off thousands of mezuzahs from the living in the Land
of Israel. No matter: The call of freedom has gone out for all to hear, let
us heed the call and rise up!