Independence and Redemption

Rabbi Ashlag wrote on Israel’s independence. He pointed out that being given our independence is not equivalent to actually receiving it, as in spirituality, giving and receiving can be widely separated in time. Our receiving our independence in actual practice depends on our leaving the state of selfish egoism and coming to the love of our fellow man in both our private and communal lives. This depends on our connection with the innermost aspects of the Torah. It is not a coincidence that both our independence and the revelation of the Zohar were given in our generation. Still the work is not yet complete and there is much to do. Adapted from an article written by Rabbi Avraham Mordecai Gottlieb.