Slavery Was Abolished?

As Jews, we are uniquely sensitive to the topic of slavery. We are supposed to remember how Hashem delivered us out of bondage in Egypt every single day; we also mention it in the Kiddush blessing on Shabbat and the festivals.

But today? Today no one is a slave. Right? Wrong.

I guarantee that if you start looking for a slave, it won’t take more than a few minutes to find one. They’re everywhere. You see them walking down the street, their eyes glued to a screen. You see them sleeping with their devices under the pillow, ready to pounce if a beep sounds. Because maybe someone said something and you have to find out what it is in order to know what you are supposed to be thinking...

Breaking out of spiritual slavery is incredibly hard. Our Sages define it as a war, a battle for our souls.

In A Student’s Obligation, the Piaseczno Rebbe wrote:

“Such a person is not in control of his own mind ... because his neighbor might laugh at him, and in order to find favor in the eyes of society, he has to conform. Woe to such a person who has surrendered his soul and body to the authority and opinions of others...

“Everyone rules over him, and only he has no control over himself. It is a disgusting disease to be ashamed because of those who mock him.”

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When we see people chasing after approval, it’s pitiful. It’s also tragic, because no one can ever satisfy everyone’s expectations. But they can enslave themselves trying.

In the very first section of the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, Rabbi Yosef Caro writes:

“And one should not feel ashamed if people mock him in his service of Hashem.”

You have to choose whom to serve: Hashem, or society? Do you really want to be a slave to every new fad, every fashionable ideology, every single person who is the current “idol”?

Serving Hashem is simple by comparison! The Torah doesn’t change. But fashions and trends and ideologies change at a dizzying pace and keeping up becomes harder and harder. How many things does a person “have to” do in order to maintain their status? How many networks do you have to belong to? How many “shares” and “likes” do you have to make? Do you even have time to think before pressing the button?

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And the result? You find yourself talking and thinking like everyone else, loving what everyone loves and hating what everyone hates. You live everyone else’s life—except your own. Stop for a moment! What about your personality? What about your uniqueness? Does what’s “trending” with everyone necessarily suit you as well?

On this, the Vilna Gaon said: “ ‘He who walks in his integrity fears Hashem, but he who is perverse in his ways despises Him’ (Proverbs 14:2). A person must take the path that he needs to take, because people’s traits are not all the same.

“It’s possible that he is prone to a certain transgression, and needs to take precautions, whereas his friend does not need a safeguard in this area, although he does in another one...

“Therefore, a person must ‘walk in his integrity’—along his own path, even though other people consider it wrong because they don’t understand his needs. He does this because he fears Hashem.

“However, someone who is ‘perverse in his ways’ and distorts his necessary path in order to find favor in the eyes of the world, trying to do what they approve of even if it leads to him transgressing, despises Hashem. Why? because Hashem knows what he needs, and he is not doing it, but is instead doing what other people think he should...”

Modern-day society pays lip service to the concept of individuality, of “being free to be yourself,” while imprisoning everyone in a straitjacket of ideological and cultural conformity. The truth is that no two people are alike, but we force ourselves into society’s mold (and often force our children too).

Who gains? Think about it... If you’re above average, trying to be like everyone else means downgrading. Only the below-average people benefit...