True Independence: A Torah Perspective

Independence Day!

As the people of Israel in our land, we are more independent, more understanding, stronger, and wiser.

We thank G-d every day and every hour for the good land He gave us, for bringing us here, and for granting us and our parents or grandparents the merit to arrive in the Holy Land, to settle it, and to establish its foundations.

But are we truly independent enough? On this Independence Day, can we give ourselves the right to be just a little more independent than we were until now?

Can we be independent individuals who think clearly and sensibly, not influenced by some opinion-shaper, journalist, politician, or some loud voice on social media?

Do we really know how to use the mind G-d gave us, to weigh the good and the bad using our reason, and make the right decisions?

This is our day to be more independent, and the greatest independence is this: “There is no one as free as one who engages in Torah.”

Anyone who sets aside time for Torah comes to understand: “There is Someone greater above me, and I don’t care,” as they say, “about what others think.”

“What I see as right, based on justice and integrity is what I do and how I live. And what doesn’t align with that doesn’t interest me. I never calculate what others will say, how I’ll appear, or in whose eyes I’ll be liked. I live my life according to my own perspective- not others’.”

True independence lies only in the path of Torah. The closer we draw to it, the more independent we become, so that our next Independence Day will be more festive than any we’ve ever celebrated.