[Avodah] Parshas Ki Sisa: Rav Shimon Schwab - Mordechai's Brings, Real Freedom For His Nation

[David Riceman]

RYL:
>>> The only true freedom is breaking free from the pressures around us to
>>> serve Hashem with purity.
RMB:
>>>
>>> It is always true. A person is "enslaved" to his desires, which often push
>>> him to preconsciously pick without any conscious or rational thought. And
>>> with non-spiritual desires, mi sheyeish lo maneh, rotzeh masayim.
>>>
>>> The only freedom a person really has is when a person commits to doing
>>> what they were made to do.
>>>
Frankly, this is a polemical trick which subverts the meaning of 
"freedom" and substitutes a straw man for serious argument.  For a 
definition of freedom see H. Teshuvah 5:1-2, cf. Niddah 17b (cited by 
several of the Nosei Keilim).  For a more appropriate examination of 
RYL's argument see Isaiah Berlin's essay "Two Concepts of Liberty", 
reprinted in "Liberty".

You need to argue against the alternative, not pretend it doesn't exist.

David Riceman