"Va’eira — Part VII — Modern Reflection"

7.1 - Freedom Can Be Lost: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Responsibility, Memory, and Moral Drift

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks warns that the greatest threat to freedom is not oppression—it is forgetfulness. Parshas Va’eira, read through his lens, becomes a timeless caution: liberation achieved without responsibility will eventually collapse back into bondage.

Freedom is not self-sustaining.
It must be renewed daily.

The Paradox of Liberation

The Exodus story is often told as a movement from slavery to freedom. Rabbi Sacks insists this is incomplete. The Torah’s deeper claim is that freedom without moral structure is unstable.

Egypt loses its chains suddenly. Israel gains freedom slowly. The difference matters.

Freedom is not the absence of restraint.
It is the presence of obligation.

Why Pharaoh Is a Modern Figure

Rabbi Sacks reads Pharaoh not as an ancient villain but as a recurring human type. Pharaoh believes power equals freedom. Control equals autonomy. Constraint equals weakness.

Va’eira exposes this illusion.

Pharaoh can command others but cannot command himself. When pressure lifts, responsibility dissolves. Relief becomes license.

This pattern is tragically modern.

Knowledge Without Covenant

The Torah repeatedly states the goal of the plagues:

וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי ה׳

Rabbi Sacks emphasizes that knowledge alone does not preserve freedom. Modern societies are saturated with information, yet moral clarity erodes.

Freedom decays when:

• Rights are asserted without duties
• Choice expands without purpose
• Power detaches from accountability
• Memory fades into convenience

Pharaoh knows Hashem’s power. He never binds himself to it.

Freedom Requires Memory

Rabbi Sacks famously argues that Judaism is a civilization of memory. The Exodus must be remembered daily—not to relive trauma, but to anchor responsibility.

זָכוֹר כִּי־עֶבֶד הָיִיתָ

Memory creates empathy. Empathy restrains power. Restraint preserves freedom.

When societies forget their origins, they confuse liberty with license.

Fear of Hashem as Moral Gravity

Rabbi Sacks reframes yirah as moral gravity—the force that keeps freedom from flying apart. Fear of Hashem is not fear of punishment; it is reverence for limits.

Without limits:

• Freedom becomes indulgence
• Choice becomes addiction
• Power becomes entitlement

Va’eira teaches that fear must follow liberation or liberation becomes destructive.

Israel’s Slow Formation vs. Egypt’s Collapse

Rabbi Sacks highlights the Torah’s deliberate pacing. Israel is not freed overnight because freedom must be learned.

Egypt collapses because it never learned restraint. Israel ascends because it is trained in responsibility.

This distinction explains why Torah law follows redemption. Law is not the enemy of freedom—it is its architecture.

Modern Societies and the Risk of Regression

Rabbi Sacks warns that societies can regress into new forms of slavery:

• Addiction masked as freedom
• Tyranny disguised as choice
• Bureaucracy replacing conscience

When freedom loses its ethical core, it devours itself.

Va’eira’s Modern Warning

Va’eira teaches that liberation without covenant is temporary. Miracles can break chains, but only responsibility keeps them broken.

Freedom must be:

• Remembered
• Disciplined
• Educated
• Renewed

Otherwise, it erodes quietly.

The Final Lesson of Part VII

Rabbi Sacks leaves us with a sobering truth: freedom is fragile. It survives only when anchored to something higher than desire.

Pharaoh loses freedom because he refuses limits.
Israel gains freedom because it accepts them.

Va’eira is not only the story of ancient redemption.
It is a warning to every free society.

Freedom can be lost—not all at once, but slowly,
when responsibility is treated as optional.

And the Torah insists: if freedom is to endure,
it must be guarded—by memory, by law, and by fear of Hashem.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Va'eira page under insights and commentaries.