The shared experience of oppression holds the oppressed together, but once the tyranny ends, so does the unity. Revolutionary leaders can claim only tenuous authority, at least at first, unless they are buttressed by character and accomplishment. Envious rivals eventually mobilized the people against Moses and revolted against his leadership.

The newly liberated Israelites weren’t ready for freedom. Confronted with the rigors of life in the desert, they yearned for the guaranteed sustenance of oppression, and they blamed Moses for failing to meet their unrealistic expectations. The Exodus generation, which hadn’t been responsible for its own liberation, lacked the courage to fight for freedom. It took a new generation, hardened by deprivation and conflict, to develop the character needed to enter the Promised Land.

Most revolutions fail, at least initially. Undertaken in the name of republican principles, the French Revolution soon yielded to the Terror, imperial rule and a restored monarchy. It took more than 100 years to establish self-government in France. 

Millennia ago, the Israelites were given the Law at Sinai. (Whether they accepted it or were made an offer they could not refuse is a matter of dispute.) Secular revolutions are not so fortunate; they must give the law to themselves, which means that they must reach a consensus. 

In his commentary on the Haggada, the liturgy of Passover, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks notes that Hebrew has two words for freedom— hofesh  and  herut. The former means “freedom from,” the latter, “freedom to.”  Hofesh  is liberation from oppression;  herut  is a system in which each individual respects the freedom of others.

William A. Galston


haggadah Section: Commentary / Readings