Everyone is familiar with this “Let My People Go!” which became popular during the struggle for Soviet Jewry, as well as by Charlton Heston in the classic film “The Ten Commandments. But few have heard of the end of that biblical verse: “.. so they may serve Me.”
Freedom isn’t a Jewish value in and of itself. Freedom equals opportunity, what we do with that opportunity is the next important step and shouldn’t be left out. Exodus is a beginning, not the end all be all.
Current events around the world demonstrate that removal of tyrants from power does not necessarily bring freedom in its wake. It’s not only whose oppression we are free from, but what we are now free to do. Chaos and anarchy is not freedom and is not a conducive environment for freedom for flourish. For freedom to succeed, there must be a framework and structure, systems and laws.
And the ending of this verse teaches us one more thing. Serving G-d and living for a higher, noble, meaningful cause, is not inconsistent with freedom. On the contrary, it can be (but is not automatically) liberating, as the Mishna in Ethics of Our Fathers says: “The truly free are those who occupy themselves with Torah.”