19 May SHAVUOS: WHAT’S WITH ALL THESE LAWS? LASER TECHNOLOGY OF THE WORLD

The Nightingale
The story is told of a
king who once
decided to reward a
peasant who had
done him a great
service. “Shall I give
him a sack of gold? A bag of pearls?” thought
the king. “But these mean virtually nothing to
me. I want, for once, to truly give something
— something that I will miss, a gift that
constitutes a sacrifice for me.”
Now this king had a nightingale who sang the
sweetest songs a human ear had ever heard.
He treasured the nightingale over all else and
literally found life unbearable without it. So,
he summoned the peasant to his palace and
gave him the bird. “This,” said the king, “is in
appreciation for your loyalty and devotion.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said the peasant,
and took the royal gift to his humble home.
A while later, the king was passing through
the peasant’s village and commanded his
coachman to halt at the peasant’s door. “How
are you enjoying my gift?” he inquired of his
beloved subject.
“The truth to tell, Your Majesty,” said the
peasant, “the bird’s meat was quite tough —
all but inedible, in fact. But I cooked it with

lots of potatoes, and it gave the stew an
interesting flavor.”
Is This Freedom?
Why does Judaism prohibit me from doing
whatever I want? people often ask. Why can’t
we just be free, liberated, and individualistic?
Why are there so many laws, instructions and
rituals in Judaism that govern every aspect of
one’s life, from the way we eat to the way we
marry? Would it not have been nice if the
opening of the Ten Commandments would
have read like this: “I am the Lord your G-d
who has taken you out of Egypt in order to set
you free. Now, young women and men, listen
ye to my words! You can do whatever you
want, wherever you want, however you want,
with whomever you want, as long as you
don’t hurt another person. I honor your
individual rights to choose your own lifestyle
and behavior, without anybody governing
your decisions. Conform not to any standard;
just live it up!”
But, as you know, G-d chose another script
for the Ten Commandments. They were not
written by Woody Allen, Alan Ginsburg, or
Aldous Huxley. At Har Sinai G-d gave the
Jewish people a Torah – filled with directives,
instructions and restrictions. I am in the
airport, my flight is delayed, and I am the only

one who can’t enjoy a hot dog and fries in
McDonalds. As the sun rises, I am the only
one who has to stand up in front of the entire
plane and put on tefilin to the dismay of the
flight attendants who will now testify that
they have spent 11 hours with a UFO. Shabbos
arrives and I am the only one who does not go
to the golf course…
Is this why we left the house of bondage in
Egypt – to become slaves to the Almighty?
And yet the Sages saw it otherwise. “There is
no free man, save for he who occupies himself
with the study of Torah” (Pirkei Avos, 6:2.)
Really?! If anything, it is exactly the other
way around: as long as you don’t learn Torah,
you are free to engage in so many activities,
the options are open. Once you embrace
Torah, there goes your freedom Charlie…
Torah mixes into everything… A life that is
faithful to the precepts of the Torah is indeed
greatly “constricted” and “confined.”
Why – people often ask me — limit myself in
any way? Why not give free rein to my
thoughts, feelings and inclinations, and let
them lead me where they may? Why
automatically exclude certain pursuits and
experiences from the possible paths my life
might take?
Democracy and Laser Technology
Among the great technological
achievements of the last half-century is the
development of the “laser beam.”
Briefly: The nature of light is such that it
scatters as it moves away from its source,
thereby lessening its intensity and effect.
The laser overcomes this limitation by
concentrating its energy in a straight line,
so that it retains its potency even at great
distance from its point of origin; thus its
utility — as a source of light, heat, or other
uses — can be exploited in ways previously
unimaginable.
A laser beam is narrowly confined so that
the light does not spread to the sides. It is
thus completely focused in one direction
only, maintaining its strength even at great
distances from its source. In fact, the laser
beam can even make a hole through a
metal barrier several inches thick at a
distance of several miles.
The photons in a laser beam all move in the
same direction, so they can be precisely
focused. This focus concentrates enormous
energies on a tiny spot, allowing mere light
to vaporize even steel.
Lasers are now used in numerous
technologies, from dental drills to CD
drives to household tools. Lasers are also
widely used in surgery. Laser technology
has allowed surgeons to develop many new
techniques to reduce injury to tissues and
shorten the healing time for incisions. With
the laser beams, surgeons silently and
smoothly penetrate deep into the body and
perform various procedures to bring

healing to people.
It is not a coincidence that during the same
decades when the concept of “freedom at all
costs” has overtaken our society – Divine
providence allowed science to develop laser
technology, because it is through this
technology that we can gain insight into the
true function of Torah and Mitzvos, and the
objective of Jewish law. Torah is the spiritual
“laser technology” of the world.
Scattering the Energy
On the face of it, the Jewish code of behavior
is a limiting factor, something that detracts
from the great variety of possibilities that life
has to offer. In truth, however, the very
opposite is the case. As the example of the
laser beam demonstrates, it is precisely the
“limitations” imposed on a force that extend
and amplify its potentials and enable its
optimal realization.
A life without parameters is a life that quickly
dissipates in the cosmic heterogeneity in
which we exist, draining it of all power and
impact. When we follow our instincts, habits,
cravings and appetites without any restrictions
– our inner momentum, focus and depth are
weakened. When we allow ourselves the
freedom to go in every direction, when there
are no boundaries or imitations and we are
free to do everything and anything — our light
scatters all over the place and we never realize
our ultimate power and potential. Our
energies are squandered, our richness is
compromised, our creativity silenced, and our
brightness dulled.
Conversely, when we “restrict” the light, and
do now allow it to flow anywhere and
everywhere – we fine-tune our inner
creativity, we cultivate our power, we become
the most powerful people we can become, we
access all of our momentum, and we can
vaporize even steel…
It is like the chords of a violin which must be
tied down to allow the music to play. Torah
and Halacha do not come to tie us down, but
rather to allow our music to soar.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches, that Halacha is
the acronym of “Hareoo L’Hashem Kal
Haaretz,” let the whole earth sing to G-d.”
What for one person is meat-and-potatoes is
for another person a nightingale capable of
producing the most beautiful music in the
world.