I was convinced that I had "discovered" the essence of Judaism by reading the Torah, specifically the second book, Exodus. When reading the Ten Commandments it amazed me to find that after those that relate to the obligations of man toward God, there follows the injunction of resting on the seventh day.

How come, I asked mymself, observing the Sabbath was considered of such foremost importance as to precede not only the commandments against committing obvious sins, but even the "eleventh" commandment, 'Love thy fellowman as thyself'? Then I remembered the dictum, "More than the Sabbath having been preserved by the Jews in the Diaspora, it was the Sabbath that preserved the Jews." Also, all the ceremony associated with a day that is referred as the "bride" to be welcome with joy.

True, even today there are preliterate tribes that do not work on certain days --to the point of not leaving their homes-- under penalty of death. However, the reasons for such customs are varied --but mostly relate to fear of evil befalling the tribe. Also, the Babylonians introduced calendar days of rest; however, they were explicitly devoted to adoring their different deities.

Through Moses, the observance of the Sabbath become a commandment imposed by God upon His people. Indeed, not the people ruled that the Sabbath had to be hallowed to honor God --it was God Himself who ordained, more than twice, the observance of the sacred day in His honor.

What kind of inspiration had led the saintly men who wrote the Pentateuch to set the keeping of the Sabbath in-between the obligations of man to the divinity --on the one hand-- and to his fellowmen --on the other hand?

FREE people. Because only free people can choose not to work one day each week and to devote such day to spiritual endeavors. Only free people can comply with commandments concerning their fellowmen. Those who had just freed themselves from centuries of servitude at the hands of the Egyptians were commanded to place freedom as the obligation of man to himself --and as a prerequisite to civil behavior.

So, I thought, that is why we Jews celebrate year after year the Pesach --the Passover-- and, year after year we recall the time we were slaves until God extended His hand and set us free. And that is why practically every Jewish holiday revolves about the subject of being free or becoming free.

Then I asked myself, how can I substantiate my belief that an irrevocable commitment to freedom is of the essence of Judaism? How can I "prove" that the placing of the Commandment of the Sabbath as the first one following the Commandments pertaining to the divinity was not just a chance event?

Well, according to the Torah first come the Ten "Commandments" ("dvarim," --words--), which were enunciated directly by God to the people at Mount Sinai (with a belated footnote stating, "Love thy fellowman as thyself"). Then follow the laws ("mishpatim," --sentences--) that Moses was commanded by God to impose upon the people. If indeed there was truth in the interpretation of the Sabbath as embodying freedom, of being of transcendental importance and of the essence of Judaism, then the first Mosaic law ought to confirm this postulate.

And so I looked at the first law extended by Moses to the people, and was awestruck because, indeed, the first enactment of Moses concerns the fair treatment and sabbatical liberation of their contractual servants!

Thus, I came to conclude that anyone proclaiming liberty --and fighting for it-- is a Jew at heart. Individual freedom is inseparable from individualism and nonconformism, and is related to the wish for personal excellence, with the resulting negative attitudes from those who do not approve of these characteristics.

And when you consider yourself so free as not to bend your knees even before God, then you are bound to be called arrogant and to be thoroughly disliked. And hated. And persecuted and expulsed and cremated --that is, if you do not possess your own land and your own strong and ever alert army.