Hasidism is a sect of Judaism, founded 300 years ago by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, who emphasised love, joy and humility. From the Hasidic Jews comes a story about freedom.
Once a man was going to meet his friend, who was a farmer in a small faraway valley. This valley was surrounded by hills from all sides, and you could not see the valley until you crossed the mountains. On the way, the man came across a very small meadow. He saw an astonishing sight there. Uncountable numbers of animals were densely packed into that meadow. There was not even enough space for them to move around, and it was very crowded and noisy. The man saw that on all sides were forests with a lot of trees, but none of the animals were in that forest, though there was no fence or barrier to stop them from going there. They were all in the meadow even though it must have been really uncomfortable for them.
When the man reached his friend’s house, the first thing he asked him was about the strange behaviour of the animals. The friend told him that nobody knew for sure because it had been going on for ages, but it was said that a long time ago, there was a landlord who was a sadist. He enjoyed tormenting the animals. He herded them into the meadow and erected a high fence around it. He placed guards with instructions to kill any animal that tried to escape. This went on for many years. Any animal that tried sneaking out was killed. Slowly, the animals accepted their prison. They began to associate freedom with fear and death. They stopped trying to escape and resigned themselves to a crowded and uncomfortable life.
Years later, the landlord died. The guards stopped getting paid, so they went away. The fence was not maintained, so it fell away too. Now, there was nothing to stop the animals from going out of the meadow, but none of them tried it. They had been so conditioned to the fence that they continued to see the fence, even though it was no longer there. It became so deeply ingrained that children were born with it in their blood and bones. The idea of the fence became a part of their mental makeup.
The behaviour of the animals may seem strange, even stupid, but it is not very different from how we humans behave. We continue to act as slaves to our circumstances, and think that we have no choice. We need to stop fearing imaginary fences, and act with freedom. The poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz said: “Bol ke lab azaad hain tere (speak, for your lips are free).”
