Truly Free | Rabbi Yechiel Spero

Many years ago in Russia, there was a melamed. He was a very holy man. His name was Rebbe Eliezer. Rebbe Eliezer was a devoted mechanech and he risked life and limb to be able to teach Torah to children. They loved him, but there was great risk involved. And one day, a terrible thing happened. The authorities came and they whisked him away. The trial was in a kangaroo court. The charges were given and the punishment was given immediately. 18 months solitary confinement. This punishment of 18 months in any prison is a terrible punishment. In a Siberian gulag, it's an unspeakable punishment. But in solitary confinement, that's the place where there's no return. And it was very, very tragic. But 18 months later, like a lion, he emerged. Rebbe Eliezer got his aliyah. He bench gamal and he continued to teach Torah. And they said, "How did you do it? How did you survive? How did you maintain your sanity in solitary confinement?" And this is what he said. "They gave me a tiny little box of a cell, maybe 9 ft by 9 ft. Nothing. They kept me there 23 hours and 45 minutes a day. They allowed me 15 minutes in the yard. After 15 minutes, they would call me in. But I said, "They will not dictate who I am and what I become. They will not tell me where to go and what to do." "How so?" "Well, in the cell, there was one tile that I said to myself, 'This I won't step on. This tile, I refuse to allow myself to go there because now I'm a free man. I'm free to choose where I want to step here or there.' Imagine, 9 ft by 9 ft. You have nowhere to move, nowhere to walk. but one tile I refuse to stand on. When they sent me out to the yard, I had 15 minutes. I did not stay out for 15 minutes. After 14 minutes and 30 seconds, I chose to go back inside because they would not dictate what I should do and where I should move. And that's how I stayed sane because I knew that I was always a free man, free to choose, free to decide where I step, where I go, and where we look. Because we, too, are sometimes imprisoned, trapped by the eight Sahara, forced to look at certain things it would seem. The temptation is so strong, but when we decide on our own, we will determine where we look. We will determine what we see. Then and only then are we truly free. Then, no matter what else is going on in your life, and everyone has something, we are a boss over that. We are truly free, and we will be able to overcome and withstand anything in our lives.