True Freedom Requires an Anchor

Sailors know a secret that sounds counterintuitive. A ship without an anchor isn't freer, it's in [music] mortal danger. In a storm, a ship without heavyweight is swept away by the waves, capsizes, and crashes [music] against the rocks. It's actually the heavy anchor and the ballast at the bottom that lower the center of gravity [music] and stabilize the ship. It's the weight that gives the freedom to sail. And let's admit it, we're a generation that grew up on the equation [music] freedom equals no rules, no commitments, no boundaries, nothing [music] weighing us down. Every anchor feels like a prison. But then, when a real crisis comes, we have nothing to lean on. We simply drift because we have no anchor. King Solomon wrote about the Torah, >> [music] >> "It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it." Notice, "To those who hold fast to it." Whoever [music] holds on to it does not get swept away. The Torah and the commandments sometimes seem like a heavy burden, but they are exactly the anchor. [music] They are what keep us steady when life gets stormy. It's precisely what [music] weighs us down that sets us free. Science has proven that weight is what stabilizes in a storm. Solomon knew that the anchor is what gives true freedom. [music] The Holy One, blessed be He, did not give us commandments to make us sink. He gave us an anchor so that we wouldn't be swept away. Let's not run away from the anchor. Let's remember it is what holds us steady in the storm.