0589 - Lesson Learned from Howard Hughes About Slavery and Freedom

00:01 In the Fabregen of Yudalev Nisan, Tov Shin Lamed Vav, the Rebbe spoke about a rich man whose name was Howard Hughes, who just passed away a few days before, and the Rebbe learned a lesson in Avedes Hashem from this person. This person was known to be very, very paranoid, et cetera, et cetera, as the Rebbe explained. And from him, the Rebbe learned a lesson in Avedes Hashem in the union of Zman Cheres Sen, the time of our freedom, which is the Gei to Pesach. And the Rebbe said that the union of slavery and freedom is not necessarily because of your physical masiv, that you're physically in jail or physically a slave, and otherwise you are free. And the Rebbe said you could be a physical slave or prisoner, and really you're free. And you could be really a free person physically, and really you are a slave. And the Rebbe said, as we saw Bapel, that there are people, and he said, "Nishvake nidon nishvake menshen gedacht", that there are people that are found in a terrible situation, and they are basically in prison. But if they decide in their mind that they are going to connect themselves to things which are not limited, then they, in their mind, their mindset that they were really free. And he said, we saw that some people, Rachman Elslan, were in the concentration camps with all the problems, but they connected themselves to Torah mitzvahs, so they really felt freedom, She'el Amalem, and a quality of freedom. On

01:31 the other hand, we find that you could have a person that doesn't have any limitations. He could do whatever he wants. He's completely free, and at the same time lives a life that is the worst and the lowest type of slavery. And the Rebbe said, "I'm going to bring an example." We know the Bashem Tov said that with everything that we see and hear in this world, anything that happens is a lesson of Avides Hashem. So I'll bring a lesson the Rebbe said from something that just happened lately. Not long ago, meaning a few days ago, there was a man, the name of Hughes, the Rebbe said, who had passed away. And all the newspapers were talking about it, and he said, "What is the Gei to me? What is the Gei what happened to this goy? Why is it important for us to know?" So the Rebbe says, till he thought about it, and he realized that he could learn from here a very special lesson concerning Zman Cheres Sen, Kasen Cheres Nishan, till I realized that this is a very simple lesson, and at the same time a very deep lesson. And the Rebbe explained what kind of person he was. He was a person that had two billion dollars, and he could do whatever he wants with it. He was so s- powerful that even governments, Amzal Gerech Ben, took his opinion in consideration. Governments were afraid of him, and they did everything that he wanted. But how did he actually live?

02:43 We know that even a simple child, a simple, uh, p- even a poor person does what he wills, eat what he wants. He eats what he wants, does what he wants. But here we had a person at two billion dollars, and how did he pass his life? How did he live? If he wanted to go anywhere, he was afraid that might shoot him there. Someone might kidnap him. Someone will take away his money. If he wanted to eat something, he was afraid that they're gonna put poison in it. He wanted to go someplace, he made a secret out of it that no one should know where he goes because he's afraid that they're gonna stop him, someone is gonna stop him and demand a ha- half a billion dollars, demand $100,000, whatever it is. So he couldn't move. He was always afraid. He had many, many guards, and he was afraid of them too, that maybe they were bribed, and who knows what they're gonna do. In other words, the two billion dollars that he owned did not give him any freedom. They made him become a real slave, that the worst slave that could possible. Because a regular slave, let's say a person was in jail, he's not afraid every moment that they might kill him, they might shoot him, and he even knows that the time will come, he will be released from prison, and he'll have a normal life again. But here we had a person that was completely tied, tied to

03:52 the things that really was something that he could use for the greatest things, tied to his money, and because of that, he was afraid to make any move. So that's why he lived in the way that he had no freedom whatsoever. He wanted to go on the street. He couldn't go on the street because he was afraid. Now, was, was he made afraid or was it really what to be afraid of? But the fact was that he couldn't go on the street. He couldn't eat what he wanted. He was afraid they would put in poison. He couldn't do whatever he wants. And here we're talking about some person that was even p- more powerful than certain governments. They would do whatever he wants, 'cause he could have told them that, "If you don't do it, I won't give you the money," and they would have listened to him. Nevertheless, Bapel, what happened to his money? Not only didn't he use his money for the right things, but this money co- made him into a real slave that he was the opposite of freedom, even though he really had freedom and could do whatever he wants. And this is a lesson concerning e- every person concerning Zman Cheres Senot. The first thing is that we have to learn from here that you have to use your money for the right things. You don't just put your money in the bank. You gotta use it for the right things. But the other thing is that you shouldn't

04:57 allow the money should make you into a slave. You have to be free. So freedom does not depend in the physical part of freedom. It's in the mindset, how you know if you connect yourself to Torah mitzvahs, then you are free. And here we have an example of somebody who had every opportunity, everything that he wanted, and really was a real slave.