Becoming truly free means letting go of the victim mentality and placing boundaries on our own power.

As a Zionist, I strongly support the idea of the Jewish State as a haven for the Jewish people. I believe that we need the right of return, and that the Jewish people need political and military power, in order to continue to survive and thrive. Yet there is another strand to our people's modern story that we cannot ignore. We have power, we have a haven, and we have military might now. But the purpose of this power is not for survival alone. Our survival is not enough. In fact, it becomes devoid of meaning, when it comes at the cost of democratic and Jewish values of justice, peace, equality and human rights. Israel compromises all of these values as it continues to occupy and settle the West Bank.

When my mother's side of the family made it out of Germany - some before, some after World War II - some relatives ended up in United States while others went to Israel. Many of my cousins who went to Israel are now nationalist religious Jews living in ideological settlements in the West Bank. When I talk to one cousin's husband in particular about why he chooses to live there, his answer is very much rooted in the experience of escaping the Holocaust and losing many family members. There is a direct connection for him between the experience of victimhood and the choice to live in the Occupied Territories. He believes that history has taught the Jewish People that we must always place our survival above anything else. Everything could be taken away from us at any time. Therefore, in order to secure our survival, we must not risk losing the land now that we have it. To compromise on this is to open ourselves up to the threat of a second Holocaust.

In this week's Torah portion, Yitro, the Israelites, are encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, only months after liberation from Egyptian bondage. This ragged group of hungry, over-worked slaves are now free. Whereas they never had power over their own lives before, they now are empowered both politically and militarily.

But God understands that if the Israelites are to become the nation that God had envisioned, it is not enough to free them from slavery. The Israelites are at risk of remaining stuck in a victim mentality, constantly guarding against the past repeating itself. God realizes how dangerous and counter-productive it is for the Israelites to continue seeing themselves as weak, enslaved victims when they are in fact empowered, free people.

A victim survives by striking at perceived threats and by building defensive walls around himself. A vulnerable or deprived person hoards resources when she can get them, unsure of whether she will have her needs met in the future. This mode of survival does not serve the free person who needs to foster good relationships and compromise with his neighbors in order to live securely and peacefully into the future.

To truly become free, the Torah teaches that the Israelites need to devote themselves to a higher purpose, of building a society of holiness, justice and peace. In order to make this transition, the Israelites must move from serving Pharaoh, a human being who places no boundaries on his own power, to serving God, who demands that we place boundaries on our own power now that we have it.

At Mount Sinai, the people take a step in this new direction as they receive the Ten Commandments and a whole body of ethical and ritual laws. These laws require the people to place boundaries on their own power over space and time, whether by requiring a day of rest for themselves and their households or by letting the land lie fallow every seventh year. Through these laws, the Israelites are held accountable to a higher power, guarding against becoming Pharaohs themselves.

As Israel throws up roadblocks to peace and continues to build and expand settlements, I see our people holding on to that victim mentality. We are still acting out of fear and a sense of powerlessness. Yes, Israel needs to safeguard its security. It is justified in defending itself against threats, like any nation. But hoarding, grabbing, and holding on to Occupation only eats away at the national Jewish identity God asks of us- an identity of builders of peace and pursuers of justice.

Negotiating peace requires us to let go of that victim mentality, to recognize the power we have, and to then put boundaries on our own power, compromising for the sake of a higher value. The value of peace is more sacred and longer-lasting than any settlement or parcel of land. When we achieve this, we can finally be truly free.