This week’s Torah commentary, written by Hebrew Seminary Professor of Rabbinic Literature Rabbi Dr. Allan Kensky, has been sponsored by Elliot Eisenberg.
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A good number of years ago, when I was serving as rabbi in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I attended a serious of lectures at the University of Michigan given by a leading theologian, Gustavo Gutierrez, a leader in the movement of liberation theology in Latin America. When my Christian colleagues saw me at the lectures, they asked why I was there, to which I responded, “the Exodus.” The message of God’s liberation of the people of Israel from oppression and enslavement was a key component of liberation theology. To Gutierrez and others, the Exodus story was a model of God’s special concern for the poor. I was there to learn more about this connection.
The Exodus is the central story of our faith. Our people came into being at the Exodus. The Exodus cemented our relationship with God. As the Exodus is our foundational story, we remember it daily through our liturgy. At our Seder tables each year we retell and reinterpret the Exodus. When we recite the kiddush prayer over wine or grape juice on Friday evenings, we declare that Shabbat is zekher litzi’at mitzrayim (זֵֽכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרַֽיִם), “a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.” The Exodus led directly to the covenant at Sinai. The giving of the Ten Commandments on Sinai is linked to the Exodus: “I am Hashem your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2). Many commandments in the Torah, specifically those calling on us to exercise compassion to the poor and to the stranger, are linked to the Exodus.
Through Jewish history, the Exodus story has inspired our people and been a source of hope in difficult times. In the Bible, later episodes of redemption are described in language that recalls the Exodus. The belief in God as redeemer is key in ideas about the Messiah. In modern times Jews have invoked the memory of the Exodus as we have sensed redemption after tragic losses. Just think of the ill-fated boat named The Exodus that carried Holocaust survivors trying to reach the Land of Israel, or the rescue of Jews from the Soviet Union that was given the name Operation Exodus.
The Exodus has inspired and been a source of hope for other peoples as well. In the United States, African Americans turned to the Exodus story in their oppression and struggle for equal rights. The African American spiritual “Go Down, Moses”—with the opening words “When Israel was in Egypt’s land, let my people go”—powerfully expresses this connection. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life and legacy we will soon mark on our calendars, frequently invoked the story of the ancient Israelites in his sermons calling for racial justice and equality.
All this raises the question: Whose Exodus is this? Is the biblical message of Exodus a message for Jews alone, or is it a universal message? A while ago a serious debate on this question was waged over the pages of the Harvard Theological Review. It began with a piece by Professor Jon Levenson of the Harvard Divinity School. Levenson, a major Bible scholar, argued that the message of the biblical story was clear: God chose Israel for God’s particular attention and concern; God then made a covenant with the people Israel, cementing their special relationship for all time. God’s promise of protection and deliverance was to Israel alone. The Exodus is Israel’s story, only.
A rejoinder to Levenson followed soon, by Professor John Collins of Yale Divinity School. Collins based his argument on the text of the Book of Amos, which describe God having “taken out” other nations:
הֲל֣וֹא כִבְנֵי֩ כֻשִׁיִּ֨ים אַתֶּ֥ם לִ֛י בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֑ה הֲל֣וֹא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל הֶעֱלֵ֙יתִי֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם וּפְלִשְׁתִּיִּ֥ים מִכַּפְתּ֖וֹר וַאֲרָ֥ם מִקִּֽיר׃
“To me, O Israelites, you are just like Ethiopians,” declares the Lord. “True, I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but also the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir.” (Amos 9:7.)
God had “taken out” other nations too. God’s concern extends to all peoples. The message of Exodus is not limited to the people Israel. That is why the oppressed world over have turned to the Exodus story for hope.
Which side of this debate am I on? I think you can tell from my opening story that I believe strongly in a universal message flowing from the Exodus. I think this can be seen in the Torah’s connecting commandments regarding compassion to the poor and the stranger with our people’s experience in Egyptian bondage. (See, for example, Exodus 22:20, Leviticus 19:33–36, and Deuteronomy 16:11–12 and 24:17–22.)
I see this same sensibility also in the story of God’s selecting Moses as a leader for the people. In Exodus chapter 2, we read a sequence of three stories about young Moses. In the first, Moses sees an Egyptian striking an Egyptian (2:11–12). In the second, Moses sees two Israelites arguing with one another (2:13–15). In the third, after he flees to Midian, he finds Midianite shepherds harassing women seeking water from the well (2:15–22). Moses intervenes on each of these occasions. These three stories represent an expanding circle of concern. In the first Moses becomes involved when a member of his own community is being abused by an outsider (2:11–12); in the second story, Moses becomes involved when two members of his own people are in conflict (2:13–15); in the third, he shows compassion and becomes involved when total outsiders (Midianites) are in conflict (2:15–22). With each incident, the level of Moses’ empathy expands. It is no coincidence that immediately after these episodes, God calls to Moses at the burning bush. Moses had demonstrated the empathy that God expected of a leader of the people. (See further on this, Moshe Greenberg, Understanding Exodus, p. 56.)
May our reading of Parashat Shemot move us profoundly to connect with our origins as a people. May it inspire us to greater empathy for all who are suffering. May we be inspired by Moshe Rabbenu’s passion for justice, and by the courageous stand taken by the Hebrew midwives. May the story of the Exodus bring hope to all who are oppressed and suffering and may it help lead us to a better world.
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