Va-Era 5766: What the Exodus Teaches
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Exodus 6:2-9:35 (Hebrew Fonts)
First a little humor from (Exodus 9:27-34) after the hail:
It just goes to show, you can’t trust politicians! Now, onto the dvar: People who know me know that I like to find great meaning in common textual or linguistic errors. In this parashah, we find a verse often cited with reference to Charleton Heston, rather than what the text actually says. The film Ten Commandments begins with Moses telling Pharaoh “Let My People Go!” and ends with the reading of Leviticus “And you shall proclaim liberty1 throughout the land”. The Prince of Egypt suffers from a similar error. A casual reading of the text informs the reader, that the full demand is:
This understanding of the famous line is critical and is brought out time and time again during the early book of Exodus that the purpose of the Exodus is so that the Israelites should worship God and be his. (Exodus 6:10, 7:2, 7:5 God’s plan to let people go (to be his people)) This is, as you might imagine, quite a different goal than “having universal liberty“. And to be more precise, the worship intended is of animal offerings, both by the use of the word avodah (temple service) and by Pharaoh’s understanding it as zevah (slaughter). It impresses me also, that while the narrative is quite clear that God wants, to show his power to the whole world and to make the Israelites his people, Moses is deceptive in speaking with Pharaoh. In 8:20-24, Pharaoh tells Moses not to go far and Moses seems to agree. Now, we know from 6:10 that God’s intent is have Pharaoh dispatch the Israelites from his land. And Moses’ request of Pharaoh is to make a three day journey for a holiday. It is only by this strategy of having Pharaoh deny even reasonable requests that perhaps justifies why Pharaoh didn’t deserve to enslave the Israelites. See here how the Torah justifies the hail:
God makes it clear that his goal is not just to “let his people go” but to win them over to him through a show of power. And if you think about it, that’s exactly what we do at the Pesach Seder every year; we remember we are God’s people because we were saved by a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, with awesome power and by signs and portents. (Deut. 26:8) The Torah in some way is saying that while God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob it was by the exodus from Egypt wherein God demonstrated that he chose us. By saving us, we would belong to him. Now, the implication of this is that if God redeemed us to keep his commandments, then we must observe his commandments by the letter, because that is why we were freed. However, I would argue that while the Israelites of that generation 3200 years ago were obligated by Torah law, the details of the law have evolved since then as has what is right and good in our eyes. That phrase from Deuteronomist school(Judges 21:25) teaches that we need a leader who can teach us what is right and wrong. It follows then, that we can change the law as long as we have a leader who is moral and knowledgeable in the tradition. I therefore argue that “let my people go” doesn’t mean “go to be a people without rules”. It means to be a people serving God2. And how do we serve God, (Micah 6:8) “It has been told to you Adam what is good and what YHWH seeks from you, but doing justice, and love of lovingkindness (hesed), and humbly walking with your God”.
Serving God as a Jew means finding a teacher (Avot 1:6) who knows how to be a good Jew3 and necessitates being in a community of people sympathetic to the ways and stories of Torah. The Torah doesn’t just want you be a good person, but to be a good Jew, to be versed in the Jewish historical search for truth, peace, and justice (Avot 1:18). That is what we heard at Sinai. Note: 1. י וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּ֗ם אֵ֣ת שְׁנַ֤ת הַֽחֲמִשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּקְרָאתֶ֥ם דְּר֛וֹר בָּאָ֖רֶץ לְכָל־יֹֽשְׁבֶ֑יהָ יוֹבֵ֥ל הִוא֙ תִּֽהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְשַׁבְתֶּ֗ם אִ֚ישׁ אֶל־אֲחֻזָּת֔וֹ וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶל־מִשְׁפַּחְתּ֖וֹ תָּשֻֽׁבוּ׃ Liberty, דְּר֛וֹר in Hebrew as above (Lev 25:10), means release of the land from current ownership back to ancestral ownership as seen in Jeremiah 34:13-17, Isaiah 61:1, and Leviticus 25:10. While liberty might have meant this in the time of King James, release is a better translation for now. So, that unmakes the point De Mille was making by ending the film on this verse. |
