The Great Awakening: Exodus.23

The Great Awakening: Exodus

By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

January 10, 2023

Exodus.

It’s the title of the second book of the Torah (and of this week’s portion, Ex. 1:1—6:1), and by itself sends tingles down our spine. Exodus automatically evokes images of plagues and pyramids; of a tortured and subjugated people crying to God for help; of a sea parting in the midst of a mighty storm.

Exodus also reminds us of modern times—the saga of the rickety boat that brought 4,500 Jewish survivors and refugees of the Holocaust to the shores of the Promised Land (and the book and movie that this true story inspired).

Exodus is the stuff that dreams, novels and movies are made of. It is grandiose drama, set at the court of the mightiest empire of ancient times. The conflict is not only between Moses and Pharaoh; it’s also between God and the mythical Egyptian gods, and between the human emotions of cruelty and pity, arrogance and compassion.

In addition to its grand elements, the story of Exodus is also infused with instances of human frailty and courage: Moses, chosen by God to lead the Hebrews to freedom, is a stutterer as well as a deeply conflicted coward/hero who flees to the desert rather than face his calling. The heroism of the Hebrew mothers and midwives who refuse to abide by Pharaoh’s orders to kill every newborn male, and even of Pharaoh’s daughter, who openly disobeys her father and rescues the child of Hebrew slaves, raising him to be a prince—these provide depth and emotional power to the story.

Exodus is about the revelation to the world of a single God, powerful, vengeful but ultimately also forgiving. It is of course about the Jewish People finding meaning, purpose and a role in history. But it’s also about the inalienable rights of every human being to be free of tyranny and subjugation. 

But as much as it is intended to capture the imagination of children and adults alike, the Torah’s second book is also a theological discussion. Exodus examines the idea of a singular God, One without any physical form or image, and it struggles with the challenges that come with this vision: How do human beings approach a God who has no body and therefore does not require sacrifices of food or wine to keep Him happy? Yet as much as it’s about human beings who must learn how to worship this God, it’s also about God who must adapt and learn to control the powerful energy that sometimes rages with destructive force and at other times must appear as gentle and soothing as dew on the parched earth.

Like all Biblical stories, Exodus has many lessons. For me, one of the most important is found in Exodus 4:10-11. Moses protests the mission that God sends him on: “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (NKJV). Showing growing impatience with Moses’s arguments, God responds, “Who gave man a mouth, or who makes [one] dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, [Adonai]” (NIV). As I understand this statement, God is the power that not only shapes us, but that also empowers us, that drives us onward, that helps us when we struggle, and that lifts us up again when we have fallen.

Exodus is the story of the Jewish people rising from the ashes and finding meaning and purpose in its existence. But it is also about all humankind and our ability to rise to the Divine potential embedded within each of us. Breathtaking in reach and scope, Exodus is the story of humanity awakening from a deep torpor and climbing to heights unimaginable to any other form of life on this earth.

© 2023 by Boaz D. Heilman