Dear Members and Friends of Congregation Beth Sholom:

 

      

        

The book Exodus illustrates one of Judaism’s foundational ideologies. We were slaves in Egypt then we were free with help from Adonai. This narrative, whether historically accurate or not, is a cornerstone of our Jewish identity. What’s so fascinating about this particular narrative, is that Egypt wasn’t so bad until now. Joseph was given the opportunity to prosper, without needing to hide his heritage. Abraham has a run in with Pharaoh while he spent some time in Egypt, where Pharaoh needed to chastise Abraham for lying to him.  So up until Exodus Egypt seemed like a ready and willing partner in helping the survival of ancient Adonai worshipers.

        

Obviously things change after the book of Exodus and the Israelites accuse Egypt of some real heinous human rights violations. Egypt, which was the salvation of Joseph and his family, becomes the boogeyman immortalized in the tableau of our Passover seder every year. Egypt is the sinister force that taught us the hardship of slavery. So, for me the question isn’t whether Egypt was as bad as our Torah suggests, but why do we need Egypt to be the bad guys, when evidence suggests that they possibly weren’t as bad as the Torah suggests.

        

Egyptologists will tell you that the Egyptians were prolific record keepers, and yet there is no evidence of a great Israelite exodus in their records. It’s certainly possible that they didn’t choose to write it down or the record was lost after all the “Absence of Evidence does not mean Evidence of Absence.” That’s a Carl Sagan quote.

 

But, there are plenty of records of the role of servitude in Egypt society. Egyptologists have broken it down to two kinds; conscripted labor and forced labor. I’m going to have professor Jan Assmann explain the difference, he wrote, “Throughout the Ancient Orient, conscripted labor was a customary form of taxation and could be paid in the form of labor service. [Between Conscripted labor and forced labor] The first form is free from every degrading or punishing aspect, the second form, however, is the usual form of punishment in antiquity and highly degrading.” Forced labor in Egypt was used punitively against criminals or immigrants from vassal states.

        

It is very possible as a vassal state that Canaanites where pressganged into forced labor. Especially if the Land of Canaan was a vassal state of Egypt. Which Egypt has recorded to be the case from 1500-1100 BCE. And scholars, by the way, believe that if the exodus did happen it would around 1250 BCE, so right in the middle of that time. However, the evidence in our Torah suggests this is not the case. Not only do the Israelites not encounter Egyptians in the Sinai, but when they do reach the land of Canaan, there is no mention of Egyptians running or controlling anything in the land of Canaan. But spies do bring back stories of giants living in Canaan so the Israelites weren’t exactly the most trustworthy of story tellers.

 

Interestingly enough our Tanakh tells us of Solomon pressganging Israelites to help build the Temple. In 1 Kings, it state, “King Solomon imposed forced labor on all Israel; the levy came to 30,000 men. He sent them to the Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 a month: they would spend one month in the Lebanon and two months at home.” This is the same kind of forced labor that Egypt used on immigrants on vassal states. Yet unlike Egypt we have no reports of Solomon committing human rights violations in his effort to build the Temple and his palace.

 

My point is this, the accusation against Egypt from the Israelites is extreme by both Ancient and Modern standards. Egypt not only enslaved them as a people to perform back breaking labor, but attempted to euthanize their babies. And as we know Pharoah is unwilling to change his policies against the Israelites until Egyptians experience having their own children euthanized as retaliation. It’s a bloody, violent, and senseless affair. This Egypt could not be more different than the Egypt we encountered with Joseph.

 

After the Israelites leave Egypt, they discover the meaning of freedom. It’s a concept that becomes famously difficult to achieve. The Israelites require 40 years of deprogramming in order to behave like a free people. And our escape from Egypt becomes a cornerstone of Jewish ideology observed and celebrated each year during Passover. We were once slaves and now we are a free people. A sinister Egypt whether historically accurate or not fueled this ideology for 3 Millenia. Egypt is a powerful fall guy.

 

But there is another lesson here. Beware the ideology of the slaver state. Even a country that was friendly could fall into it. Egypt could be synonymous to any country that utilized slaves for their infrastructure projects. The Exodus narrative shows how ridiculously unwilling Egypt was to give up this cheap labor force. Moses created an economic, health, and natural disaster crisis in Egypt, which were easily avoidable by giving up this work force, yet Egypt was unwilling or unable to comply. It’s a mindset that defies logic. Us Jews for some reason are the recipient of this mindset throughout history. So perhaps this story serves as a warning. Freedom isn’t something you earn once by crossing a sea. Freedom is something that we have to fight for again and again. For me if Egypt is the fall guy for us to learn this lesson, it’s worth it.

 

 

Rabbi Abram Goodstein

Congregation Beth Sholom

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