for we were... [enslaved? sojourners?] in Egypt

excavating the earliest layers of Exodus' sacred myth

Michal Rovner, Echoes, 2024. (Video projection of shadows of people walking along a golden landscape, with shadows of trees in the foreground.)

This is Life as a Sacred Text 🌱, an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives. It‘s run on a nonprofit, so it’s 100% NAZI FREE. More about the project here, and to subscribe, go here:

Subscribe!

This newsletter is a reader-supported publication. Paid subscriptions allow our tiny team to keep doing this work. If you want in to the House of Study but paying isn't on for you right now, reach out and we'll hook you up, no questions asked.

Modaim l'simcha to whoever's celebrating, friends! (And for all my Christian peeps, hope your Easter was full of joy.) (And for everyone else: Hope spring is springing for you!)

Another pre- Thursday post, to catch the winds of Holy Day timing.
While some of us are in The Exodus Zone, I thought it might be a good time to share this provocative argument by Rabbi Prof. David Frankel that—if we accept it– could change a lot in our understanding of the Egypt story, and this holiday.

Matthew McFayden (in *Deadpool and Wolverine*) in a suit says, "Walk with me."

Let's start with the refrain that we hear throughout the Torah, as a near-constant call to behave justly, however translated (Strangers? Sojourners? Non-citizens? Im/migrants?) We see this language all over the place, notably in Exodus (eg 22:20, 23:9, etc):

"....for you were gerim [sojourners] in the land of Egypt,"

This post is for paying subscribers only

Already have an account? Sign in.

Sign up for Life is a Sacred Text

This post is for paying subscribers only