What the Bible says on remembering the Exodus

Shemot 13:3-4 and Devarim 16:1-3

The Significance of Remembering: These two passages, the first from Shemot and the second from Devarim, emphasize the significance of remembering the Exodus from Egypt. The first was stated by Moshe while the people were still in Egypt, even before they had physically experienced the Exodus, in the context of an introduction to the laws of the annual observance of Pesach (Passover). The second text was said forty years later, just prior to their entrance into Canaan. What might  have made the event so significant that even prior to leaving Egypt Moshe felt it necessary to bring to their attention the importance of remembering what it was they were about to experience?

Freedom as a Mentality: One might suggest that Moshe’s charge to the people while they were still enslaved was an effort to free them mentally, even before they were physically free, even before they had walked out of Egypt. The vision of freedom, of being in a place in their future when they would be looking back on their slavery is an empowering psychological suggestion.

The importance of remembering the Exodus is reflected:

• in daily prayer (included in the daily services are references to having left Egypt, especially in the Shema)
• in rituals, such as the tefillin – rabbinic tradition understands that wearing them is meant to serve as a sign “that with a mighty hand the Lord freed you from Egypt” (Shemot 13:9). 
  • Some commentaries (Rashi, Ramban) explain that one will see the tefillin and this will bring to mind the miracles and they will speak about it in every generation. 
  • Others (Rashbam) suggest that one should remember the Exodus as if the story is written upon the skin of the hand, and that it should lay upon the forehead as an ornament – “adorn yourself with the Exodus.” One should “bejewel” themselves with it openly in the way that others adorn themselves with fancy head-jewelry, perhaps indicative of a certain sense of pride and willingness to let it be known to everyone the great miracle that was done for the Israelites at the time of the Exodus.
• and in special holy days such as shabbat (in kiddush) and festivals (especially Pesach, including the Seder service where we spend the evening remembering in an active and experiential way the Exodus). 

Devarim 5:12-15

The Torah here links Shabbat with the Exodus from Egypt. What is the connection? Is not Shabbat a commemoration of the creation of the world, an event that predates the Exodus by a significant amount of time? A careful reading of this text might provide an answer.

Connection between Shabbat and the Exodus: The creation of the world is not the only foundation for Shabbat. The Israelites are commanded to rest along with their subordinates, human and animal, “so that your male and female slave may rest as you do.” Shabbat teaches the proper treatment of those less fortunate. It instills the value of abandoning all class distinctions for one day each week. The commandment is not merely to treat subordinates kindly and compassionately on Shabbat, but rather to rest from labor along with them. How does one know this? From the experience in Egypt, where all Israelites were equally subjected to second-class status and slavery. God saved the Israelites from that predicament and allowed them to develop and prosper as free human beings. But freedom often leads to distinctions in terms of wealth and status. God wanted to ensure that the people recognize that, despite appearances, one Jew is really no

different from another. There is no true basis for divisions between Jews based on financial or social status. God therefore established Shabbat in which Jews are to acknowledge that none is superior to another.

Devarim 24:17-22

The Exodus as an Essential Component of Israelite Character: God foretold the suffering that Israel would endure as foreign slaves in an alien land. The moment God chose to relay this was specifically as part of the covenant with Avraham (Bereshit 15:13–14). This suggests that the Egyptian experience is somehow of fundamental significance to the very reason of being for the Jewish nation. What was the purpose of this experience?

The Torah and Jewish tradition consider the Exodus from Egypt a pivotal event not just because of its significance in Jewish national history and not just because of what was revealed regarding the nature of God. It is important because it provides much of the basis for social justice and morality.

In a variety of passages, the Torah instructs the Israelite in proper behavior toward the underprivileged: 

• one is not to subvert the rights of strangers and orphans; 
• one is prohibited from taking a widow’s garment as a guarantee (for a loan); 
• when reaping the harvest, if a sheaf or two are overlooked, they are not to be retrieved; 
• when picking and gathering fruit, one must not pick a second time – instead, one is to leave the remainder for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

Jewish notion of Tzedakah rooted in justice: In contemporary society, one ordinarily refers to gifts to those less fortunate as charity. Charity is understood as that which is given voluntarily, out of the goodness of one’s heart. There are no laws regulating one’s charitable activities. The more compassionate one is, the more likely they are to give (putting aside for the moment any tax benefits that may come to the individual or to the corporation). The Torah takes a different view of charity. The word tzedakah ( צְדָקָה ), commonly translated as charity, is related to tzedek ( צדֶֶק ), justice (while “charity” is related to the Latin caritas, from the heart). The Torah instructs that assistance to those less fortunate is a matter of law. One is required to act in a way that reflects sensitivity and concern for those who are vulnerable. Part of what God has seen fit to give to a person

must be shared with the needy, regardless of how hard one may have worked for it or how attached one may be to it.

Slavery experience serves to instill the values of human rights: What is the basis for God’s imposition of such lofty demands? “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there.” Jews were once (and sometimes still are) a persecuted ethnic group who suffered at the hands of oppressors. They were deprived of their dignity and were treated with great cruelty. God, in an act of great mercy, redeemed them and restored their self-esteem. But it was God who wanted for the Jews to endure in the first place, and God insists they never forget what it was like to be deprived of freedom and basic human rights. After the Exodus, there continue to be orphans, widows, and people who suffer abuse for various handicaps, all in need of support. Those who have been privileged with the divine blessing of the Exodus must never forget their humbling experience and must show compassion and sensitivity towards others at all times.

Devarim 15:12-15

Slavery experience teaches how to treat one’s workers: The Israelites were once slaves in Egypt. They understood the humiliation involved in slavery. God understood this as well. God created all humans in God’s own image to live with respect and dignity. God therefore freed Israel and punished their oppressors. But God warned against letting one’s good fortune go to one’s head. If an Israelite at some juncture in ancient times was forced to sell himself into slavery because of dire financial circumstances, one must be sympathetic to his situation. The period of slavery for that Israelite must be limited to six years, after which he is to be released. And when the Israelite slave is freed, he must not go empty-handed: “Furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat, with which the Lord your God has blessed you.” Jews must share their blessings because, after all, they were

also once slaves bereft of personal possessions. 

Shabbat Eve Kiddush

This blessing, the Shabbat evening Kiddush, recited traditionally in the home on Friday nights prior to the meal, first addresses Shabbat in the context of the creation of the world – “a reminder of Creation.” As stated in the Torah (Shemot 20:11), “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Here Shabbat observance is associated with God’s creation of the world, a testimony passed down through the generations.

Then, in the second half of the blessing, reflecting the link between Shabbat and the Exodus noted in Text 3, one declares Shabbat to be the first of holy days, marked as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.

Notes on the text:

• The first paragraph of the Kiddush is taken from Bereshit (Genesis) 2:1–3.
• Some actually begin the Kiddush with some or all of Bereshit 1:31.
• The instructions contained in the text indicate the blessing for wine. Should wine be unavailable, or should one not be drinking wine for other reasons, one may substitute bread for wine and replace the blessing for the wine with the blessing for the bread – hamotzi lekhem min ha’aretz ( .(הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ
• The blessing presented in the text follows the standard Ashkenazi practice.

Devarim 16:1-3