Liberation Theology - for Jews

Parshat Shemot - The Exodus from Egypt is not simply an episode in the script of the Jewish People; it is the refrain. The fact that it represents the essence of the Jewish people is captured in every commandment that is זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. Modern liberation movements have taken their inspiration from the exodus as a paradigm so we what does the Exodus Liberation paradigm mean for Jews and for Israel?

Don't miss an episode! Subscribe to the Madlik podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts
and Join Madlik on Clubhouse every Thursday so you can participate in our weekly live discussion of the Parsha

שמות ב׳:כ״ג-כ״ה

(כג) וַיְהִי֩ בַיָּמִ֨ים הָֽרַבִּ֜ים הָהֵ֗ם וַיָּ֙מׇת֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם וַיֵּאָנְח֧וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָ֖ה וַיִּזְעָ֑קוּ וַתַּ֧עַל שַׁוְעָתָ֛ם אֶל־הָאֱלֹקִ֖ים מִן־הָעֲבֹדָֽה׃(כד)וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אֱלֹקִ֖ים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹקִים֙ אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶת־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃(כה) וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹקִ֖ים אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֵּ֖דַע אֱלֹקִֽים׃ {ס}

Exodus 2:23-25

(23) A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.(24)God heard their moaning, and God remembered the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.(25) God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

שמות ג׳:ז׳-י׳

(ז) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ה׳ רָאֹ֥ה רָאִ֛יתִי אֶת־עֳנִ֥י עַמִּ֖י אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וְאֶת־צַעֲקָתָ֤ם שָׁמַ֙עְתִּי֙ מִפְּנֵ֣י נֹֽגְשָׂ֔יו כִּ֥י יָדַ֖עְתִּי אֶת־מַכְאֹבָֽיו׃(ח) וָאֵרֵ֞ד לְהַצִּיל֣וֹ ׀ מִיַּ֣ד מִצְרַ֗יִם וּֽלְהַעֲלֹתוֹ֮ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַהִוא֒ אֶל־אֶ֤רֶץ טוֹבָה֙ וּרְחָבָ֔ה אֶל־אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָ֑שׁ אֶל־מְק֤וֹם הַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ וְהַ֣חִתִּ֔י וְהָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י וְהַחִוִּ֖י וְהַיְבוּסִֽי׃(ט) וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֛ה צַעֲקַ֥ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בָּ֣אָה אֵלָ֑י וְגַם־רָאִ֙יתִי֙ אֶת־הַלַּ֔חַץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִצְרַ֖יִם לֹחֲצִ֥ים אֹתָֽם׃(י) וְעַתָּ֣ה לְכָ֔ה וְאֶֽשְׁלָחֲךָ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהוֹצֵ֛א אֶת־עַמִּ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃

Exodus 3:7-10

(7) And ה׳ continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings.(8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.(9) Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.(10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.”

שמות ג׳:ט״ז-י״ח

(טז) לֵ֣ךְ וְאָֽסַפְתָּ֞ אֶת־זִקְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֤ אֲלֵהֶם֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֤י אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ נִרְאָ֣ה אֵלַ֔י אֱלֹקֵ֧י אַבְרָהָ֛ם יִצְחָ֥ק וְיַעֲקֹ֖ב לֵאמֹ֑ר פָּקֹ֤ד פָּקַ֙דְתִּי֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְאֶת־הֶעָשׂ֥וּי לָכֶ֖ם בְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃(יז) וָאֹמַ֗ר אַעֲלֶ֣ה אֶתְכֶם֮ מֵעֳנִ֣י מִצְרַ֒יִם֒ אֶל־אֶ֤רֶץ הַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ וְהַ֣חִתִּ֔י וְהָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י וְהַחִוִּ֖י וְהַיְבוּסִ֑י אֶל־אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ׃(יח) וְשָׁמְע֖וּ לְקֹלֶ֑ךָ וּבָאתָ֡ אַתָּה֩ וְזִקְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶל־מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֗יִם וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֵלָיו֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֤י הָֽעִבְרִיִּים֙ נִקְרָ֣ה עָלֵ֔ינוּ וְעַתָּ֗ה נֵֽלְכָה־נָּ֞א דֶּ֣רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֤שֶׁת יָמִים֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְנִזְבְּחָ֖ה לַֽה׳ אֱלֹקֵֽינוּ׃

Exodus 3:16-18

(16) “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: ה׳, the God of your fathers’ [house]—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said, ‘I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt,(17) and I have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’(18) They will listen to you; then you shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, ‘יהוה, the God of the Hebrews, became manifest to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to our God ה׳.’

שמות ג׳:כ״א-כ״ב

(כא) וְנָתַתִּ֛י אֶת־חֵ֥ן הָֽעָם־הַזֶּ֖ה בְּעֵינֵ֣י מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהָיָה֙ כִּ֣י תֵֽלֵכ֔וּן לֹ֥א תֵלְכ֖וּ רֵיקָֽם׃(כב) וְשָׁאֲלָ֨ה אִשָּׁ֤ה מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ֙ וּמִגָּרַ֣ת בֵּיתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֛סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָ֖ב וּשְׂמָלֹ֑ת וְשַׂמְתֶּ֗ם עַל־בְּנֵיכֶם֙ וְעַל־בְּנֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם וְנִצַּלְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Exodus 3:21-22

(21) And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away empty-handed.(22) Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.”

שמות ד׳:כ״ב-כ״ג

(כב) וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר ה׳ בְּנִ֥י בְכֹרִ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃(כג) וָאֹמַ֣ר אֵלֶ֗יךָ שַׁלַּ֤ח אֶת־בְּנִי֙ וְיַֽעַבְדֵ֔נִי וַתְּמָאֵ֖ן לְשַׁלְּח֑וֹ הִנֵּה֙ אָנֹכִ֣י הֹרֵ֔ג אֶת־בִּנְךָ֖ בְּכֹרֶֽךָ׃

Exodus 4:22-23

(22) Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says ה׳: Israel is My first-born son.(23) I have said to you, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me,” yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your first-born son.’”

שמות ה׳:א׳

(א) וְאַחַ֗ר בָּ֚אוּ מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְאַהֲרֹ֔ן וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיָחֹ֥גּוּ לִ֖י בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

Exodus 5:1

(1) Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says ה׳, the God of Israel: Let My people go that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness.”

שמות ט׳:א׳

(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְדִבַּרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֣י הָֽעִבְרִ֔ים שַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃

Exodus 9:1

(1) ה׳ said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says ה׳, the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go to worship Me.

הגדה של פסח, קדש ז׳

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳, אֱלקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בָּנוּ מִכָּל־עָם וְרוֹמְמָנוּ מִכָּל־לָשׁוֹן וְקִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו. וַתִּתֶּן לָנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ בְּאַהֲבָה (לשבת: שַׁבָּתוֹת לִמְנוּחָה וּ) מוֹעֲדִים לְשִׂמְחָה, חַגִּים וּזְמַנִּים לְשָׂשוֹן, (לשבת: אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת הַזֶּה וְ) אֶת יוֹם חַג הַמַּצּוֹת הַזֶּה זְמַן חֵרוּתֵנוּ, (לשבת: בְּאַהֲבָה) מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם. כִּי בָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ וְאוֹתָנוּ קִדַּשְׁתָּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, (לשבת: וְשַׁבָּת) וּמוֹעֲדֵי קָדְשֶׁךָ (לשבת: בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן) בְּשִׂמְחָה וּבְשָׂשוֹן הִנְחַלְתָּנוּ.

Pesach Haggadah, Kadesh 7

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has chosen us from all peoples and has raised us above all tongues and has sanctified us with His commandments. And You have given us, Lord our God, [Sabbaths for rest], appointed times for happiness, holidays and special times for joy, [this Sabbath day, and] this Festival of Matsot, our season of freedom [in love] a holy convocation in memory of the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us and sanctified us above all peoples. In Your gracious love, You granted us Your [holy Sabbath, and] special times for happiness and joy.

מכילתא דרבי שמעון בן יוחאי י״ג:ט״ו

כי בחזק יד הוציאנו ה׳ ממצרים. מלמד שנאמרו תפלין זכר ליציאת מצרים:

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 13:15

With a strong arm God took us out of Egypt (with regard to Tephilin). From this we learn that Tephilin is in rememberence of the Exodus from Egypt.

מדרש לקח טוב, ויקרא כ״ג:מ״ג:א׳

פס'. למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי. רבי אליעזר אומר סוכות ממש היו. רבי עקיבא אומר סוכות ענני כבוד היו. בהוציאי אותם מארץ מצרים. מלמד שאף הסוכה זכר ליציאת מצרים:

Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 23:43:1

In order that you should know through the generation that in booths I had you dwell. rabbi Eliezer said in actual booths. Rabbi Akiba siad booths are the clouds of glory. When I took you out of Egypt. To teach us that even the Booth is a rememberence of the Exodus from Egypt.

מדרש לקח טוב, ויקרא כ״ג:כ״א:א׳

פס'. וקראתם בעצם היום הזה. זה יום נ' זה יום עמידת ישראל לפני הר סיני לקבל התורה לפי שקבלו אבותינו התורה לסוף נ' יום לצאתם ממצרים נתן להם יום הבכורים לסוף נ' יום ליום טוב הראשון של חג המצות לכך נקראו ישראל בכורה (הושע ט׳:י׳) כענבים במדבר מצאתי ישראל וגו'. ואומר (שיר השירים ב׳:ג׳) כתפוח בעצי היער כן דודי בין הבנים. כשם שהתפוח הזה מוציא פרי לחמשים יום משיוציא כך ישראל קבלו את התורה לקץ נ' יום לצאתם ממצרים שהרי כל המועדים על שום יציאת מצרים. הפסח על שם שפסח הקב"ה על בתי אבותינו במצרים. יום תרועה הוא זכרון שתוקעין בו ישראל להודיע יום שמתכפרין בו עונותיהם זה יום הכפורים יום שניתנו לוחות אחרונים שהרי מו' בסיון עד יום הכפורים קכ"ב יום חוץ מיום שעלה בו ויום שירד בו ק"כ מ' ימים כראשונים ומ' יום בתפלה דכתיב (דברים ט׳:ט׳) ואתנפל לפני ה׳ [את] ארבעים יום [ואת] (ו)ארבעים לילה. ומ' אחרונים דכתיב (שם י) ואנכי עמדתי בהר כימים הראשונים לפיכך הוקבע יוה"כ בעשור לחדש השביעי יום מחילה וסליחה וכפרה לישראל. והם זכר ליציאת מצרים של סוף נ' יום ליציאת מצרים נתנו עשר הדברות. וזהו ז' בסיון. שנאמר בשבועותיכם בחומש הפקודים מלא בו' על זכר ו' בחדש. מקרא קדש יהיה לכם. קדשהו בב"ד:

Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 23:21:1

All the Jewish holidays are in commemoration of the Exodus From Egypt.

Liberation Theology

The Exodus was the experience which created the consciousness of the people of Israel. The people formed in the structuring centre which determined its way of organising time and space. Note that I am not saying simply that the Exodus is part of the contents of the consciousness of the people of Israel. If that were the case, the Exodus would be one item of information among others. More than an item of information, it is its structuring centre, in that it determines the integrating logic, the principle of organisation and interpretation of historical experience. That is why the Exodus does not persist as a secondary experience ... It has come to be the paradigm for the interpretation of all space and all time.

Enrique Dussel, Exodus as a Paradigm in Liberation Theology

Liberationists presuppose „…that Israel did not possess a consciousness of people-hood before the great drama of deliverance from Egypt…the actual exodus narrative is assumed to be the result of an elaborate theological reflection…which has…non-mythical‟ account of an escape to freedom.‟ Andrew adds that the exodus is central within the old testament…the key to Israel’s understanding of both God and itself. It is repeatedly re-interpreted throughout the Bible,‟ making the hermeneutical possibilities of the exodus unique for liberation theology. Thus its actual historical happening leaves serves liberationists as a model, done witha reading of the texts on the basis of present reality. Similarly,The Exodus…became the founding event not only for the course of Israelite history, but also, through its kerygmatic appropriation, for other oppressed communities. Hence, its foundational character is continually being reinforced through so many re-readings, a sure sign of its richness as a source. Hence this source is eminent to liberationists as a contact point.

Even when there is no reasonable ground exegetically it seems liberationists continue following this model. For instance, Croatto seems insistence by asserting that, "The creative and varied re-expression of the Exodus theme within the Bible indicates the pre-eminence of the meaning of the Exodus over the event, and this in return becomes a norm of interpretation for us.‟ Thus, Exodus can be imported to a given context, e.g. the poor, the sick and the oppressed.

The Usage of the Exodus account in Liberation Theology: An Evaluative approach. by Revd. Mathew N. Musyoki

To ask whether Moses was a religious or a political leader is in their eyes to ask a silly question. He was manifestly both. Indeed, he was more clearly a political leader than was Jesus of Nazareth - which is why some liberation theologians like Segundo Galilea actually prefer Moses as a model of the political leader.

Do not we in Poland have the right to have our own liberation theology?' asked Halina Bortnowska in 1985. Poles were certainly labouring under the oppression of martial law and in need of delivery from it. But because the word 'liberation' was used by communists (as in 'national liberation movements' of the post-colonial era) and because their own 'liberation' in 1944-5 had proved a hollow sham, Poles were disinclined to use this tainted vocabulary. Liberation! How many crimes have been committed in your name! So many people had been enslaved in the name of liberation.

The 1984 (Papal) instruction also deals with the Exodus, an event, it rightly says, that 'will never be effaced from the memory of Israel':

The exodus, in fact, is the fundamental event in the formation of the chosen people. It represents freedom from foreign domination and slavery. One will note that the specific significance of this event comes from its purpose, for this liberation is ordered to the foundation of the people of God and the covenant cult celebrated on Mt Sinai. That is why the liberation of the exodus cannot be reduced to a liberation which is principally or exclusively political in nature. Moreover, it is significant that the term freedom is often replaced in scripture by the very closely related term redemption.'

This neatly reverses the procedure of liberation theologians: they translated redemption as liberation to make it more vivid; it is now translated back as redemption to make it more 'religious' or 'spiritual'.

Let My People Go: the Exodus and Liberation Theology, PETER HEBBLETHW AITE, Religion, State and Society, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1993

Soviet Jewry

one wonders what [Marxist Liberation Theologists like] Steffens would have said had he lived to hear Jews shout Moses' demand "let my people go!" not at Thatcher and Reagan, but at Brezhnev and Gor- bachev, and had he lived to see death-defying rebels again escaping across the perilous seas, only this time in crude boats launched from "liberated" Vietnam or from Castro's Cuba, crowded with people fleeing those promised lands in hopes of coming to the United States. I suspect many of those Soviet Jewish emigres, those Vietnamese boat- people, and those Cuban refugees would indeed find their own experience in the Book of Exodus,…

see jon Levinson below

משנה פסחים י׳:ה׳

(ה) רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הָיָה אוֹמֵר,.... בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות יג), וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר, בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה ה׳ לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָיִם. לְפִיכָךְ אֲנַחְנוּ חַיָּבִין לְהוֹדוֹת, לְהַלֵּל, לְשַׁבֵּחַ, לְפָאֵר, לְרוֹמֵם, לְהַדֵּר, לְבָרֵךְ, לְעַלֵּה, וּלְקַלֵּס, לְמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ אֶת כָּל הַנִּסִּים הָאֵלּוּ, הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת, מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב, וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָּדוֹל, וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה. וְנֹאמַר לְפָנָיו, הַלְלוּיָהּ:

Mishnah Pesachim 10:5

(5)Rabban Gamliel would say: .... In each and every generation a person must view himself as though he personally left Egypt, as it is stated: “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying: It is because of this which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8). In every generation, each person must say: “This which the Lord did for me,” and not: This which the Lord did for my forefathers. The mishna continues with the text of the Haggadah. Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise, glorify, extol, exalt, honor, bless, revere, and laud [lekales] the One who performed for our forefathers and for us all these miracles: He took us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to a Festival, from darkness to a great light, and from enslavement to redemption. And we will say before Him: Halleluya. At this point one recites the hallel that is said on all joyous days. Since one does not complete hallel at this point in the seder, the mishna asks:

D Levenson

This idea of liberation through a change of masters shows how misleading it is to summarize the exodus through the popular slogan, "Let My people go." The full form of the challenge is actually sallab 'et-'ammi w[ya'abd3ni, "Let My people go that they may serve Me."

The term "liberty," therefore, can indeed describe the result of redemption of the sort typified by the exodus, but only if some crucial semantic distinctions are maintained.' One of the several meanings of "liberty" in Western thought is government by law rather than by a tyrant. If this is what we identify as the result of the exodus for Israel, then "liberty" and the process that produces it, "liberation," are appropriate terms for the biblical process.

I have been stressing that the Hebrew Bible does not conceive the exodus as a move from slavery to freedom, either freedom in the older, liberal sense of emancipation from external constraint for the purpose of self-determination, or freedom in the newer, Marxist sense of liberation from oppression and alienation for the purpose of equality, solidarity, and community. It might be rejoined, however, that in Tannaitic as opposed to biblical Judaism we find the exodus conceived in precisely this way, as a move "from slavery to freedom," me-'abdat leherut, in the words of the first century patriarch Rabban Gamaliel II, which have long been incorporated in the Passover Haggadah. In fact, Rabban Gamaliel ruled that in every generation each Jew is to regard himself as if he personally had come out of Egypt (M.Pes. 10:5).

EXODUS AND LIBERATION Jon D. Levenson Cambridge, Massachusetts 1989

It is more likely that by "freedom" he meant the opportunity for Israel to serve YHWH, or, in the words he is actually quoted as using, to accept "the Kingdom of Heaven" (M.Ber. 2:5).

משנה ברכות ב׳:ה׳

(ה) .... אָמַר לָהֶם, אֵינִי שׁוֹמֵעַ לָכֶם לְבַטֵּל מִמֶּנִּי מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם אֲפִלּוּ שָׁעָה אֶחָת:

Mishnah Berakhot 2:5

(5) ... Didn’t our teacher teach us that a groom is exempt from the recitation of Shema? He answered them: Nevertheless, I am not listening to you to refrain from reciting Shema, and in so doing preclude myself from the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, for even one moment.

The Holy One, blessed be He, said, The door and the doorpost, which were witnesses in Egypt when I passed over the lintel and the doorposts and proclaimed, For unto me the children of Israel are servants, they are my servants [Lev 25:55], and not servants of servants, and so I brought them from bondage to freedom, yet this [man] went and acquired a master for himself-let him be bored in their presence! (b. Qidd. 22b)"
the distinguishing mark of freedom is not the absence of subjugation, but the one to whom Israel is subjugated and the nature of life sub iugo, "under the yoke." Israel's freedom lies in their subjugation to YHWH, which, in turn, is realized in their glad acceptance of what the Mishnah calls "the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven" (e.g., M.Ber. 2:3), manifest in the life of Torah and commandments. As Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, a Palestinian authority of the third century C.E., remarks about the Decalogue "incised [b3rlt] upon the tablets" (Exod 32:15), "Don't read 'incised' [b3rlt] but rather `freedom' [be-r5t, a word that differs in only one vowel], for no one is free except one who involves himself in the study of Torah" (M. Abot 6:2).

David Daube has argued that a number of details in the exodus story are best seen against the background of the laws of slavery in the Torah. For example, three times we are told of God's disposing the Egyptians favorably toward the Israelites so that the slaves go out with great wealth and not in poverty (Exod 3:21-22; 11:2-3; 12:25-36). Daube connects these strange verses to the requirement in Deuteronomy that the master not let his emancipated slave leave empty-handed, but "furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat" (Deut 15:12-14).5' If, as I think highly likely, laws like this one do underlie the depiction of Israel's servitude in Egypt, then the effect is to make Pharaoh into a Simon Legree: he becomes the archetype of the impious slave-driver, and his dehumanizing regime becomes the foil for God's liberated kingdom. The implication of this is that ' Pharaoh's deepest problem is his refusal to conform to the laws decreed by the real master of the universe, the God of Israel, whom he brusquely and arrogantly dismisses (Exod 5 :1-2).

Whatever one may wish to speculate about the Moses of history-and all reconstructions of the exodus are exceedingly speculative-the Moses of the text is not appropriately compared to Lenin and others in the Marxist revolutionary tradition. But this does not mean that the exodus is not about liberation. The liberation of which the exodus is the paradigmatic instance is a liberation from degrading bondage for the endless service of the God who remembers his covenant, redeems from exile and oppression, and gives commandments through which the chosen community is sanctified. Whether the life of obedience in Torah in which the exodus eventuates is genuine liberation or simply another form of subjugation is a question that goes beyond the scope of our inquiry. On that question hangs far more than the interpretation of some difficult literature that antiquity has bequeathed us.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz (Hebrew: ישעיהו ליבוביץ‎; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as a prolific writer on Jewish thought and western philosophy. He was known for his outspoken views on ethics, religion, and politics. Leibowitz cautioned that the state of Israel and Zionism had become more sacred than Jewish humanist values and controversially went on to describe Israeli conduct in the occupied Palestinian territories as "Judeo-Nazi" in nature while warning of the dehumanizing effect of the occupation on the victims and the oppressors see

All Leibowitz' articles on redemption were published immediately after, within a few years of, the 1967 Six-Day War, which fueled the messianic forces within religious Zionism. Israel's victory was perceived as an almost 'unconcealed miracle', the victory over Jordan and the capture and pation (or 'liberation') of the West Bank (or Judea and Samaria) elevated messianic interpretations of the historical event to a new level. Redemption was seen by many of the followers of R. Zvi Yehuda (the son of R. Isaac Hacohen Kook) as a divinely ordained historical unfolding before their very eyes. Against this backdrop, Leibowitz' writings on redemption reveal themselves as an attempt to counterattack assault upon what he perceived as a potentially fatal threat to true Judaism and the true messianic vision of Judaism.The threat of false messianism always existed," but the 1967 military victory escalated the risk, Leibowitz rose to this perceived challenge. In his short article, "Redemption and the Dawn of Redemption,""' one of seven short essays collected in the chapter, "The Six Day War" in Judaism, Jewish People, and the State of Israel, Leibowitz ties his theological discussion to an historical political emergency and indicates its political ramifications

The language is plain and direct, the titles appeared as headlines: "Perspectives"; "The Disco-weeping-wall" (dis-Kotel) ; "The . . . meaning of heroism and victory"; "The Territories"; "The Future of Jerusalem". In this context, "Redemption and the Dawn of Redemption" "Atchalta De-Geula" expression in Aramaic, "Atchalta De-Geula" (the beginning of Redemption).

It originally appeared in Turei Yeshurun, a periodical associated with the modern orthodox Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem. The timing of the appearance of this article is also notable, because it was published and distributed to the congregants of Yeshurun immediately before the Passover holiday, 14 of Nisan 1971

Judaism, as empirical fact, as a living entity, is the acceptance of the yoke of Torah and commandments, and its observance at any time and in any circumstances." 'The present' stretches between the mythological past of the Kingdom of David and the messianic era, the present is the sole concern of Judaism i.e., the halacha, and therefore, is an existential state to which Jewish law is dedicated. In other words, the basis for all Jewish belief occurs in 'the present time', in a necessarily un-redeemed state. When messianic hopes and visions erode the observance of Torah and Mitzvot, and the mythological past and utopian futures collapse into the present tense, Judaism is in danger.

In his discussion of Passover, Leibowitz stresses that the most glorious historical-miraculous event in Jewish history did not lead to faith but a failure. "The redeemed people failed so completely that they caused "first redeemer", Moses, to fail along with them. ... The Exodus from is, and (at the same time) is not, a redemption.
God may well have been present in the act of redemption at Passover but the people were not.

Significantly, Leibowitz provided a halachic proof rather than any mystical sentiment or spiritual enthusiasm to determine and establish the symbol commemorating deliverance and redemption by the Hallel prayer, a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113-118, a praise and thanksgiving song. On Passover, the celebration of the redemption from Egypt, the Hallel is read only on the first day, "not even on the seventh day, the day of deliverance on which the mighty hand of God was revealed on the sea-for deliverance did not involve true redemption."

Leibowitz diminished the redemptive significance of Passover by emphasizing the core of Judaism as acceptance of the 'Yoke of Torah and Commandments' and by the same token, he raised Hanukah's importance.

The danger he saw was the corruption of religion by the powers of government in a way that led to false messianism, led by religious right- wing politics.

Two decades later, Leibowitz labeled this corruption of the correct order of things not just idolatry but also fascism- in some cases Hitlerism.

Leibowitz linked that understanding of redemption to any false messianic hopes held by religious Jews in his own time. They are, as the Christians and the Sabbateans before them, idolaters. He warns that Jews must not confuse military victory and national political deliverance as the 'dawn of redemption'. For ". there is no hope for a Jewish religion which places a messianic halo over a king who did not depart from all the sins of Yerovam the son of Nevat which he made Israel sin" only because "he restored the border of Israel . ..

For Leibowitz the true messiah might be the messiah that "never comes", the ideal postulate that guides and stimulates the service of God by observance of the Torah. Here we come full circle. The messiah represents an eternal task that a postulate that inspires the life of Torah and Mitzvot.

Leibowitz' messianism dictates life to be lived in opposition to religious heresies such as Christianity, Sabbateanism, and, in modern Israel, right-wing religious Zionism.

When Leibowitz was asked by students what could done to correct the Jewish people's misconceptions in regard to redemption and better prepare for the ideal redemption, Leibowitz answered that education of Torah for its own sake, and not for the service of national goals the way "To return the heart of the people toward the idea of redemption. The first thing that has to be done is to free Religion from its despised as a concubine of the secular government.

Redemptive Theology in the Thought of Yeshayahu Leibowitz
Author(s): Haim O. Rechnitzer, Source: Israel Studies , Fall, 2008, Vol. 13, No. 3, Israeli Secular-Religious Dialectics (Fall, 2008), pp. 137-159, Published by: Indiana University Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/30245835

Geoffrey Stern

Topics

Part of Collections

Madlik Disruptive Torah