Exodus / Yetzi'ah Going out, growth and development

The verb "to go out" here is about a nefesh, a human being, coming out of their parent. Taking a literal look at this, we all begin as a sperm and an egg, each of which go out from one part of the body to another; they get together and begin to grow and mature into an embryo, which will grow and eventually be born from their mother's womb. These natural "going out"s use the exact same verb as the Exodus verb.

And we can also see birth imagery with the Exodus. When we leave Egypt, we pass through a narrow passageway into the Wilderness, just like an infant passes through the birth canal into the world. A similar birth image is used when we pass through the Jordan River from the Wilderness into Canaan.

Thus, it seems that the verb "to go out / latzeit" is primarily about moving from one developmental stage to the next. Moving from sperm and egg to embryo is a going out. Moving from unborm to born is a going out. Going out from enslavement into wilderness and wilderness into landedness is a going out.

But Rabbi, you might say, that's one verse and the actual Exodus. Surely, people just go in and out of rooms and buildings without any developmental significance. How many other examples to illustrate your point could there possible be?

I would reply that you have made an excellent point, and yes, sometimes, it's just going from one place to another, but in key moments, the verb appears and leads us to look at those moments as crucial developmental moments. Let's take a look.

After killing Abel and speaking with God, Cain sets out on his own, away from Adan and Eve, and introduces the development of cities into Genesis. This "going out" is both personally developmental for Cain and communally developmental for humanity.

The verb here is used in gradual stages, reflecting on the large scale the depopulation of the earth with animals and humans; while the small scale repetition of the verb reflects the trepidation about leaving the ark (womb, second garden of Eden); first just the raven is sent out; then Noah is told to send the animals out, which they do; then God has to command Noah and the others to leave the ark to restart human life, which in the end they do.

The next time the verb appears is with...NOT Abraham, but with his father Terach. Terach (who is clearly being hinted at here as a significant individual) goes out from Ur Kasdim and goes towards Canaan. Terach's going out is his own personal spiritual evolution and journey, but he gets stuck half way.

It's also worth noting that going out from Babylon to Canaan is the same path that we take when we return from the Babylonian Exile by going from Babylon back to Canaan. This shows that every return from exile is also a form of Exodus, a significant developmental change. The return from Babylon is part of the development from Biblical Israel to becoming the Jewish People in the Second Temple period. This period of marked by the Torah becoming the core sacred text, the beginning of the Oral Torah interpretation, and the emergence of the synagogue.

The language here is structurally the same as our Exodus language; sounds just like the beginning of the Ten Commandments. This going out has also been about him, especially in his completion of the journey that his father began. This exodus from Ur has been about him and his family as well. And this is foundational for us!

Just as you Abraham went out from Babylon to come here and succeed, so too your descendants will come out but from Egypt and succeed as well.

Isaac never leaves the land, unlike his father Abraham and son Jacob. But he does still go out to a new stage of growth and development. Following the Akedah and death of his mother, Isaac is absent from his story and perhaps from his life. When Rebecca comes to Canaan to become his wife and partner, Isaac goes out to meditate in the field, which is when he sees her arriving. This going out marks a new stage in Isaac's life as patriarch who can bear and pass on the blessing of Abraham, and become a person in his own right.

Jacob's going out is the first to go out into exile. He leaves home fleeing from his brother, but he also goes out to grow and mature as a person, apart from family, to become his own person, to become a patriarch, to marry several women and have abundant children. He also returns home in a "going out," reflecting the completion of one stage and moving into the next, which is accompanied by a being given a second name - Israel.

Echoes of God to Abraham about his Going Out.

Moses grows up and goes out to his people, and now, perhaps for the first time, sees what is really going on (First Sight) and understand the oppression and suffering he sees in front of him.

Aaron's Going Out marks a development in his role as High Priest (in potential), in their relationship to each other, in their role in the large Exodus, and in the Exodus itself.

The night before the Exodus, the physical Exodus, is spend with everyone at home, in a pre-Exodus womb-like state. Ready to emerge at the right time. And while they are staying at home in their demarcated Israel homes, they eat that meal most unEgyptian, flat bread and roasted whole lamb. They are not to leave (go out) until the call comes, and in the middle of the night it comes from Pharaoh himself.

Now it's just smacking us in the face. We are connecting our Going Out from Egypt, spiritually and physically, with the growth of barley, which is called Aviv in its ripened stage.

This is set at the right time for growth and development, tying the personal to the communal to the biological and botanical to the divine and cosmological.