Addict Torah's Mission: To interrogate Torah deeply so as to create space, connection and safety for people with addictive patterns and behaviors that have led them to a crisis of the spirit to tell and shape their stories for the purpose of healing, growth, and a return to their whole selves.
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(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃ (ב) וּלְמַ֡עַן תְּסַפֵּר֩ בְּאׇזְנֵ֨י בִנְךָ֜ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֗ אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֤ר הִתְעַלַּ֙לְתִּי֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וְאֶת־אֹתֹתַ֖י אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֣מְתִּי בָ֑ם וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ם כִּי־אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃
(1) Then יהוה said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, (2) and that you may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them—in order that you may know that I am יהוה.”
God speaks to Moses, the prophet within us, and says, 'Bo! Come on in! I am waiting for you inside the heart of Pharaoh. The heart of Pharaoh is inside you. It is the place that has grown heavy with the weight of life's experience. It is the place that has hardened - its outer shell cynical, and its inner layers made of fear and unhealed grief. Through this heart of Pharaoh you must come if you are to know Me, if you are to find your freedom.'...When we come through the heart of Pharaoh and enter in to those depths within, the blessing we receive is freedom and protection...
There is a story about some jealous angels who are asked to hide the spark of the Divine in the world. 'Let's put it at the top of the highest mountain,' offers one. 'No,' says another, 'The Human is very ambitious, he will find it there.' 'Well, then, let's bury it beneath the deepest sea.' 'That won't work either,' another chimes in. 'The Human is very resourceful. She will even find it there.' After a moment's thought the wisest angel says, 'I know. Put it inside the Human heart. They will never look there.'
Pharaoh's repeated refusals to let the slaves go have made it virtually impossible for him to change now. In effect, he has given away his freedom to decide. The talmudic sage Resh Lakish is quoted as saying, 'When God warns someone once, twice, and even a third time and that person does not repent, then and only then does God close the person's heart against repentance and exact punishment for his sins'...although...later texts will portray God as grieving for the Egyptians who are also God's children and suffer because of Pharaoh's stubbornness.
(ה) וְכִסָּה֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֔רֶץ וְלֹ֥א יוּכַ֖ל לִרְאֹ֣ת אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְאָכַ֣ל ׀ אֶת־יֶ֣תֶר הַפְּלֵטָ֗ה הַנִּשְׁאֶ֤רֶת לָכֶם֙ מִן־הַבָּרָ֔ד וְאָכַל֙ אֶת־כׇּל־הָעֵ֔ץ הַצֹּמֵ֥חַ לָכֶ֖ם מִן־הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃
(5) They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the surviving remnant that was left to you after the hail; and they shall eat away all your trees that grow in the field.
The phrase is a triple redundancy: yeter happlth hanniš ’eret.
(ז) וַיֹּאמְרוּ֩ עַבְדֵ֨י פַרְעֹ֜ה אֵלָ֗יו עַד־מָתַי֙ יִהְיֶ֨ה זֶ֥ה לָ֙נוּ֙ לְמוֹקֵ֔שׁ שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֲנָשִׁ֔ים וְיַֽעַבְד֖וּ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם הֲטֶ֣רֶם תֵּדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אָבְדָ֖ה מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(7) Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, “How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let a delegation go to worship their God יהוה ! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?”
(14) Locusts invaded all the land of Egypt and settled within all the territory of Egypt in a thick mass; never before had there been so many, nor will there ever be so many again. (15) They hid all the land from view, and the land was darkened; and they ate up all the grasses of the field and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, so that nothing green was left, of tree or grass of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
(כא) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה נְטֵ֤ה יָֽדְךָ֙ עַל־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וִ֥יהִי חֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְיָמֵ֖שׁ חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ (כב) וַיֵּ֥ט מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־יָד֖וֹ עַל־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַיְהִ֧י חֹֽשֶׁךְ־אֲפֵלָ֛ה בְּכׇל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת יָמִֽים׃ (כג) לֹֽא־רָא֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אָחִ֗יו וְלֹא־קָ֛מוּ אִ֥ישׁ מִתַּחְתָּ֖יו שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וּֽלְכׇל־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָ֥יָה א֖וֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָֽם׃ (כד) וַיִּקְרָ֨א פַרְעֹ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לְכוּ֙ עִבְד֣וּ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֔ה רַ֛ק צֹאנְכֶ֥ם וּבְקַרְכֶ֖ם יֻצָּ֑ג גַּֽם־טַפְּכֶ֖ם יֵלֵ֥ךְ עִמָּכֶֽם׃
(21) Then יהוה said to Moses, “Hold out your arm toward the sky that there may be darkness upon the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be touched.” (22) Moses held out his arm toward the sky and thick darkness descended upon all the land of Egypt for three days. (23) People could not see one another, and for three days no one could move about; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. (24) Pharaoh then summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship יהוה ! Only your flocks and your herds shall be left behind; even your dependents may go with you.”
10:21. one will feel darkness. Like the other plagues, this one is explicitly identified as different from what is found in nature at other times. The hail and locusts are unlike anything that has ever happened in Egypt. The darkness can be felt. There is no chance whatever that the Egyptians—or any interpreter of this text—can understand these as being chance occurrences of nature.
Perhaps it was a spiritual or psychological darkness, a deep depression...People suffering from depression lack the energy to move about or to be concerned with anyone other than themselves, precisely as the Torah describes the Egyptians. Perhaps the Egyptians were depressed by the series of calamities that had struck them or by the realization of how much their own comfort depended on the enslavement of others. The person who cannot see his neightbor is incapable of spiritual, incapable of rising from where he is currently. In Jewish legal discussion defining how early one may recite the morning prayers, 'dawn' is defined as 'when one can recognize the face of a friend.' (BT Berakhot 9b). When one can see other people and recognize them as friends, the darkness has begun to lift.
In Jewish tradition, lots of things start in the dark. We start our days in the dark – in Jewish time, our 24 hour ‘days’ begin at…night’ when the sun goes down. We start our months in the dark – the new moon is the head of the month, the darkest time of the month. Tonight is a very important new moon, because near the autumnal equinox, just as the nights become longer than the days – just as things are getting dark – we now start our year. Why do we all these important beginnings start in the dark? And it’s not just time, it’s our legends. Our legends are full of dark, powerful, cool things...Why all this darkness in our time keeping, and in our great legends? Well, we start in the dark! Where are we before we are born? In the dark of the womb. And, we spend a lot of our time in the dark! What happens when we close our eyes? Where are we when we sleep? In the dark. We spend up to a third of our lives - in the dark. Renewing, regenerating, growing. Is darkness a bad thing? Or is it important to use it as a quiet, creative space in which to grow?
One of the first steps in the process of liberation was for the Israelites to have their own calendar, their own way of keeping track of time and recalling the most important days of their people's history. A slave does not control his or her own time; it belongs to someone else...
Was the blood on the doorpost a sign that this family had the courage to defy their Egyptian neighbors and demonstrate an inner liberation? Was it perhaps a sign that this family has already suffered and should be spared? or was it simply that this family had complied with God's command? Could God not distinguish between Israelite and Egyptian homes?
Those among the Egyptians who gave credence to Moses' words, and tried to shield their first-born children from death, sent them to their Hebrew neighbors, to spend the fateful night with them, in the hope that God would exempt the houses of the children of Israel from the plague. But in the morning, when the Israelites arose from their sleep, they found the corpses of the Egyptian fugitives next to them.
(יד) וְהָיָה֩ הַיּ֨וֹם הַזֶּ֤ה לָכֶם֙ לְזִכָּר֔וֹן וְחַגֹּתֶ֥ם אֹת֖וֹ חַ֣ג לַֽיהֹוָ֑ה לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֖ם תְּחׇגֻּֽהוּ׃ (טו) שִׁבְעַ֤ת יָמִים֙ מַצּ֣וֹת תֹּאכֵ֔לוּ אַ֚ךְ בַּיּ֣וֹם הָרִאשׁ֔וֹן תַּשְׁבִּ֥יתוּ שְּׂאֹ֖ר מִבָּתֵּיכֶ֑ם כִּ֣י ׀ כׇּל־אֹכֵ֣ל חָמֵ֗ץ וְנִכְרְתָ֞ה הַנֶּ֤פֶשׁ הַהִוא֙ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מִיּ֥וֹם הָרִאשֹׁ֖ן עַד־י֥וֹם הַשְּׁבִעִֽי׃ (טז) וּבַיּ֤וֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן֙ מִקְרָא־קֹ֔דֶשׁ וּבַיּוֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מִקְרָא־קֹ֖דֶשׁ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם כׇּל־מְלָאכָה֙ לֹא־יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה בָהֶ֔ם אַ֚ךְ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יֵאָכֵ֣ל לְכׇל־נֶ֔פֶשׁ ה֥וּא לְבַדּ֖וֹ יֵעָשֶׂ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃ (יז) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם֮ אֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת֒ כִּ֗י בְּעֶ֙צֶם֙ הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה הוֹצֵ֥אתִי אֶת־צִבְאוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֞ם אֶת־הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶ֖ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָֽם׃
(14) This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to יהוה throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. (15) Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (16) You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. (17) You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time.
The Israelites were called upon to perform actions that would symbolise not only the dramatic change in their physical fortunes from bondage to freedom but also their spiritual transformation from cultural and religious enslavement to acceptance of the true God. The night of the Passover represents a watershed in Jewish history separating the preceding nightmare of slavery from the impending saga of redemption.
(כד) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֑ה לְחׇק־לְךָ֥ וּלְבָנֶ֖יךָ עַד־עוֹלָֽם׃ (כה) וְהָיָ֞ה כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣אוּ אֶל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִתֵּ֧ן יְהֹוָ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֵּ֑ר וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה הַזֹּֽאת׃ (כו) וְהָיָ֕ה כִּֽי־יֹאמְר֥וּ אֲלֵיכֶ֖ם בְּנֵיכֶ֑ם מָ֛ה הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לָכֶֽם׃ (כז) וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֡ם זֶֽבַח־פֶּ֨סַח ה֜וּא לַֽיהֹוָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר פָּ֠סַ֠ח עַל־בָּתֵּ֤י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם בְּנׇגְפּ֥וֹ אֶת־מִצְרַ֖יִם וְאֶת־בָּתֵּ֣ינוּ הִצִּ֑יל וַיִּקֹּ֥ד הָעָ֖ם וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוֽוּ׃
(24) “You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants. (25) And when you enter the land that יהוה will give you, as promised, you shall observe this rite. (26) And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ (27) you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to יהוה, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when smiting the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’ Those assembled then bowed low in homage.
"...Halakhah gives us knowledge; Aggadah gives us aspiration. " - Abraham Joshua Heschel
The wise child is asking for knowledge – for Halakhah. But there is another type of child who is seeking meaning. This one does not know how to ask, because questions are the language of analysis and investigation. Instead this child is listening. Listening for something that lies beyond the range of expression. How will we know what to say to this silent child? Rashi tells us. We will open with Aggadah, with story, because, Rashi says, words of Aggadah draw forth the heart. This is not the simple child. This child holds a complexity, there behind the silence. But this is someone who processes the world not with the mind, but with the heart. So we must learn to speak to the heart, to the emotions, to the intuitions. We must learn to tell the story of the Exodus. This is the child who will teach us how.
(ל) וַיָּ֨קׇם פַּרְעֹ֜ה לַ֗יְלָה ה֤וּא וְכׇל־עֲבָדָיו֙ וְכׇל־מִצְרַ֔יִם וַתְּהִ֛י צְעָקָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם כִּֽי־אֵ֣ין בַּ֔יִת אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽין־שָׁ֖ם מֵֽת׃ (לא) וַיִּקְרָא֩ לְמֹשֶׁ֨ה וּֽלְאַהֲרֹ֜ן לַ֗יְלָה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ ק֤וּמוּ צְּאוּ֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ עַמִּ֔י גַּם־אַתֶּ֖ם גַּם־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּלְכ֛וּ עִבְד֥וּ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֖ה כְּדַבֶּרְכֶֽם׃ (לב) גַּם־צֹאנְכֶ֨ם גַּם־בְּקַרְכֶ֥ם קְח֛וּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבַּרְתֶּ֖ם וָלֵ֑כוּ וּבֵֽרַכְתֶּ֖ם גַּם־אֹתִֽי׃
(30) And Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians—because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead. (31) He summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship יהוה as you said! (32) Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and begone! And may you bring a blessing upon me also!”
The horror of the tenth plague then comes, and the Pharaoh capitulates utterly. It becomes clear that this had never been a matter of negotiation at all, but rather an agonizing, gradual drawing of the Pharaoh to a decision that had been inescapable from the start.
Now the king of Egypt insisted upon their leaving the land without delay. But Moses objected, and said: "Are we thieves, that we should slink away under cover of the night? Wait until morning."
There remained nothing for him to do but go in search of the Israelitish leader. He did not know where Moses lived, and he had great difficulty and lost much time in looking for his house, for the Hebrew lads of whom he made inquiries when he met them in the street played practical jokes on him, misdirected him, and led him astray. Thus he wandered about a long time. all the while weeping and crying out, "O my friend Moses, pray for me to God!"
[God] keeps Pharaoh on his feet for a double purpose—so that he is in a position to witness God’s power, and to create a narrative about Him. God wants Pharaoh to come to a personal recognition of His power; it is his narrative that God desires, his awareness that his own starting point—“I do not know God!” (5:2)—has been repudiated. Such a narrative will surely be worth having. The narrative of conversion, then, is God’s desire. It justifies the risk involved in the ambiguous, repetitive, and protracted narrative of the plagues—the risk, that is, of generating an adversary narrative, telling of weakness and inability to accomplish His will. This theme, of God’s desire for Pharaoh’s conversion-narrative, informs Rashi’s reading at the climax of the Exodus: “God struck down all the first-born of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh” (12:29): Pharaoh, too, was a first-born and alone survived of all the first-born. Of him, it is said, “I have spared you for this purpose: in order to show you My power …” (9:16)—at the Red Sea. Pharaoh’s survival, alone among the firstborn, is, again, ambiguous: it provides a basis for adversary narratives, but is justified by the prize of the narrative he may yet come to tell.
(8) Rabbi Nechunia, son of Haḳḳanah, said: Know thou the power of repentance. Come and see from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who rebelled most grievously against the Rock, the Most High, as it is said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto his voice?" (Ex. 5:2). In the same terms of speech in which he sinned, he repented, as it is said "Who is like thee, O Lord, among the mighty?" (Ex. 15:11). The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered him from amongst the dead. Whence (do we know) that he died? Because it is said, "For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee" (Ex. 9:15). He went and ruled in Nineveh. The men of Nineveh were writing fraudulent deeds, and everyone robbed his neighbour, and they committed sodomy, and such-like wicked actions. When the Holy One, blessed be He, sent for Jonah, to prophesy against (the city) its destruction, Pharaoh hearkened and arose from his throne, rent his garments and clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes, and had a proclamation made to all his people, that all the people should fast for two days, || and all who did these (wicked) things should be burnt by fire. What did they do? The men were on one side, and the women on the other, and their children were by themselves; all the clean animals were on one side, and their offspring were by themselves. The infants saw the breasts of their mothers, (and they wished) to have suck, and they wept. The mothers saw their children, (and they wished) to give them suck. By the merit of 4123 children more than twelve hundred thousand men (were saved), as it is said, "And should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city; wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:11); "And the Lord repented of the evil, which he said he would do unto them" (Jonah 3:10).
“They said, ‘We are all dying!’ ” This is not exactly what Moses had predicted, when he said, “All the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die.” So they thought that in a family of four or five children, only the first-born would die. But they did not know that their wives were guilty of adultery, so all their children were first-born of different fathers.
(לז) וַיִּסְע֧וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל מֵרַעְמְסֵ֖ס סֻכֹּ֑תָה כְּשֵׁשׁ־מֵא֨וֹת אֶ֧לֶף רַגְלִ֛י הַגְּבָרִ֖ים לְבַ֥ד מִטָּֽף׃ (לח) וְגַם־עֵ֥רֶב רַ֖ב עָלָ֣ה אִתָּ֑ם וְצֹ֣אן וּבָקָ֔ר מִקְנֶ֖ה כָּבֵ֥ד מְאֹֽד׃
(37) The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand fighting men on foot, aside from noncombatants. (38) Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
According to the Midrash, there were three kinds of people among the Egyptians. One third wanted to keep the Israelites as slaves. They died in the plagues. A second group supported Israel's bid for liberation and rose in revolt against Pharaoh's stubborn policies. These were the Egyptians who gave Israel gold, silver, and jewels as they prepared to leave. Their 'lending' these gifts to the Israelites was part of the public nature of the Exodus. The Israelites did not sneak out furtively under cover of darkness. A third group of Egyptians celebrated the Pesah with Israel and then left with them.
12:38. heavy. The word that described the Pharaoh’s oppression and the force of the plagues now recurs to describe, for the first time, something good: the substantial quantity of possessions that the people are able to take with them. It is as if this good is in proportion to the bad that they have experienced.
(ג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶל־הָעָ֗ם זָכ֞וֹר אֶת־הַיּ֤וֹם הַזֶּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצָאתֶ֤ם מִמִּצְרַ֙יִם֙ מִבֵּ֣ית עֲבָדִ֔ים כִּ֚י בְּחֹ֣זֶק יָ֔ד הוֹצִ֧יא יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִזֶּ֑ה וְלֹ֥א יֵאָכֵ֖ל חָמֵֽץ׃
(3) And Moses said to the people,“Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how יהוה freed you from it with a mighty hand: no leavened bread shall be eaten.
(ח) וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּעֲב֣וּר זֶ֗ה עָשָׂ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ לִ֔י בְּצֵאתִ֖י מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ (ט) וְהָיָה֩ לְךָ֨ לְא֜וֹת עַל־יָדְךָ֗ וּלְזִכָּרוֹן֙ בֵּ֣ין עֵינֶ֔יךָ לְמַ֗עַן תִּהְיֶ֛ה תּוֹרַ֥ת יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּפִ֑יךָ כִּ֚י בְּיָ֣ד חֲזָקָ֔ה הוֹצִֽאֲךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ (י) וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֛ אֶת־הַחֻקָּ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לְמוֹעֲדָ֑הּ מִיָּמִ֖ים יָמִֽימָה׃ {פ}
(8) And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what יהוה did for me when I went free from Egypt.’ (9) “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead —in order that the Teaching of יהוה may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand יהוה freed you from Egypt. (10) You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year.
Even this (the observance of the Passover and the telling of the story of the Exodus to the children) is not sufficient. You must therefore be provided with a daily remembrance.
13:16. a sign on your hand and bands between your eyes. The context of this and the similar expression in v. 9 indicates clearly that this is a metaphor, meaning that the Passover observance is to become a vivid, conscious concern of the people of Israel.
The Lord brought you forth from Egypt, because you did not accept His governance compliantly...Obviously then, they had not been willing to leave Egypt...God brought them out against their will, and extraordinary efforts are required to implant that which the human mind is reluctant to accept.
Bind them about your throat,
Write them on the tablet of your mind,
The groping for a true narrative is the very purpose of the Exodus. As Sefath Emeth puts it, in another passage:136 the redemption from Egypt (mitzrayim) is a freeing from the “narrow places,” the meitzarim, the straits of the soul, into an expansiveness in which all potential is realized. This release was intimated in the mystery, the unconsciousness of a people just born. It will become real in the narratives of memory that the people will tell, as they grow to adulthood. Some of these narratives will be subversive, even demonic. But the project will be “to utter true words,” to re-evoke in a later time the power of redemption that is incarnate in language. All the complex events of the Exodus are le-ma’an te-saper, “in order that you may relate the story” (10:2). More pointedly, the practices that will commemorate them are “in order that the Torah of God may be in your mouth” (13:9); in order to utter these true words, a continual process of engaging with the multiform “narrow places” of Egypt, of engaging with the ambiguities of desire, will be necessary.