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The parasha moves quickly through events: the loss of historical memory with the rise of a new Pharaoh, the enslavement of Bene Yisrael, the psychology of that enslavement and its concomitant cruelties, the emergence of Moshe’s existential self-understanding as he moves from a position of privilege and aligns himself with slaves, Moshe’s flight to Midian, his epiphanic encounter with God at the burning bush, and his return to Egypt as a God’s emissary.
These events describe the foundational experiences of who we are and need constantly to become as Jews. The events of Egypt impact us in an even more seminal way than the encounter at Mt. Sinai. I suggest that because together with the creation of the world, we mention the exodus from Egypt during the amidah of virtually every holiday, during every kiddush, in the daily recitation of the Shema, and by reciting the haggadah in the transformative ritual of the seder. This parasha raises the moral challenges that lie at the heart of what it means to be Jewish. The Torah is teaching the imperative to internalize our memory of abuse and enslavement, to speak the truth, especially truth to power, and to respond actively to assert and protect the dignity of all human beings. To ignore this imperative is an affront to the Creator of those who have been dehumanized by leaders who have successfully intoxicated their followers with false ideas, or terrorized them into submission.