“The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.” — Exodus 2:23
“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come…” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The book of Exodus opens, famously, with a vivid depiction of the Israelites’ oppression at the hands of Pharaoh. By the end of the second chapter, their collective cry reaches a crescendo of sorts – a kind of cosmic “tipping point.” Subsequently, we read, “God heard their moaning, and God remembered the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites and God took notice of them” (2:24-25)
From a purely literal point of view, we might read the verses above as the awakening of an anthropormorphic God to the cry of a people oppressed. This divine attribute is not unusual in Torah – witness God’s remarks to Abraham before the Sodom and Gomorrah episode: “I will go down and see whether they have acted altogether according to their outcry that has reached me” (Genesis 18:16).
Those less inclined to supernatural literalism might understand this passage as a description of the Godly process by which a people is roused to realize its liberation. Yes, the Exodus story teaches us about the harsh reality of enslavement – and how the spirit of a people can become crushed and beaten down through collective oppression. But Exodus story also ultimately reminds us that a crushed spirit can never be fully broken – that there comes a point by which the collective cry of the oppressed will rouse the divine impulse that makes for freedom.
This is, in short, how liberation movements are created. As history has demonstrated, once this tipping point has been reached, freedom is not merely possible – it is inevitable. This concept was literally revolutionary for its time and remains so today. Indeed, though the Exodus is most certainly a central sacred story for the Jewish people, it important to recognize that it has also been the inspiration for a myriad of liberation movements throughout the centuries. (See, for instance, Michael Walzer’s wonderful book “Exodus and Revolution” for more on this point).
It is especially noteworthy that we begin reading the book of Exodus on the same weekend that we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – a civil rights leader who placed the Exodus story at the center of the movement he helped to create. In truth, the American civil rights movement represents a profound example of a political/spiritual tipping point: a moment in history in which a people’s collective cry was transformed into very real social and polical change. King himself identified this dynamic in his classic essay, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail:”
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa, and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, he is moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.
As Shabbat Shemot and MLK Day serendipitously converge, we should be doubly mindful of this truth: the cry of the oppressed does not and should not simply echo off into the night. The urge for freedom will eventually come. At the same time, as we recount these histories we must continue to ask ourselves honestly: where are the collective cries for help in our own day? What will we do to help tip the balance towards justice and liberation?
Dear Brant,
In the light of your blog on the cry of the oppressed, what are your thoughts about the fourteen people resigning from Jimmy Carter’s board in protest of his book about Israel/Palestine?
Brant,
Jimmy Carter calls Israel racist; you call Israelites crybabies. See, we can’t do anything right.
Shabbat Shalom, Right On, and Power To The People!
I have always believed that oppressed peoples will erupt in their cry for freedom, but lately I wonder. Our country went to Iraq supposedly to assist in obtaining freedom, but I don’t see any uprising of the oppressed. There must be more to it.
Hello, your ravness -
I’m really looking forward to Torah study on this. Today I’ve been dealing with matters of how an oppressive history imposes itself on the present and future. In this case, a history of childhood abuse. A young friend talked to me about the need to forgive in order to move on from such a history – that it is necessary for the survivor to forgive. I understand the concept, and it’s certainly a prevalent one. I’m just not sure I agree with it.
I’m tantalized by the possibility of juxtaposing concepts of forgiveness with the Exodus narrative. I think the story gives us at least one other model for survival. Thought I’d dangle it before you, too.
Judy,
What are you talking about?
Somewhere it is taught that the miracle of the Exodus was not the parting of the Red Sea, but it was the fact that the Israelites still had it in them to cry out after having been beaten downn so long.
As for Irag — it’s a mess. There isn’t a Pharoah, there’s chaos. And as for Sadaam Hussein who oppressed his people, I think the U.S. put itself too much in the role of playing God.
To Judy: I’m not sure I see a connection between the Jimmy Carter book dustup and the “cry of the oppressed” I discuss in my post. And tho you didn’t ask, I will say that that I think the controversy on this one book is now reaching major overkill and that there are more important and pressing issues on the world and in the Mideast in particular to exert our energies and moral outrage than Jimmy Carter’s latest book.
To Rochelle: Great question. I guess it depends upon what one means by “forgive.” Does it mean to cease to hold others accountable – ot does it mean to let go of the anger and hatred that keeps us from true liberation?
Shai: I’d love to find the source for your drash on the Exodus miracle – I love it!
Thanks everyone for weighing in. Hope y’all had a liberating Shabbat and MLK Day…
Since Martin Luther King was shot to death, how about a word about gun control?
No beefed up police forces can ever solve the tragedy of the national daily body count as long as America is flooded with GUNS.
It seems the NRA has won and gun control has slipped below the radar as a serious issue today. President Bush gave the NRA carte blanche and let the assault rifle ban die as well as emasculating the department of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. (What a misnomer. You cannot shoot someone with whiskey or a cigarette!)
Our legislators cower in fear when it comes to the gun control issue and the media reports the daily death and mayhem like a daily weather report.
Attention needs to be paid. Must we wait for the ncxt school massacre? Where is the outrage?
To take action go to the Brady Center to Prenvent Gun Violence, and Million Mom March on the their websites.
In case anyone reading this post is interested in black-Jewish relations, I highly recommend these articles on My Jewish Learning.com
Black-Jewish Relations Today
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Jewish_World_Today/ContemporaryInterfaith/blackjewish.htm
and
Blacks and Jews Entangled: The complicated history of Black-Jewish relations in America
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/ModernIntergroup/Black_Jewish_Relations/BlacksandJews.htm
Hi again Brant,
The connection: You’d asked in your post, “Where are the collective cries for help in our own day? What will we do to help tip the balance towards justice and liberation?” I thought: well, Jimmy Carter was trying to act in the interests of justice and liberation for a Palestinian independence movement, and got slammed for it by a huge portion of the American Jewish community. So I wondered what you thought about that. Thanks for the at least partial answer.
I can’t remember the source of “The real miracle of the Exodus was that the Israelites were abled to cry out at all, given their oppression. I think I first heard it from someone who said that Rabbi David Zeller taught it. Though I think I subsequently ran found it in a Chasidic text, possibly the Sefat Emet.