Rabbi 360

The famous story of the Exodus is what we are reading in the Torah this week, as Moses confronts Pharaoh to demand the liberation of the Israelites. After having been called by God at the Burning Bush, Moses joins with his brother Aaron to demand the release of their people from slavery. Each time they confront Pharaoh, they bring a new plague in order to convince Pharaoh. And each time they demand, “Let My People Go!”

Except…that’s not what they say. Even though it is how we tell the story, even though that is what Charlton Heston demands of Yul Brenner (“The 10 Commandments”) or Val Kilmer of Ralph Fiennes (“The Prince of Egypt”), even though it is what popular songs and spirituals say–Moses in the Torah does not demand “Let my people go.” Think of it as a spiritual Mandela Effect, the phenomenon in which we all collectively misremember something. We tend to tell the story inaccurately.

Rather, what God tells Moses to say to Pharaoh according to the Torah is, “let my people go…worship Me in the wilderness.” In other words, what Moses is asking of Pharaoh is not emancipation, but more like a furlough.

Yes, God’s plan is to liberate the Israelites, and says as much to Moses (Exodus 6:6). However, in instructing Moses what to say to Pharaoh, God tells him to ask Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to hold a festival. This is what Moses asks, this is what Pharaoh denies, and this is what starts the series of plagues.

For the first few plagues, this is how it goes. Moses asks for an opportunity to hold a festival to God, and Pharaoh refuses. Then, after the fourth plague, Pharaoh concedes: “Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Go and sacrifice to your God within the land.’”

Moses accepts but Moses adds a condition:

But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do this, for what we sacrifice to the ETERNAL our God is untouchable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us! So we must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the ETERNAL as our God may command us.” Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the ETERNAL your God in the wilderness; but do not go very far. Plead, then, for me.” (Exodus 8:22-24)

Once the plague abates, Pharoah changes his mind, and the plagues continue.

After the seventh plague of hail, Pharaoh gives in again and allows only the men of the Israelites to go three days into the wilderness for a festival. Moses says it must be everyone, and Pharaoh refuses. Then after the ninth plague of darkness, Pharaoh allows all the people to go hold a festival without their flocks, but Moses insists that they need the flocks to sacrifice. Pharoah again says no.

Finally after the last plague, the Pharaoh allows all the Israelites with their possessions to go three days into the wilderness.

The fact that Pharaoh only thought the Israelites were going into the wilderness temporarily is evidenced by the climactic moment when Pharaoh sends his army after them. In our popular retelling, Pharaoh changes his mind. In the Torah however, we read:

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his courtiers had a change of heart about the people and said, “What is this we have done, releasing Israel from our service?” (Exodus 14:5)

If Pharaoh had freed the slaves, this verse wouldn’t make sense. Of course he knew that they fled. Rather, the understanding is he only realized they had fled because they did not come back after their three-day reprieve that Moses had asked for and Pharaoh had agreed to. Pharaoh fully expected his slaves to return.

So what is going on here? Was Moses lying the whole time? Was one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the Torah acting deceitfully and immorally? That is one way to think about it.

On the other hand, we can see Moses as being strategic, and acting politically. Rather than demand and reveal his ultimate goal, which ran the risk of being shut down immediately, the exodus being over before it even started, Moses asked for what he thought he could get, and each time he gained a concession from Pharaoh he pushed a bit more.

First he asked for a festival, and when he was finally granted that he asked that it be held three days journey away. When he was given that for the men only, he asked that families be included too. When he got that, he insisted that their flocks and possessions be taken too. And finally when he was granted the permission to temporarily leave, he seized the opportunity and kept on going, never turning back.

Like Moses, we are in the position now to confront authoritarian leadership. Vulnerable people like immigrants and trans folks are being unjustly targeted. Institutional and bureaucratic norms are being threatened. The traditional division of powers is being ignored. Initiatives to restore justice and achieve equity are being discarded. And the list goes on and on.

In our own resistance to this power, we would do well to remember Moses’s example. While we may have a final goal in mind–as God did when charging Moses–shooting for the goal all at once will probably not be successful. We could start with asking for what we think we might achieve, and when we finally win that, we can continue to push, and push again, asking for more and more to bring us closer to our goal. We will need to fight for each step, and must remember each step short of the ultimate goal is not a compromise or a “deception,” but an honest assessment of what is initially achievable in order to get us closer to ultimately where we want to be.

Whether personal or communal, change comes in stages, and changing hearts and minds takes time. This was a successful strategy for Moses, may it be for us. We will need to keep pressing forward until we are on the other side of the sea.