Exodus Story | Passover haggadah by Julie Breakstone

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Carolyn:

OUR PERSONAL EXODUS

To each of us in our personal lives, the Exodus speaks loud and clear: free yourself from the obstacles and limitations that stand in your way, preventing you from being what you should be and acting as you truly should. Moreover, like our constant retelling of the Exodus story, its personal message is perpetual: The personal exodus you achieved yesterday was marvelous only by yesterday's standards, for you have subsequently grown from that experience, and it is therefore insufficient for the standards of today. Nor will the personal exodus you achieve today be sufficient for tomorrow. The soul feels enslaved when stationary: it is truly free when it experiences growth.

Jesse:

OUR COLLECTIVE EXODUS

Our story starts in ancient times, with Abraham, the first person to have the idea that maybe all those little statues his contemporaries worshiped as gods were just statues. The idea of one God, invisible and all-powerful, inspired him to leave his family and begin a new people in Canaan, the land that would one day bear his grandson Jacob’s adopted name, Israel.

God had made a promise to Abraham that his family would become a great nation, but this promise came with a frightening vision of the troubles along the way: “Your descendants will dwell for a time in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and afflicted for four hundred years; however, I will punish the nation that enslaved them, and afterwards they shall leave with great wealth."

Warren:

THE START OF JEWISH SLAVERY IN EGYPT

Abraham's grandson Jacob had 12 sons, including Joseph. The brothers sold Joseph into slavery and he was taken to Egypt. Thus began the saga of Jewish slavery in Egypt.

Pharoah had two disturbing dreams and Joseph, known to interpret dreams was brought before Pharoah. Joseph's interpretation foretold of seven years of plenty followed by seven yeras of famine. He advised a nationwide food storage program. Pharoah was impressed and appointed Joseph viceroy of Egypt.

After 2 years of famine, Jacob and his family came to Egypt where Joseph provided for them.

When Joseph and his brothers passed away, Pharoah grappled with how to handle the growing Jewish population in Egypt. He decided to enslave them. Conditions for the slaves get worse and Pharoh decreed that all Jewish male newborns be drowned in the Nile.

Leah:

MOSES IS SAVED

A Jewish woman named Yocheved gave birth to a baby boy. Desperately trying to save his life, she hid him until he was three months old, then placed him in a basket and sent him floating down the Nile. His sister Miriam watched him, hiding amongst the reeds on the banks of the river. The floating basket was picked up by the Princess of Egypt – Bitya – Pharaoh’s own daughter! Discovering the beautiful infant inside, Bitya named him Moses and took him to the palace where he grew up in the lap of luxury.

Julie B:

FLEEING FOR HIS LIFE!

Despite the fact that he grew up in the palace, Moses could not bear to see the suffering of the Jewish people. One day, Moses chanced upon an Egyptian taskmaster, savagely whipping a Jewish slave to death. Furious, Moses cried out one of G‑d’s Holy Names, and the Egyptian immediately died. Certain that Pharaoh’s officers would be after him, Moses fled to Midian.

Sam:

THE BURNING BUSH

Moses lived in Midian for a number of years, and was a shepherd for his father-in-law, Yitro. One day, a lamb ran away from the rest of the flock. Moses chased after it and saw a strange sight: a bush covered in fire, yet the bush was not being burnt by the flames! Amazed Moses drew even nearer, and all of a sudden heard the voice of G‑d speaking to him. “Go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let My people go!”

David:

THE TEN PLAGUES

Moses and his brother Aaron came before Pharaoh. “Let my people go!” they declared. But Pharaoh just laughed. They threatened Pharaoh with 10 terrible plagues if he did not listen to G‑d, but he did not believe them. Plague after plague soon struck the Egyptians, each one more shocking than the next. Blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, sick animals, boils, hail, locusts, darkness – and the worst plague of all – death of the firstborn. Finally, Pharaoh had enough. He ran frantically through the streets of Egypt searching for Moses. “Go!” He yelled, “And take all the Jews with you!” Moses sent word to all the Jews. “The time has come” he told them, “grab your bags and get ready to leave at once. Don’t wait for your bread to rise, just go!” The Jews left Egypt with sacks on their backs, and faith in their hearts.

Mitchell:

FREEDOM AT LAST!

The Jews walked until they reached the sea. And there they stopped. They were trapped! They could see the Egyptian army chasing after them, swords at the ready. Pharaoh had changed his mind. He was chasing after his slaves, trying to recapture them. G‑d told Moses to stretch his arm out over the waters, and all at once, the sea split! Miraculously, the Jews were able to walk through on dry land, but as soon as the Egyptians stepped foot in the sea, the walls of water came crashing down on them. The Jews were free!

Julie F:

IN THE DESERT

One month after the Exodus from Egypt, the matzah provisioins ran out and G-d began a miraculous daily ration of manna that continued for 40 years as they wandered in the desert, with a double portion on Shabbat.

Seven weeks after the Exodus, the Jews received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM

Throwing off one’s fetters does not necessarily mean that one has entered into a state of freedom. Slavery is that condition in which a person is always subject to the will of another. Freedom, on the other hand, is the ability to act upon, and carry out, one’s own independent will.

Between ceasing to be a slave and acquiring freedom, the individual must thus pass through an intermediate stage in his progress, without which he cannot become truly free—he must develop inner qualities of his own.

The miracle of the Exodus was not completed with the people’s departure from the house of bondage; they needed to develop to become a truly free people and not merely runaway slaves.

Only after the entire generation that had lived in bondage had perished in the wilderness could their descendants enter the land of Israel and establish themselves there as a free people.

haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story