Shemot: The Narrow Places

Shemot: The Narrow Places
In Genesis, the first book of the Torah, many who will shape our Jewish identity are in place: Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, Joseph and his brothers.

This week we read from the beginning of the second Book of the Torah, Exodus. Though it begins with enslavement and 200 plus years of terrible oppression by the Egyptians, our Sages somewhat shockingly called Exodus the “Book of Redemption,” the book “in which Israel goes from darkness to light.” After the deep exile in Egypt, the following chapters of Exodus relate the account of the redemption of the Jewish people.

With Exodus, life begins in the real world, and the past planted by our matriarchs and patriarchs begin to grow. The tools we inherit from them give us the power to be freed from oppression (Exodus). We are taught that the Exodus from Egypt symbolically opened the doors of freedom for all time. It empowered us with the ability to transcend our limits and constraints. The message is appropriate today more than ever.

We all deal with Mitzrayim (Egypt), or narrow places, in our own lives of struggle and challenge. As we face the mitzrayim in our lives today we can easily succumb to the notion that life is just too overwhelming. We can feel powerless amidst all the intense events happening around us.

The Exodus story reminds us that we can free ourselves from all forms of mitzrayim, every type of oppression, including the difficult events of our time. Just as we were freed then, we are promised through our covenant that we can be freed today.

But of course we struggle! Even when we eventually find freedom, we struggle as our people did in the wilderness! This week we are reminded that freedom from our narrow places is in our grasp. We just need to remember to reach!