Opinion
Why the Exodus is the greatest story ever told
Throughout history and across the world it has inspired and shaped our culture and politics, writes Zaki Cooper
March 26, 2021 16:47
3 min read
Throughout history and across the world it has inspired and shaped our culture and politics, writes Zaki Cooper
March 26, 2021 16:47Why is this night different from all other nights? That is what we’ll be asking at our Seder tables. But perhaps a more apt question would be what makes this story different from all other stories. Over the ages, the Exodus tale has captured hearts and minds, shaped the thinking of politicians as well as inspired political movements and revolutionaries. If the Bible is the most influential book, Exodus is its blockbuster story.
The Princeton political scientist Michael Walzer’s classic book Exodus and Revolution looked at the influence of the Exodus on history. It asserted that, “Whenever people know the Bible, and experience oppression, the Exodus has sustained their spirits and (sometimes) inspired their resistance.”
The tale of the Jews’ slavery in Egypt 3,300 years ago and their journey to freedom was codified in the first Haggadah, printed in Spain in about 1482. It had a theological significance beyond the Jewish community. Around the same time, the Italian radical Dominican monk, Savonorola, preached 22 sermons on the Book of Exodus. Two hundred years later, it made its first major impact, playing a seminal role in British politics through its influence on English Puritans. Oliver Cromwell, who had become a Puritan after conversion in the 1630s, described the Exodus as “the only parallel of God’s dealing with us that I know in the world” and saw the Crown as the embodiment of oppression, even warning of “return to bondage under the regal power.”
The Exodus was again used against the British Monarchy a hundred years later, when American Revolutionaries identified with the subjugated Jews seeking freedom. They saw King George III as an embodiment of Pharaoh, whilst they were seeking to break free from the chains of British rule. Indeed when the Founding Fathers met in 1776 to decide on a new seal for the US, Benjamin Franklin proposed Moses lifting his staff to divide the Red Sea, but in the end, he was overruled.
The Exodus story continued to inspire liberation struggles against empire and authority across different continents. It was deployed by Boer nationalists fighting the British, 1899-1902. It proved popular amongst post-War South American Catholic theologians, who were trying to challenge authoritarian regimes. As an illustration of this, Argentinean Severino Croatto wrote: “If we take the Exodus as our theme, we do so because in it Latin American theology finds a focal point... and an inexhaustible light.”
It had a profound effect on Martin Luther King, a Baptist Minister, who was well versed in the Bible. The mantra of African Americans in the civil rights movement was “let my people go”. As he grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, it was no surprise that Barack Obama recounted in his memoirs: “Like many American kids of my generation, I’d had the story of Exodus etched in my brain.”
The other great post-War twentieth century leader, Nelson Mandela, may not have specifically invoked the Exodus. But in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom he highlights the kinship he felt with the Jewish community, stating: “In my experience I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice.”
Alongside Mandela and Dr King, the other icon of twentieth century freedom fighters was Gandhi. Whilst there is scant evidence that the Exodus was a significant part of Gandhi’s philosophy of peaceful resistance, he did attend a Seder. In an interview with the JC in 1931, he recalled visiting a synagogue in Johannesburg during the festival: “You can almost say I was keeping the Passover with my Jewish friends, because I went to their house every night.”
The Exodus also had a profound impact on the campaign for Soviet Jewry, as well as on Zionist politics. Herzl had a messianic dream as a boy that he had been selected as a modern Moses to lead the persecuted Jews of Europe back to Palestine, a modern re-enactment of the Exodus from Egypt.
The story continues to be referred to the world over as the template narrative relating the struggle from oppression to freedom. Never shy of a good story, Hollywood caught on to this. The 1998 film The Prince of Egypt became the most successful non-Disney animated feature of its day. When we sit down with our families next week for the Seder, we will recite the tale that many think is the most influential story ever told.
Though the music may have changed according to the country and age, the Exodus lyrics themselves have inspired people for hundreds of years, all over the world. As Rabbi Sacks wrote in his commentary to the Haggadah: “More than Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Politics, more than Rousseau’s The Social Contract or Marx’s Das Kapital, the Pesach story has been the West’s most influential source-book of liberty.”
Zaki Cooper is the co-founder of Integra and a Trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews