How Do We Know That There Was an Exodus from Egypt?

To understand what is truly going on in the story of the Exodus from Egypt, we must first free ourselves from the constraints of time and place. “Egypt” is a code name for a particular social state, a system of egoistic relationships. It is a state where no one does good for another unless there is a clear benefit in it for themselves.

Today, there is a common understanding that everyone operates solely on a self-serving calculation. Everything has a price and can be bought in a cold equation of give and take. We measure ourselves in this world by how much money and assets we possess, and by the extent of our social capital and reach. That is Egypt, and it represents the capitalist dream in its ideal form.

However, not only do Egyptians live in Egypt. The children of Israel also do. In the story, they represent the feelings of dissent that arise against this egoistic state, the feeling that “No, we don’t want to live like this! We don’t want to be evaluated solely based on our worth. We are human beings. We don’t want to live such a limited life, to remain slaves to the egoistic system, the Egyptian empire!”

The story continues with Moses growing up in Pharaoh’s house. After forty years in the royal palace, he begins to feel a force of love and giving awakening in him, an inclination toward empathy and connection with others. He sees the harsh egoistic struggles in Egypt and cannot come to terms with this reality.

Is it another Robin Hood? Not quite. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is also called “the hidden wisdom,” the stories of the Torah describe what takes place within a single person. About this, it is written in The Zohar, “man is a small world.” Moses’ struggle against the injustices he seemingly sees around him actually describes an internal struggle within him—a battle between different desires arising in us, in our efforts to break free from the ego’s control and progress to love of others.

Two conflicting approaches to life clash in the story of the Exodus. It became a monumental story because it outlines humanity’s evolutionary path. Then, as now, our role is to flee from the Egyptian approach to life and offer an Israeli alternative.

What is the “Israeli alternative”? Just as Israel today is a leading force in research and development for various products and services, today’s most-needed product is a new way of life. In the interconnected and interdependent world of the 21st century, we need an upgrade in human relationships more than anything else.

The system we have built based on our egoistic relationships is now collapsing. This is why more and more people today feel enslaved by the system, like modern-day slaves. They want to progress to a state where they feel free from the constant feeling that everyone is trying to take as much as they can from them.

In such an alienating reality, it is no wonder that there is a pandemic of depression and that hoards of people are increasingly turning to drug use of various kinds. People feel better mainly inside their screens, with their heads all day in the phone, the computer, the TV, while the world around them burns. People are feeling less and less patience for dealing with kids, and less energy to deal with the struggles of married life. This impatience extends to social and political spheres, where conflicts are likewise erupting at the seams. This is how the ego, the desire to enjoy ourselves at others’ expense, enslaves and consumes us from within.

The Exodus from Egypt, leaving behind this egoistic nature that enslaves us, is a state that we need to undergo on our evolutionary trajectory to detach from our outdated ego-driven culture that currently rules the world, and focus on developing a new way of life, a new management system for personal life, society, and humanity.

It requires us to raise the importance of connection over separation, warmth over coldness, mutual responsibility over cutthroat competition, and brotherly love over unfounded hatred. A positive connection among all members of the Israeli nation, which is not a national concept but a grouping of all who wish to enter into a connection that is above all disputes and different opinions—this alone will free us from the feeling of suffocation, liberate us from slavery, and let us experience genuine happiness and success in life.

By doing so, we will serve as a light unto the nations and deliver the product that the world subconsciously demands from us: the method for connected and happy living. We will either learn this after ten plagues fall upon us, i.e., several blows that will accumulate our experience of suffering to a point where we will see no other option but to change our ways, or we will grasp it in advance and build a society that will be a unifying example that the world will wish to support and to follow.

This is the great secret hidden in the story of the Exodus.

From the Kabbalistic Sources:

“The root of reception in man is called ‘self-love,’ and this is regarded as ‘Egypt.’” – Kabbalist Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (RABASH), “But the More They Afflicted Them.”

“The ‘Exodus from Egypt,’ when they were liberated from the exile in Egypt, enslaved to self-love, called the ‘Klipa (shell) of Egypt,’ as it is written, ‘and He brought out His people, Israel, from among them, to eternal freedom.’” – Kabbalist Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (RABASH), “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called ‘Passover.’”

“The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which sparks of purity would flow onto the entire human race… to such an extent that they can understand the pleasantness and tranquility that are found in the kernel of love of others.” – Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).”

“This nation… was created and brought into being for the entire world, to prepare its future.” – Rav Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, Hadarav: His Inner Chambers.