Learning from Exodus

Rabbi Michael Rose Knopf is spiritual leader of Temple Beth-El in Richmond, Virginia, a founding member of the Standing Together Steering Committee of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, and a board member of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. He is the author of Thirty Days of Liberation: Pathways for Personal and Social Transformation Inspired by the Book of Exodus, and co-host of Pop Torah, a podcast on the JCast Network.

I'd Like to Sit at the Seder

“Looking for a wise companion to help deepen your appreciation for Passover as a journey toward liberation and personal growth? Rabbi Michael Knopf has created just that lifeline. With these short, pithy insights, we can all sit at the Seder that much more open, ready, and willing to march toward that ultimate freedom.”

Rabbi Bradley Artson on Rabbi Michael Knopf’s book

Well, for one, I’d like to sit at the Seder. I’m not Jewish; I'm a Christian iinfluenced by Buddhism. But I am quite incomplete without Jewish friends and without wisdom from the amazingly rich Jewish tradition. I find Rabbi Michael Knopf’s Thirty Days of Liberation such a helpful guide in helping me claim the Jewish side of my mind and heart. For one thing, as a Christian I need ways of living from the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) that challenge me and encourage me to become a better follower of Jesus. I, too, want to journey toward liberation from enslavement to the countless impulses that so harm me and others: enslavement to consumerism, to hyper-nationalism, to selfishness, to un-love. And I want to help others do the same. I think Jesus himself, so fully Jewish, was on that walk, too. Rabbi Knof's book helps me walk with Jesus. I think it might even help Jesus, although I best let him speak for himself.

For another, as a Christian with Buddhist leanings, I need to live from a sense for the deep interconnectedness of all things, the moment-by-moment nature of life, and power of deep listening to the world: to other people, to be sure, but also to the hills and rivers, trees and stars. Rabbi Knof’s book helps fo this, too. Yes, I'd like to sit at the Seder in these and other ways, and he helps me, as he may also help you. I offer samples below of just a few of its gems of wisdom.

- Jay McDaniel, September 5, 2021

A Sample of Offerings from Thirty Days of Liberation

Does Faith Matter?

Are there forces at work in our universe that can never be fully known or understood? In Exodus, there is no persuading Pharaoh of a reality beyond the limits of his knowledge. And the more he entrenches himself in that view, the more callous he becomes. Human certainty so often leads to cruelty and oppression. That’s why faith matters. Perhaps counterintuitively, faith demands the presence of doubt, the capacity to affirm the limits of what we know. And only through such intellectual humility can we be free to honor others’ truths and to be compassionate in the application of our own.

Open to Possibility

Did you ever notice that the dramatic climax of the Exodus story – the Splitting of the Sea – is actually unnecessary? The story could have simply ended with the Israelites leaving Egypt. What does the miracle story add, especially for those of us who are generally skeptical of miracles? Maimonides teaches that miracles aren’t suspensions or violations of natural law.[97] Rather, they simply expand upon our definition of the possible. It was built into the sea’s nature to split; Israel just didn’t know it could until it did. In this sense, miracles happen all the time, even now. Whenever something novel happens, it’s a miracle: something that was always possible, but that we presume is impossible before it happens. Such a definition calls for awareness and humility. Just because something hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t happen at all. And that’s why we need,

Whom Do You Serve?

With all this talk of liberation, it’s easy to forget that the objective of the Exodus was not liberation. Rather, the objective of the Exodus was covenant. God delivers the Children of Israel from Egypt so they will enter into a relationship with God. That relationship calls on Israel to be devoted to godliness and to be a “kingdom of priests”,[94] meaning a people committed to loving and serving others, helping them live more godly lives and sowing peace in the world.[95] Covenant, of course, first requires liberation. The Children of Israel could not serve God while they still served Pharaoh. A person can only have one primary relational loyalty. Ultimately, one either serves Pharaoh or God and cannot do both simultaneously. The question Passover offers is not, “Are you free?” Rather, it is “Who or what do you serve?” How one answers that question makes all the difference.

The Power of Love

While on the surface the Exodus story seems grand and national, at its heart it is an intimate and personal story about providing homes for the homeless and families for the parentless. It’s the story of Moses’ adoption: first, by Pharaoh’s daughter, then by Jethro. And it’s the story of God adopting a people, giving them a home when they had none of their own. Redemption may be big, but it’s built on personal acts of love; even small kindnesses can have a heroic impact.