Leaving Egypt, Over and Over Again
Parashat Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25)
By Rabbi Daniel Klein
Dean of Students, Hebrew College Graduate Leadership Programs
The central drama of much of the Torah is the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and forming a new way of life according to God. This week’s parashah, Eikev, highlights a question that has been a persistent fear throughout this saga: can we ever really leave Egypt?
In an evocative passage in this week’s parashah, the Torah describes Egypt as a place where “you plant your seeds, and water them by your own power, like a vegetable garden.” (Deuteronomy 11:10) While it sounds like a place of self sufficiency, it is actually a very impoverished version of existence. The medieval commentator Rashi describes it as a place in which people’s lives were completely consumed by subsistence labor, even waking themselves up from sleep to toil.
