The Meaning of the Egyptian Enslavement and the Exodus Our Mothers Rachel and Leah, and the Twelve Tribes Our Father Jacob Our Father Isaac and Our Mother Rebecca The Binding of Isaac Our Father Abraham and Our Mother Sarah Noah and Abraham The Seven Noahide Laws The Flood and Noah Adam’s Sin
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How the Exodus Led to Faith

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How the Exodus Led to Faith

Due to their prolonged slavery, the Jewish people were able to absorb pure faith in God and to accept the Torah and mitzvot, whose goals are perfecting the world via God’s ways. Other nations have undergone a gradual process of development – from family to tribe to nation. Along the way, they created cultures and religions which provided a framework for their natural beliefs, fostering their ideology. In contrast, the Israelites developed into a nation while they were enslaved without any culture or nationality of their own. This left them receptive to adopting faith and the divine Torah, as they were not tethered to any lifestyle or culture developed over generations.

The Exodus was accompanied by signs and wonders never previously seen in the world. This phenomenon was meant to reveal to the Israelites and to the world at large, the power of God, Creator of heaven and earth. All of nature is a divine creation under God's control. According to Jewish tradition, God created the world by means of ten statements (Ethics of the Fathers 5:1). When He decided to reveal Himself to humanity through the Israelites, and the Egyptians refused to listen to Him and free their slaves, God to send ten plagues (parallel to the ten statements). Later, God used those ten statements at Mount Sinai transformed into the Ten Commandments, which provide fundamental meaning to sustain the world. (See section 17 below.)

Leaving Egypt with Great Wealth Leaving Egypt with Great Wealth Splitting the Red Sea “Na’aseh VeNishma” The Revelation at Mount Sinai The Ten Commandments