Exodus story
Telling our Story
Our story starts in ancient times, with Abraham, the first person to have the idea that maybe all those little
statues his contemporaries worshiped as gods were just statues. The idea of one God, invisible and all-powerful,
inspired him to leave his family and begin a new people in Canaan, the land that would one day bear his
grandson Jacob’s adopted name, Israel.
God had made a promise to Abraham that his family would become a great nation, but this promise came with a
frightening vision of the troubles along the way: “Your descendants will dwell for a time in a land that is not their
own, and they will be enslaved and afflicted for four hundred years; however, I will punish the nation that
enslaved them, and afterwards they shall leave with great wealth."
Raise the glass of wine and say:
ֶ ָש ְע ָמדה לֲַא ֹבוֵֽתינ ווּ ְלָֽנו
וְִהיא ׁ
V’hi she-amda l’avoteinu v’lanu.
This promise has sustained our ancestors and us.
For not only one enemy has risen against us to annihilate us, but in every generation there are those who rise
against us. But God saves us from those who seek to harm us.
The glass of wine is put down.
In the years our ancestors lived in Egypt, our numbers grew, and soon the family of Jacob became the People of
Israel. Pharaoh and the leaders of Egypt grew alarmed by this great nation growing within their borders, so they
enslaved us. We were forced to perform hard labor, perhaps even building pyramids. The Egyptians feared that
even as slaves, the Israelites might grow strong and rebel. So Pharaoh decreed that Israelite baby boys should
be drowned, to prevent the Israelites from overthrowing those who had enslaved them.
But God heard the cries of the Israelites. And God brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched
arm, with great awe, miraculous signs and wonders. God brought us out not by angel or messenger, but through
God’s own intervention.
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