Reimagining Exodus:A Story of Freedom

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The biblical Exodus is the most influential freedom story ever told. It has served as both an inspiration for Puritans, American revolutionaries, abolitionists, Mormons, the modern civil rights movement, and revolutionaries the world over. In Jewish tradition, the Exodus is also applied to the individual life journey with its challenges, enslavements, liberations, and revelations. This groundbreaking book explores the Exodus as the foundational story of both Judaism and Christianity and looks at ways we can free ourselves from the “egypts” and “pharaohs” in our own lives .

What Others Are Saying…

David Zaslow has taken one of the greatest stories ever told and made it even greater. This book is a tremendous gift to anyone who is taking a journey of the soul, seeking to escape internal slavery and make it to the promised place where suffering is no more.

— Marianne Williamson, teacher and author of Tears to Triumph

With the mind of a scholar, the heart of a poet, and the soul of a Hasidic teacher, Rabbi David Zaslow explains the Biblical exodus as more than an epic event.  Reimagining Exodus offers readers the ancient story as a contemporary compass – one which can guide our lives toward greater meaning and purpose, regardless of the faith we follow, the citizenship we hold or the politics we practice.

—  Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, President, CLAL – National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

Rabbi Zaslow weaves a connective tapestry for people of faith who no longer want their religions to divide them from each other. Reimagining Exodus takes the reader on a timeless journey. It shows how the Passover story has been a roadmap for both spiritual and personal liberation for thousands of years. As the foundational story beneath Judaism and Christianity it is time to reimagine how this seminal story relates to our world and our personal lives today.

  Fr. Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation

In Reimagining Exodus Rabbi David Zaslow reopens the book of Exodus with his heart. He opens it to Jews and Christian with a generous spirit. Let all who are spiritually hungry come and feast.

– Rodger Kamenetz, author of The Jew in the Lotus

A deeply thoughtful yet accessible treatment of a theme that binds Judaism and Christianity together, though it has too often been used to divide them.  A crucial read for understanding the legacy of the Exodus story throughout the history of the Western world. Bravo!

  Rabbi Arthur Green, Rector, Hebrew College, Newton, MA

Deftly and brilliantly, Rabbi David Zaslow shows us how the ancient biblical account of the Exodus from Egypt dances and echoes through the centuries as the paradigm of the quest for equality and independence for people of all faiths and communities. His cogent and compelling vision of our yearning as children of God who strive for equality, autonomy, and self-determination enflames our souls and gives hope to all humankind.  Redemption! Liberation! Freedom! Then and Now!

– Rabbi Wayne Dosick, Ph.D., author, Living Judaism and The Real Name of God

In an age where politics and ideologies work to divide us, Rabbi David is a voice in the wilderness calling people of faith to come together by honoring each other and exploring our common roots, stories, and connections. Reimagining Exodus offers excellent scholarship and personal insights that will inspire us to dig deeper into the richness of the Exodus event by applying its historical, cultural, personal and religious significance to ourselves. Thank you Rabbi David for inviting us all to share in your journey of faith and I pray this work will further ignite a desire in all of us to follow your lead.

– Fr. Mike Walker,  St. James Catholic Church, McMinnville, Oregon

Rabbi David Zaslow’s Reimagining Exodus is a most perfect representation of Vatican 2.  He has captured the text and context of how both Jews and Christians read and interpret Exodus and in doing so adds to our joint understanding of each other’s religious vision.  This is an important text for Christian-Jewish dialogue.

– Dr. Sam Edelman, emeritus professor, CSU Chico. Adjunct professor and Academic Fellow of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, Univ. of Miami

With his trademark accessibility, sensitivity and good humor, Rabbi David offers Jews and Christians a deeper understanding of their own faith’s foundational story as well that of the other.  This book a perfect choice for a Lenten group or – God willing! – for a shared study group between Jewish and Christian congregations.

— Rev. Anne K. Bartlett, Rector Emerita, Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland, OR

Rabbi David Zaslow brings deep knowledge and spiritual sensitivity to his reimagining of the Exodus. With clarity and insight he shows us what the Torah’s central story has meant over the centuries to people of faith struggling for liberation – and what it can mean to us today.

– Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan, Ph.D., creator of wellspringsofwisdom.com

Rabbi David Zaslow is doing what theologians could not do, or have refused to do for two millennia, reconnect Christianity to its Jewish Foundation, and fit the stories of both traditions tightly back together where they belong. This study tackles the core faith of each tradition in a new way that will enlighten all of us.

– Rev. Barbara J. Campbell, Ph.D, St. Mark Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR

Accessible, stimulating resource! Rabbi Zaslow offers fascinating literal, geographical and metaphorical verse-by-verse sources and interpretation to power your spiritual journey. For home and library, a vital guide for respectful Jewish/Christian study and spiritual reflection of these shared, transformational sacred narratives.

– Rabbi Goldie Milgram, author of  Reclaiming Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a Spiritual Rite of Passage

Zaslow shows that even within a traditional reading, new approaches and insights into the story of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus, are possible. He maintains the exodus from slavery defines Judaism, which itself establishes later events such as Passover and Moses’s giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. He then shows the parallels between the Old Testament events and the Last Supper and Pentecost in Christianity, suggesting that modern Judaism is more like a sister religion to Christianity than its parent. Combining this knowledge, the author continues the conversation by showing how these two traditions can appropriate meaning from each other while still maintaining their own integrity. This idea is then expanded to show how the Exodus story reaches beyond both Judaism and its parallels with Christianity to any oppressed group seeking freedom–as well as how it can be misappropriated. VERDICT: Zaslow goes beyond religious dialog to show that Exodus encompasses more than a journey of liberation, it also provides meaning in the face of suffering.

Library Journal, June 2017