Watch the recording of a specialTorah study, as we begin the Book of Exodus, moving from Genesis—the book of creation—to Exodus—the book of redemption. Saturday, January 10, 21 Tevet.
Exodus tells the story of our departure from Egypt and our liberation from slavery. But redemption comes in stages. Before redemption, we must ask a harder question: how did we get there? Also, in stages. What was the process that led a free family to become an enslaved people? The Torah does not describe slavery as arriving all at once. It unfolds through patterns and the normalization of injustice.
These are not ancient phenomena alone. We are challenged to ask whether similar processes can be detected in our own time, in the world around us. Redemption does not emerge in spite of suffering; it emerges through it. It is born from oppression, but only when we struggle to break free and reclaim our humanity. Exodus teaches us that liberation requires awareness, courage, and the refusal to accept injustice as inevitable.
May redemption come to us on this Shabbat, and may it carry us toward the ultimate Shabbat—a time of wholeness, justice, and true rest.
Rabbi Gadi Capela