Interfaith Theology at Fort Bragg

This past weekend I was privileged to correspond with a US Army Ranger stationed at Fort Bragg who is exploring theology as part of a class he has elected to take. With his permission, I am sharing his question (taken from a longer email he sent to me) and my complete response (slightly edited). His question led me to consider some of my core beliefs about what it means to be Jewish in a new way. I am grateful for the spiritual window his question opened for me, and hope that you find correspondence of interest as well. Of course, since there are as many opinions as there are of us, please feel free to write in with your own answers!

​I am writing about the core narratives in Judaism and Christianity as reflected in Psalms 105:26-45 and Acts 2:22-24 respectively. I am comparing and contrasting these scriptures. To me, they are simplistic yet complex in nature as they explain the underlying narrative of each religion.  

The theme of Exodus is echoed throughout Hebrew scripture. It is foreshadowed in Genesis 12:10-13:4 and later retold in Psalms 105:26-45. Do you believe the core narrative of Judaism, God's plan for the redemption of his people, to be the Exodus? Do you believe that this is essentially the foundation for which the entirety of the religion is built upon? 

Respectfully,
​Douglas

Dear Douglas,

Thank you for exploring these questions, and especially, for your service to our country.

Your question deserves a nice Jewish answer - so I have one for you: yes and no.

To explain my answer, I first need to define what I mean by the Exodus, and how I understand your question. The story of the Exodus from Egypt begins with Exodus 1:1 and ends with the last verse of Deuteronomy - and contains everything in the middle. As you thought, that narrative is the central and defining narrative of Jewish tradition.

In your question, you describe the Exodus as "God's plan for the redemption of his people." That is not the way I generally think about it. Yes, the text specifically says that this is all according to God's plan. However, for me, it is more about our experience (in which God of course is the driving force) of moving from Egyptian slavery through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness towards the Promised Land. In other words, my response is less theological and more humanistic (although I am not a humanist, but a religious Jew). I do not think that the Exodus went the way God planned, because we Israelites had a way of stubbornly getting in our own way over and again. So, for example, in Psalm 105 there is a reference to God providing quail - but that happened two times, and the second was actually a punishment for how we complained that we were tired of manna and had better food in Egypt - so that the quail came until it was coming out of our nostrils (Num. 11:1-20).

What I am trying to express is that the Exodus, as the primary narrative of the Jewish people is less about God's plans and more about the nexus where we and God meet. It is about God's extraordinary generosity, and reliability. It is about remembering that we have humble origins, that our successes are tied to God, and that in turn helps to remind us to be humble, to look after each other (and not just other Jews BTW), and most especially those who are most vulnerable in our community. It connects us to God intimately and profoundly, and it connects us to each other. As the genetic descendants of the Israelites, it is also our family story and we read it as such.

Before I ramble on any further, let me try to reel this in with a more concise frame. The story of the Exodus (as I define it), is in my opinion the central and defining narrative of Jewish tradition - everything else that follows is in some way connected to this story. However, the Exodus itself is predicated on another, more theological frame, which is the covenant between Israel and God, as first expressed by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Exodus is definitive because it demonstrates God's fulfillment of the covenantal promise and reminds us to make sure to do our part. However, it is one moment in time, and the story is repeated in one way or another in each generation. My teacher Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman writes that Jewish spirituality can be summed up as the repeating cycle of exile and return. The Exodus was the first great return from exile, and most dramatic. Yet for us as individuals and as a people, this is a recurring experience. In other words, it is not just that the Exodus is what we build everything on, but rather something we are still experiencing.

I hope this helps. Good luck with the paper!

Sincerely,
Rabbi Gary Pokras